A Call from Labor: Ban Big Bank Stock Options

Federal agencies are now preparing new regulations for enforcing the banker pay reforms enacted last summer. These new regs, says the AFL-CIO, need to prohibit the ‘incentive’ that’s still stuffing bankers with billions.

Executive Pay Excess: A New Battlefront

Taxpayers, once again this year, are subsidizing over-the-top CEO pay by the billions. But now on the table: a promising new proposal that encourages America’s corporations to share that excess — or else.

The Bait-and-Switch on Fleecing Taxpayers

Lavishly paid corporate executives, flush with tax-deductible taxpayer dollars, have plenty of reason to relish the right-wing assault on ‘overpaid’ public employees. But we can wipe that grin off their faces.

Taxes, Transparency, and Our Opaque Opulent

Mega-millionaire residents of Manhattan’s finest luxury towers pay less of their income in federal taxes than the janitors in their towers do. Once upon a time, we had a law that discouraged that distinction.

The Paycheck Data CEOs Don’t Want Us to See

Corporate America is working behind the scenes to smother a new federal mandate, enacted last year, that just might revitalize the drive to roll back excessive executive pay. Read more . . .

Locking In Inequality for Another Generation

A widely overlooked provision in last month’s tax cut deal is going to speed even more wealth to America’s Paris Hilton set.

The Budget ‘Waste’ Deficit Hawks Never Seem to See

Localities the nation over can’t afford to fill potholes or keep libraries open. Yet top corporate execs are continuing to stuff their pockets with our tax dollars. Here’s how we can start the unstuffing.

A New Field Guide to America’s Plutocracy

An up-close look at the early Obama administration — and the prodigious capacity of concentrated wealth to distort our political process. A review of A Presidency in Peril: The Inside Story of Obama’s Promise, Wall Street’s Power, and the Struggle to Control Our Economic Future, by Robert Kuttner

Washington and Wall Street: A ‘Democracy’ in Denial

Some Americans get all bent out of shape when they hear someone label the United States a ‘plutocracy.’ But if we have an honest-to-goodness democracy, where the people really rule, then how can we explain Goldman Sachs?

A New Yardstick for Greed in the Suites?

The lackluster financial reform bill now nearing a floor vote in the U.S. Senate includes a surprising provision that could help reframe and revitalize the struggle against outrageously excessive CEO pay. Read more . . .