Minimum Wage Should Be More Than $20

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Feb 15, 2013 If the federal minimum wage had kept pace with changes in worker productivity, busboys and baristas would be making at least $21.72 an hour today, according to a study by the Center for Economic and Policy Research. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

How Economic Inequality Harms Societies

Staff / Truthdig Oct 31, 2011 Richard Wilkinson and partner Kate Pickett ran the data and came to the conclusion that the national income of a country is insignificant to its social well-being when compared with income inequality. Wilkinson says, "If Americans want to live the American dream, they should go to Denmark." Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Dismal Reports From Two U.S. Inequality Studies

Staff / Truthdig Oct 29, 2011 The 1 percenters targeted by those leading the Wall Street occupation had a profitable run between 1979 and 2007. Their average after-tax income grew 275 percent in that period, while income for the 60 percent of the population in the middle of the earning scale grew by just under 40 percent. (more) Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

U.S. Income Levels Plunged as Recession Lifted

Staff / Truthdig Oct 10, 2011 More interesting, perhaps, than this New York Times article's proffered data on falling household incomes and the reasons for same is its official timeline for our nation's most recent recession: “ … From December 2007 to June 2009." (more) Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Juan Cole on Palestinian Statehood

BLANK Sep 29, 2011 This week on Truthdig Radio in association with KPFK: Juan Cole reports from New York on Occupy Wall Street and Palestinians at the UN Also: The politics of immigration; women still earn less than men, and a jury convicts the Irvine 11 Pictured above, Nawaf Salam, Lebanon’s ambassador to the UThis week on Truthdig Radio: Juan Cole reports from New York on Occupy Wall Street and Palestinians at the U. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Unions and Inequality by the Numbers

Staff / Truthdig Aug 7, 2011 The precise effects of the broad deunionization of the American workforce since the 1970s are difficult to quantify, but a recent paper from the American Sociological Review has made an effort anyway The study found that in addition to raising the income of union laborers (more). Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Employer-Provided Health Insurance Taking a Bigger Bite

Staff / Truthdig Jul 17, 2011 Newly published numbers from the Department of Health and Human Services show that American workers in 2010 paid average premiums of $4,940 for employer-provided health insurance to cover just themselves. (more) Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Americans Are Spending Again

Staff / Truthdig Feb 1, 2011 Is it good news that U.S. consumer spending revved up to a three-year high in 2010? It could make for some improvement, especially if employment picks up to bolster Americans' consumption habits in coming months, according to the BBC. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

It’s the Stupidity, Stupid

David Sirota / Truthdig Oct 29, 2010 What could cause the intensifying politics of free-market fundamentalism at the very historical moment that proves the failure of such an ideology? Two new academic studies suggest all roads lead to ignorance. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Google’s Net Income Zooms by 32 Percent

Staff / Truthdig Oct 15, 2010 It seems Google has weathered the recession quite well, thank you. The search superpower reported a better-than-expected third-quarter increase in net income of 32 percent, signaling growing confidence in the profitability of online and mobile device advertising. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

U.S. Household Wealth Falls by $1.5 Trillion

Staff / Truthdig Sep 18, 2010 This just in: US households are getting poorer As the crisis continues to wreak havoc on our economy, new data from the Federal Reserve tells us that U net household worth has dropped $15 trillion in the second quarter of 2010 and is down more than $10 trillion since the recession began. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Kindergarten: A Lasting Legacy

Staff / Truthdig Jul 29, 2010 Economists used data on 12,000 Tennesseans to conclude that while test score gains built by successful elementary teachers had faded by high school, more meaningful outcomes (income, college, divorce, savings) seem to show a strong link between quality education as a child and success in the "real world." Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )