Equifax’s Maddening Unaccountability

Zeynep Tufekci The New York Times
Last week, Americans woke up to news of yet another mass breach of their personal data. The consumer credit reporting agency Equifax revealed that as many as 143 million Americans’ Social Security numbers, dates of birth, names and addresses may have been stolen from its files — just the kind of information that allows for identity theft and other cybercrimes.

Tax Dodge: The Carried Interest Loophole

Why is Trump breaking his promise on carried interest? The White House is full of bankers and hedge fund managers who, over the last decade, have collectively dodged nearly $180 billion in taxes!

labor

America’s Construction Carnage

Sam Pizzigati OtherWords.org
In 2014, the last year with full statistics, 899 construction workers nationwide died from workplace injuries. The reason: loss of union strength and decline in OSHA funding. President Trump's anti-union and anti-federal spending polices promise to only make the situation worse.

Elizabeth Warren Rips Wells Fargo's CEO A New One

Elizabeth Warren's questioning of Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf at the Senate Banking Committee exposes his refusal to take responsibility for the bank's years-long scam of bank customers.

labor

Labor Must Take on Capital

Saqib Bhatti and Stephen Lerner Jacobin
Unions must expand beyond narrow bargaining to challenge those who hold wealth and power at the highest levels. Most unions are accustomed to bargaining with their direct employers, as they have done for decades. But the financialization of the economy has rendered that structure obsolete. In order to win for workers, unions need to take their demands directly to those who actually have the money and control. They can often be found on Wall Street.

books

Wall Street's Foreign Policy Wizards

Dominic Alexander Counterfire
The Council on Foreign Relations is a supercharged, highly connected establishment think tank. While producing reports and staffing varied policy working-groups, its recommendations are invariably market-based. CFR leaders and members pass through the revolving door of the federal government to high positions of authority, no matter which party holds power. The book under review, Wall Street's Think Tank, charts the council's key links to US imperial policy.

Look at the Bank of North Dakota - It Soars Despite Oil Bust

Ellen Brown Op Ed News
Despite North Dakota's collapsing oil market, its state-owned bank continues to report record profits. Farmers were losing their farms to Wall Street bankers. They organized, won an election and passed legislation to create a public bank. The Nonpartisan League's rise to power was fast and had a lasting impact on North Dakota. This article looks at what California, with fifty times North Dakota's population, could do following that state's lead.
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