Portside

Aspects of the report are disturbing. Over the last year, the black unemployment rate has risen 0.2 percentage points to 6.7 percent and the white unemployment rate has dropped 0.4 percentage point to 3.1 percent. The rise is all among black men.

One in 10 Bay Area residents earns too little to cover the cost of living; of those, 62 percent earn too much to qualify for food stamps.

One of the most remarkable demonstrations of the deep-seated radicalism of “ordinary people” has been all but forgotten, even by historians: namely, the Workers’ Unemployment Insurance Bill.

This assault on typical workers’ bargaining power in recent decades has indeed made it harder to spark wage growth. But this doesn’t mean that you give up—it means you try harder!

Poverty is deepening, the standard of living is declining in the US, wages remain stagnant and inequality is worsening. Meanwhile the national unemployment rate has hit historically low levels. What explains this anomalous state of the US economy?

Billionaire fund managers and their firms must pay for the damage they’ve caused. Toys “R” Us workers need immediate severance pay—if Bain and KKR were to forgo their predatory profits, each worker would receive about $15,000 in severance, a pittance for what in many cases is a lifetime of diligent

The American Dream, should be one of equality and inclusion, with fundamental rights of all Americans guaranteed. Unionization as a seamless aspect of democratic society; universal collective bargaining and full employment an essential policy goal.

“Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white – separate and unequal.” Fifty years ago, on March 1, 1968, these were the grim words of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, called the Kerner Commission after its chairman, Gov. Otto Kerner of Illinois. Today the situation is worse.