Some industries, like construction and education, had relatively low rates of wage theft — 12 to 13 percent; restaurants, grocery stores, and warehouses fell in the mid-range of 20 to 25 percent; textile and clothes manufacturing and other services hit 40 percent; and a whopping 66 percent of child care workers endured minimum wage violations,… Continue reading One of the biggest crime waves in America isn’t what you think it is

No one knows exactly how big a problem wage theft is, but in 2012 federal and state agencies recovered $933 million for victims of wage theft. By comparison, all the property taken in all the robberies of all types in 2012, solved or unsolved, amounted to a little under $341 million. One of the biggest… Continue reading One of the biggest crime waves in America isn’t what you think it is

As I’ve written about before, a report by the Chief Public Health Officer in Canada looked at this question of potential savings, and estimated that: $1 invested in the early years saves between $3 and $9 in future spending on the health and criminal justice systems, as well as on social assistance. It’s rare to… Continue reading Universal Basic Income as the Social Vaccine of the 21st Century — Basic income — Medium

A total of $32 million was spent by the United States over a 10-year period in the global campaign to eradicate smallpox. The entire $32 million has been recouped every 2 months since 1971 by saving the costs of the smallpox vaccine, administration, medical care, quarantine and other costs. According to General Accounting Office (GAO)… Continue reading Universal Basic Income as the Social Vaccine of the 21st Century — Basic income — Medium

We estimate that the United States invested approximately US dollars 35 billion in polio vaccines between 1955 and 2005… The historical and future investments translate into over 1.7 billion vaccinations that prevent approximately 1.1 million cases of paralytic polio and over 160,000 deaths. Due to treatment cost savings, the investment implies net benefits of approximately… Continue reading Universal Basic Income as the Social Vaccine of the 21st Century — Basic income — Medium

What’s our excuse today for not voting? How do we so casually discard the right for which so many fought? How do we so fully give away our power, our voice, in shaping America’s future? Why are we pointing to somebody else when we could take the time just to go to the polling places?… Continue reading President Obama’s Speech in Selma — Medium

We do a disservice to the cause of justice by intimating that bias and discrimination are immutable, that racial division is inherent to America. If you think nothing’s changed in the past 50 years, ask somebody who lived through the Selma or Chicago or Los Angeles of the 1950s. Ask the female CEO who once… Continue reading President Obama’s Speech in Selma — Medium

What a glorious thing, Dr. King might say. And what a solemn debt we owe. Which leads us to ask, just how might we repay that debt? First and foremost, we have to recognize that one day’s commemoration, no matter how special, is not enough. If Selma taught us anything, it’s that our work is… Continue reading President Obama’s Speech in Selma — Medium

And yet, what could be more American than what happened in this place?What could more profoundly vindicate the idea of America than plain and humble people –- unsung, the downtrodden, the dreamers not of high station, not born to wealth or privilege, not of one religious tradition but many, coming together to shape their country’s… Continue reading President Obama’s Speech in Selma — Medium