Worker and Wage Slaves
- Fast-food workers announce global protest, walkouts set for 33 countries—"Employees plan to expand movement to demand better pay and working conditions across the world [on May 15]."
- Japanese Restaurant Eliminates Tipping And Just Pays A Higher Wage
- Republicans Block Hearing on Long-Term Jobless Benefits
- My personal Wal-Mart nightmare: You won't believe what life is like working there—"The president's visiting my store Friday. He won't see how I sleep on my son's floor and eat potato chips for lunch." Salon
- Pay Violations Rampant in Low-Wage Industries Despite Enforcement Efforts—"If you steal from your employer, you're going to be hauled out of the workplace in handcuffs. But if your employer steals from you, you'll be lucky to get your money back."
- Samsung offers apology for workers' leukemia—"Ten people have died after working in Samsung's semiconductor plants, an industry health rights group said."
Minimum Wage
- The Minimum Wage Loophole That's Screwing Over Waiters and Waitresses
- Vermont Passes The Highest State Minimum Wage In The Country
- The GOP and the minimum wage—"Why the GOP argument against raising the minimum wage is really an argument against having a minimum wage at all."
Banks and Wall Street
- Elizabeth Warren: Obama Team 'Chose Wall Street Instead Of American Families'
- Krugman: Now That's Rich—"Big surprise! Hedge fund managers make a lot of money. But there are some lessons there." NYT
- The SEC Has Revealed Astounding Corruption in Private Equity—"And, for once, the commission is not letting them get away with it."
- Thomson Reuters settles lawsuit with whistle-blowing ex-employee—"Thomson Reuters has reached a settlement agreement with a former staffer who sued the firm for wrongful termination, claiming he lost his job for whistle-blowing."
- How Wall Street Financial Fees Choke Our Cities
Financial Crisis
- Why Only One Top Banker Went to Jail for the Financial Crisis—"The economic catastrophe of 2008 was the largest of its kind since the Depression. Who's taking the fall?" NYT
- Morgan Stanley CEO Doesn't Believe More Bankers Should Have Gone To Jail For Financial Crisis
- U.S. attorney general says banks may face criminal cases soon
- University economics teaching isn't an education: it's a £9,000 lobotomy—"Economics took a battering after the financial crisis, but faculties are refusing to teach alternative views. It's as if there's only one way to run an economy."
- Occupy Wall Street activist found guilty of assaulting police officer—Too small not to jail.
Bitcoin
- SEC's Investor "Warning" On Bitcoin Could Stifle Innovation
- Federal Election Commission approves bitcoin donations to political committees—Guess money is money. WaPo
- In 18 months, feds got nearly 300 complaints about Bitcoin miner maker—"Federal Trade Commission received worldwide complaints about Butterfly Labs."
Politics
- George H.W. Bush received a profile in courage award. All it took was rewriting history.—"Bush was honored for being willing to break his famous 'Read my lips: no new taxes' pledge. But the history is more complicated--and less flattering." WaPo
- San Francisco Chinatown duo claim FBI entrapment in organised-crime case SCMP
- The Farce Is Complete: Joe Biden's Son Joins Board Of Largest Ukraine Gas Producer
Economy
- All of the US government's spending will soon be available on one website
- Bipartisan House bill calls on Congress to fly coach
- Missouri Lawmakers Override Veto, Enact Tax Cut—"Missouri's Republican-led Legislature enacted the state's first income tax rate reduction in almost a century Tuesday by overriding the veto of Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon, who has denounced it as a reckless financial experiment."
- CNBC survey shows millionaires want higher taxes to fix inequality
- GOP's fake poverty push gets a new charlatan: Rob Portman's latest ploy Salon
- Paul Ryan's Approach To Poverty Is Straight Out Of The 19th Century
Corporatocracy
- GOP Lawmakers Say Yes To $310 Billion For Business, But $12 Million For At-Risk Kids? Nope
- Conservative Pro-Growth Policies Don't Actually Produce Any Growth
- Surprise! 'Pro-business' policies hurt state economic growth LATimes
Tax Dodge
- U.S. wants Credit Suisse to plead guilty in tax dispute: report
- Swiss company agrees to pay $4.4m fine for helping US tax dodgers—"US thanks Swisspartners for 'extraordinary cooperation but Credit Suisse expected to face big fine and criminal charges."
- David Cameron: Taxes will rise unless we can raid bank accounts—"David Cameron claims he will "have to put up taxes" unless tax officials are given draconian powers to raid people's bank accounts"
NJ Corruption
- Governor's Office Ignored Report That Kelly, Stepien Knew About Bridgegate—"Drewniak says he told Christie's chief counsel about Wildstein's claim, but pair were not questioned until more than a month later."
- NJ has distributed less than 25 percent of Sandy aid—"New Jersey's latest quarterly report shows the state has distributed $416 million of nearly $1.83 billion in federal disaster relief aid."
- Christie Aide Uses Truly Multitudinous Variety of Adjectives, Adverbs in Denying Bridgegate Role
- Rowan Students, Alumni Protest Christie Commencement Speech
Grand Ol' Tea Party
- Fringe Factor: Democrats Boasting About Obamacare Are Just Like Nazis—"A Tennessee lawmaker compares liberal crowing about health-care signups to Germans bragging about 'train rides' for Jews, Krauthammer thinks climate change is superstition, and more."
- Lost? The Tea Party has already won, and its influence will be felt for years to come—"Out of America: It may seem to be in decline, but the Republicans' wacky wing has achieved its main aim of pushing the party to the right."
- Republican Party wants to limit primary debates: The GOP wants to assert itself in 2016.
- The GOP Has Finally Found a Way to Defeat the Tea Party—"Electability is trumping ideological purity—just as the establishment had planned."
- There Are No Mainstream Republicans Left in North Carolina—"Thom Tillis, who just won the state’s Republican primary, has been the point-man in a sadly effective anti-government project." NYT
- Koch brothers face an unexpected new foe: tea party conservatives
- Poll: For the midterms, a tilt to the GOP
Vote Machinations
- GOP vote scheme finally imploding: Why the end may be here—"From landmark ruling in Wisconsin, to new signs from top Republicans in other states, a shameful ploy may unravel." Salon
- Appeals Court Puts Brakes On Judge Who Shut Down Scott Walker Investigation—"One day after a federal judge dramatically shut down the secret 'John Doe' probe investigating Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's (R) 2012 recall election, a federal appeals court on Wednesday stayed the lower judge's ruling."
- Lawsuit Accuses Virginia Republicans Of 'Racial Gerrymandering'
- This is what America would look like without gerrymandering
- Why Karl Rove Uses Dirty Tricks: They Work—"Karl Rove reportedly hinted that Hillary Clinton may have brain damage from a fall—then quickly backed away. His history suggests it's a calculated maneuver."
Campaign Finance Deform
- Al Gore: 'Our democracy has been hacked'—"The average member of the House and Senate has to spend five hours per day begging rich people for money. Begging rich interests for money!" Politico
- Vermont first state to call for constitutional convention to get money out of politics
- Former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens: 'Money Is Not Speech'
- Wendy Davis Attacks Greg Abbott's Oversight of Cancer Agency—Claimed "money earmarked for lifesaving medical research was slipped into major Republican donors' pockets instead."
Media
- Glenn Greenwald: U.S. Corporate Media is "Neutered, Impotent and Obsolete"
- Warren Buffett, Joe Nocera and 'Fessing Up to Readers—"When a critical column is built on a faulty premise, the writer needs to tell his readers what happened and why." NYT
- Impeachment, Fox News-style: Wing-nuts go mad, mainstream media follows them off the cliff — again—"Objective" media covered Iraq and '08 meltdown so brilliantly. Danger: False balance crowd wants impeachment next." Salon
- Stewart Strikes Back At Limbaugh's Hashtag Hate: #F*@KYOURUSH
Sterling Racism
- Befuddled Donald Sterling: 'What New Recording?'
- Community manager fired after controversial tweets about embattled NBA owner Donald Sterling
- CNN exclusive: Donald Sterling insists he's no racist, still slams Magic Johnson
- Donald Sterling's interview disaster: Rich old racist self-destructs to Anderson Cooper Salon
- The Daily Show: John Hodgman wants to buy the LA Clippers
