Portside

Regulations serve a public purpose. It may not be necessary to maintain the same scope of regulation in all cases, and it certainly is not necessary to maintain the regulations in their current form, but it does not make sense to have one set of rules that apply to incumbent taxi services and a whole different set that applies to Uber. The appropriate policy going forward should be to modernize the regulatory structure and establish rules that apply equally ...

Greece needs a viable exit option, both because it may actually want to go this route and also because it needs greater bargaining power with the troika.

The latest numbers, when put in context, hardly impress

Bill Gates' critique of Thomas Piketty is revealing for what it overlooks

Are there (short term) political alternatives to the wealth tax to limit or reverse inequality?

Investment of public money needs transparency and accountability. The CalPERS decision to end hedge fund investments should be a clarion call for pensions to re-examine their relationship with these and other nontraditional investment instruments. Trillions of dollars of public money as well as the retirement security of millions of workers are at stake.

If the public has a clear understanding of the agenda of the Immelts of the world, and their political allies, it will be better positioned to protect the entitlements that workers depend on have paid for.

The reality is that the government and the economy are so thoroughly integrated it is impossible to separate the two.

Everyone deserves a great public education, but better schools alone can’t fight inequality.

The most important benefit of Obamacare is the security it provides to the tens of millions of people who already had insurance—except that insurance, before the Affordable Care Act, was only as safe as their job.