CA to send voter registration cards to Obamacare applicants Facing legal action from the ACLU and rights groups over federal voter registration laws, California will send applications to about 3.8 million residents who applied under the Affordable Care Act. Under a deal announced Monday by several voting-rights groups, the state will send voter registration cards to nearly…
Wealth over work It seems safe to say that “Capital in the Twenty-First Century,” the magnum opus of the French economist Thomas Piketty, will be the most important economics book of the year—and maybe of the decade. Mr. Piketty, arguably the world’s leading expert on income and wealth inequality, does more than document the growing concentration…
The rise of anti-capitalism We are beginning to witness a paradox at the heart of capitalism, one that has propelled it to greatness but is now threatening its future: The inherent dynamism of competitive markets is bringing costs so far down that many goods and services are becoming nearly free, abundant, and no longer subject…
Big business takes on tea party on Common Core Tea party activists have been waging war for months against the Common Core academic standards. Now, in a coordinated show of muscle, Big Business is fighting back—and notching wins. The urgent effort stems from a sense among supporters that this is a make-or-break moment for the Common…
Changes in the Central District affect the African-American community When Mount Calvary Christian Center pastor Reggie Witherspoon was growing up in the Central District in the 1960s and ’70s, the neighborhood was tight-knit and largely African-American. But today, it’s another story. “It’s radically different,” he says. Now, he can visit the neighborhood and not see…
As viewing habits change, political campaigns also must change For half a century, television ads have been the staple of political campaigns, the preferred, if costly, vehicle for communicating a candidate’s message to the voters. What happens when people stop watching live television? That day hasn’t arrived yet and probably never will. But the outlines of…
Obama overtime plan already stirring controversy President Barack Obama’s move to make more workers eligible for time-and-a-half overtime pay is being hailed by Democrats who see it as a potent midterm election issue and condemned by Republicans and business leaders as presidential overreach. Supporters say it will help the still fragile economy, critics say it…
Compromising won’t help get to $15 Now It’s the dog days of a Seattle winter, and tempers are growing short. The initial enthusiasm for a $15 an hour minimum wage remains strong, but it has been joined by a more contentious hashing out of the details of how we get there—and who is included. 68%…
The Senate-CIA blowup threatens a Constitutional crisis Tuesday morning, on C-SPAN, the foundation of the national security state exploded. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), the chair of the Senate intelligence committee, took to the Senate floor and accused the CIA of spying on committee investigators tasked with probing the agency’s past use of harsh interrogation techniques (a.k.a. torture) and…
Conservative group ALEC targets city, local governments The right-wing group ALEC is preparing to launch a new nationwide network that will seek to replicate its current influence within state legislatures in city councils and municipalities. The American Legislative Exchange Council, founded in 1973, has become one of the most pervasive advocacy operations in the nation. It brings elected…