Economy Archives - Page 6 of 18

Capitalism

The Semiconductor Shell Game Has a Big Winner

Money in politics finds a current in semiconductors

October 13, 2022 • by Pat Garofalo

This deal confirms my worst fears about the confluence of a genuine semiconductor shortage and lack of domestic manufacturing with a huge pot of federal subsidies that state officials are vying for in an election year. The table was perfectly set for overspending on giant deals in order to facilitate ...

The Semiconductor Shell Game Has a Big Winner

Corporations

Corporate Subsidies Exposed by Georgia Judge

The state made big promises in a deal with an electric car manufacturer

October 5, 2022 • by Pat Garofalo

Subsidy deals almost always necessitate new obligations on behalf of taxpayers to provide services to the corporation’s physical grounds and its future workers. But the costs of those services — be they increased water and power usage, public safety, infrastructure degradation, environmental costs, or what have you — are not ...

Corporate Subsidies Exposed by Georgia Judge

Economy

The Wall Street Journal Resurrects Mandeville

Do poor Americans have too much?

September 27, 2022 • by David Lay Williams

According to a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed by Phil Gramm and John Early, the problem is not that the wealthiest Americans have seen their fortunes dramatically explode. It is rather that the poorest Americans have too much! ...

The Wall Street Journal Resurrects Mandeville

Corporations

A Texas-Sized Battle in 2023

Corporate interests won’t let one of the nation’s worst handouts go without a fight

September 26, 2022 • by Pat Garofalo

Last year, a bipartisan coalition unexpectedly blocked the renewal of Chapter 313 in the Texas Statehouse. Come the end of this year, it will cease to exist as a program — and corporate interests are gearing up to campaign to bring it back when the Texas legislature reconvenes at the ...

Corporations

3 Ways Congress Could End the State Subsidy Wars

Don’t hold your breath, though

August 29, 2022 • by Pat Garofalo

Though most of the time I write about how state and city leaders and community members can combat the scourge of corporate subsidies themselves, in theory, Congress could swoop in and knock the whole thing off, stopping states from engaging in this race to the bottom. Here are three ways ...

3 Ways Congress Could End the State Subsidy Wars

Corporations

Don’t Let Hospitals Off the Hook

The FTC has a warning for state lawmakers about hospital mergers

August 24, 2022 • by Pat Garofalo

Hospital monopolies are some of the most pernicious out there, because their harms don’t just manifest as higher prices, lower wages, reduced privacy, or slower business formation, but in the midst of literal life and death events. Anything, including these COPA laws, that greases the skids for more hospital monopolies, ...

Corporations

Stopped on the Tracks

Why a proposed railroad merger could be bad news for local communities

August 8, 2022 • by Pat Garofalo

Given the concerns locals have about what the merger would mean for their own backyard, as well as legitimate larger issues with what it would mean for the rail system as a whole to experience even more consolidation than has been allowed already, I’m certainly on team “stop this merger ...

Corporations

Seriously, What’s the Matter With Kansas?

The new Panasonic and Kansas deal could result in low-pay and no-benefit jobs

August 2, 2022 • by Pat Garofalo

But in any deal, and particularly one of this size, at a bare minimum lawmakers should demand concrete promises on jobs and pay, not vague totals and hopes and prayers that a corporation will hire workers rather than automate its processes. Panasonic could absolutely hit its payroll total with a ...

Seriously, What’s the Matter With Kansas?

Capitalism

Ending Exploitation in the Fashion Industry

Towards a labor-centered notion of sustainability

July 26, 2022 • by Nandita Shivakumar and Aabid Firdausi

Instead of empty commitments to sustainability that at best result in greenwashing, there needs to be urgent structural transformations in the global garment industry. ...

Ending Exploitation in the Fashion Industry

Corporations

Amazon’s Secret Utility Discount

The growing tendency of corporations hiding details of their subsidy deals

July 25, 2022 • by Pat Garofalo

Amazon also may have applied for a discount on the new facility’s power, but the relevant governing body—the New York Power Authority (NYPA)—refuses to either confirm or deny if Amazon submitted an application.This is the latest example of a troubling trend: noncompliance with public records law, in order to hide details of corporate ...

Corporations

Camden Wants Answers

Did billions of public dollars create jobs for New Jersey workers?

July 1, 2022 • by Pat Garofalo

Did billions of public dollars create jobs for New Jersey workers?...

Capitalism

Capitalism Uber Alles

After the collapse of Marx’s hopes for humanity, what’s left of the Left?

June 21, 2022 • by Mitchell Abidor

Though dominant for centuries, capitalism formerly coexisted with other economic forms, once alongside forms of feudalism, later among forms of socialism. This is no longer the case; with the demise of the Marxist regimes, the sway of capitalism is now universal....