Let’s End Poverty: We Have the Money, Do We Have the Will?
47 million Americans live beneath the official poverty line, under a daily judgment of failure. The question today is: Whose failure?
Economy
How Seattle Led the Country’s Wage Revolution
Seattle's path to a $15 minimum wage is a winding tale of effective organizing, smart messaging, and blind dumb luck. It is also a roadmap for bypassing partisan gridlock—one city at a time.
The Faces Behind the Fight for $15 an Hour
For low-wage workers, Seattle's minimum wage increase means a chance to go to college, pay the rent, and visit the dentist.
If Unions Are Breaking Automakers, Why Are BMW and Mercedes So Rich?
In Germany, auto workers get paid well and their companies still profit. Author Thom Hartmann on why living wages and corporate success don't have to be mutually exclusive.
America Keeps People Poor On Purpose: A Timeline of Choices We’ve Made to Increase Inequality
How four decades of lobbying and legislation gave corporations dominion over our economy—and eroded the American middle class.
Poverty is Not Inevitable: What We Can Do Now to Turn Things Around
Having poor people in the richest country in the world is a choice. We have the money to solve this. But do we have the will?
How America’s Largest Worker Owned Co-Op Lifts People Out of Poverty
Cooperative Home Care Associates' 2,300 workers enjoy good wages, regular hours, and family health insurance. With an investment of $1.2 million into the cooperative sector, New York City is hoping to build on the group's success.
Why Germany Is Backing Away From a Trade Deal that Lets Corporations Sue the Government
A new round of international trade agreements threatens to increase corporate power over national governments. But news out of Germany suggests the deals aren't inevitable.
Why Target Stopped Asking Job Applicants If They’ve Been Convicted of a Crime
More than 60 counties, cities, and states—and some corporations—are reducing discrimination against former offenders by removing one small box from job applications.
Breaking the Grip of the Fossil Fuel Economy: If It Can Happen in Appalachia, It Can Happen Anywhere
Coal production is gradually leaving Appalachia—having already extracted much of the region's natural wealth. Local people are figuring out how to build a new economy based on shared vision and community knowledge. If transition can happen here, it can change the debate everywhere.
These Young People Are Pioneering Appalachia’s Post-Coal Economy
The Appalachian Transition Fellows are young people who will spend this year building diverse job opportunities in the coal-country counties that need them most.
Welcome to the Spanish Town Where People Come Before Profit
The town of Marinaleda, often called Spain's "communist utopia," is proof that an economy built on mutual aid is possible.
These Women-Run Co-ops Push Back Against the “Feminization of Poverty”
Two-thirds of the country’s low-wage workers are women. That’s why they stand to benefit the most from greater equity in and control of the workplace.
Learning From Debt: How It Strengthened My Dreams and Brought My Family Closer
The experience of debt can guide us toward different ways of living—like having extended generations share a household—that are both cheaper and more fulfilling.
Gar Alperovitz on Why the New Economy Movement Needs to Think Big
His new book, "What Then Must We Do?" imagines how a new economic system might actually emerge, from the bottom up, in the next few decades.
Worker-Owned Co-ops Get $1 Million in NYC Spending
New York City's newly approved budget allocates $1.2 million for developing and supporting worker-owned cooperative businesses.
What’s the Role of Race in the New Economy Movement?
For the movement to succeed, it must be led by the dispossessed—those for whom the mainstream economy has never worked.
Seattle Wins $15 Minimum Wage—Will Your Town Be Next?
Activists built support for the ordinance by demonstrating that it would reduce poverty in the city.
“Black Women’s Blueprint” Helps Low-Income Women Get By—Through Bartering
Farah Tanis learned that, of the women in poverty she worked with, 9 out of 10 had experienced violence—so she started a bartering network to help them survive.
That Book About Inequality That’s Sold Out of Bookstores? Here’s What It Means for 2016
The popularity of a new book by French economist Thomas Piketty should be a wake-up call for politicians. If inequality sells in the stores, it will sell at the polls as well.
Our Economy Wants You to Be In Debt—5 Things You Can Do to Take Charge
We pored through a debt-resistance manual created by former Occupiers to bring you these practical tips.
Infographic: Why Social Security’s Not Going Broke
Making Social Security solvent in the long run isn't that hard. But who should bear the cost?
Europe Leads U.S. in Effort to Tax Financial “Speed Demons”
The European Commission expects a tiny tax on financial transactions to raise an estimated $42 billion per year while discouraging purely speculative short-term trading.
Portland Is First U.S. City to Divest Funds from Walmart
The initiative also prohibits the city from purchasing Walmart bonds in the future.
The Coal Workers You Didn’t Know Existed—And Why They May Be At Risk
Thousands of workers may be at risk of chronic disease from the chemicals used to process coal—including MCHM, which recently contaminated the drinking water of nearly 300,000 West Virginia residents.
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