A Global Minimum Wage Would Reduce Poverty and Corporate Power

In today’s world of widespread poverty and unprecedented wealth, how about raising the wages of the most poorly-paid workers?

This October, the World Bank reported that “8.5 percent of the global population―almost 700 million people―live today on less than $2.15 per day,” while “44 percent of the global population―around 3.5 billion people―live today on less than $6.85 per day.”  Meanwhile, “global poverty reduction has slowed to a near standstill.”

In early 2024, the charity read more

What Do You Think about Your Country Going Fascist?

Recently, the opinion polls indicate that Donald Trump – a convicted criminal, a pathological liar, and the latest in a long string of rightwing demagogues – is likelier than not to be elected President of the United States.

I was born and raised during World War II, a time when fascist armies seemed on the verge of conquering the world, and perhaps this accounts for my feeling of alarm at the current revival of rightwing extremism in the United States and elsewhere.  This alarm seems justified read more

Trump’s Broken Promises to U.S. Factory Workers

Back in 2016, while campaigning for president, Donald Trump discovered a useful tactic for drawing the votes of disgruntled blue-collar workers: denouncing the loss of U.S. manufacturing jobs and promising to restore them.  At a rally in hard-hit Ohio, he assailed the Democrats and assured his listeners that he would turn the state into a “manufacturing behemoth.”  read more

Trump Betrays His Promise to Protect and Fight for American Workers

Campaigning for the presidency in 2016, Donald Trump promised that, if he was elected, “American worker[s] will finally have a president who will protect them and fight for them.”

Has he kept this promise?

When it comes to protecting workers’ health and safety, his administration has been a disaster.  Once in office, Trump packed the leadership of U.S. regulatory agencies with pro-corporate zealots, read more