News & Stories

Guest post by Doug Von Korff, staff intern The “invisible hand” has once again selected a publicly-owned, nonprofit organization by sending the Green Bay Packers to take on the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Super Bowl on Sunday. Does the notion of a “publicly-owned nonprofit” competing in the pinnacle of American competition and corporate capitalism sound […]

You might not know this, but while the Great Recession is still hammering American workers and small businesses, recovery is well under way in other nations. What’s more, the pain of our recession is no longer spread evenly across the economy. While the effects of the recession have all but disappeared in some industries – […]

Continued state budget cuts are lowering future prospects for the children of middle class families, according to a new report issued by The Foundation for Child Development (FDC), aptly titled “The Declining Fortunes of Children in Middle Class Families“. According to the FDC, over the past 25 years, public education and health programs have stepped […]

When you’re lost, it’s best to figure out where you are before trying to get to where you want to go. So if you’re finding it difficult to get a clear handle on what’s going on with the state budget, try reading these two succinct and accessible columns by Cameron Peters in the Kitsap Sun. […]

Last spring, a congressional staffer introduced me to a new expression. She said, “Our job is to make business succeed.” My message to her had been that careers in science and technology were threatened as our economy de-industrialized. As manufacturing work goes to low-wage countries, the engineering and R&D jobs will go, too. American engineers […]

Much has been written about family and work responsibilities from the perspective of women. But is balancing work and family also an issue for men? MomsRising.org, a national go-to organization for work/family issues, would like to learn more about your perspective. Please take 10-15 minutes to tell us about your experiences at work and being […]

Is it wise to continue subsidizing major corporations with billions in profits while Washington state languishes in economic crisis? Seattle Times’ columnists Jon Talton and Brier Dudley took on that very question over the weekend, and here’s what they found. By way of background: Thanks to a constant barrage of corporate lobbying, the Washington legislature […]

From the Everett Herald: Big business is banking record profits now, but for the rest of us this recession isn’t going away anytime soon. In Snohomish County, one out of 10 workers is unemployed, and that ratio hasn’t changed for the past 12 months. So we should be thinking about how to create jobs, and […]

Former State Representative Dick Nelson has a column in the online newspaper Crosscut, in which he calls for heavy scrutiny of Washington’s 500+ tax exemptions — especially those for large corporations. Nelson, a member of the Revenue Committee when he was a state legislator, notes that Washingtonians are paying a heavy price for corporate tax […]

by Aubrey Davis From the Seattle Times: TWENTY years ago, Washington created the Basic Health Plan (BHP) to provide reasonable health care for people who work for employers that do not offer them insurance and do not pay enough for them to afford to buy individual coverage on the market. The BHP is partly financed […]

Yesterday, my colleague Alex wrote about how the state’s Working Connections program helps working parents by making child care affordable. He’s right – but that’s only part of the story. High-quality child care is also crucial to getting children ready to succeed in school. And without Working Connections, thousands of working families simply can’t afford […]

From Birth to Thrive Online: In Washington State, early learning leaders have set 11 priorities for 2011, and despite the massive budget deficit they could make more progress than you might think. The priorities are the next step in Washington’s statewide Early Learning Plan, which was released in September, and range from expanding home visiting […]

by Wendy Young, originally posted in Examiner.com Marquette: (This article is in rebuttal to the article “Parents, Taxpayers Deserve to Know if Preschool, Head Start Programs Work” that appeared in “The Foundry”, regarding the supposition that Head Start is not effective. When interpreting “research findings” we must always look at the information presented through a […]

Until a few days ago, Working Connections Child Care – one of the state’s most efficient welfare-to-work programs, according some – was slated to fall under the budget axe. Now lawmakers are now looking for $12 million in savings to maintain the program. Here’s where they can find it: by ending a $14 million state […]

If you want insight into just how damaging this recession has been to the fabric of the American economy, here is a short must-read post from Kevin Drum on Mother Jones: Chart of the Day – Financial Assets: There were no net withdrawals during the 2001 recession. Nor the 1991 recession or the 1981 recession. […]

The notion that American economic growth has slowed over the past 30 years is a hardy myth – but Kevin Drum does his level best to puncture it in The Myth of Slow Growth: The past 30 years simply haven’t been a low-growth period. In fact, economic growth has been about the same as it […]

Cross-posted from Reuters.com: Would he or wouldn’t he? President Obama’s deficit commission endorsed cutting Social Security benefits last month, and many wondered whether the president would endorse those cuts in his State of the Union message this week. Instead, the president reiterated the traditional Democratic position on Social Security in his address that he staked […]

In order for America to break free of this recession, middle class workers – our economic engine – must earn enough money on the job to cover basic needs, pay the mortgage, and save a little bit every month. In other words, people need a living wage. Unfortunately, because American wages have actually declined over […]

Pop quiz! To save $46 million, state legislators should: a) end the State Food Assistance Program; or b) take a convoluted corporate tax break off the books – one their own tax review committee recommends ending? As reported by Publicola’s Bryce McKay, the all-cuts budget submitted by Governor Gregoire to state legislators proposes eliminating the […]

The revenue shortfall in the state budget means a favorite stalking horse has once again been let out of the political stable: pension plans for public employees. But The Columbian has the real story behind the rhetoric: The attention on public pensions reveals as much about the benefits that private-sector workers have lost over the […]

While Washington legislators debate whether to cut $98 million from state Medicaid services, the equivalent amount in tax breaks for cosmetic surgery and non-organic fertilizers are still on the books. As documented by Publicola’s Bryce McKay, a cut that size will reduce in-home Medicaid personal care hours to 45,000 individuals. That means: Clients will see […]

Ever see those road signs that say: “your tax dollars at work”? It’s not always so easy to see where tax dollars are going. Case in point: A $609 million corporate tax exemption for fuel is staying on the books, even while legislators debate whether to defund basic health and medical services for Washington residents. […]

Last week, Eric de Place at Sightline posted an interesting story about how closing tax loopholes could trigger a constitutional challenge for Initiative 1053 that would likely mean I-1053 would be overturned: Despite the fact that it hasn’t yet been introduced, I’ve already got a favorite bill in Washington’s still-young legislative session. Representative Reuven Carlyle […]

In today’s global economy, the value of a college degree (about $1.1 million more in lifetime earnings) can’t be understated. Don’t get me wrong — trade schools and apprenticeship programs are more important than ever — but in our high-tech, high-skill economy, few people would argue that software engineers and computer programmers will have trouble […]

Interested in learning more about the present (and future) state of K-12 public education in the U.S. — and Seattle in particular? This Thursday 1/27/11, the Seattle University Coalition for Educational Equality is co-sponsoring a panel discussion with several Seattle Public School teachers titled “Myths and Realities in American Public School Education Today – Seattle […]

Via the Washington Family Leave Coalition: California’s Paid Family Leave program – the first of only two state programs in the country that offer paid leave to workers when they take time off to care for a new child or sick family member – has received high marks from employers and employees alike. In a […]

In late 2010, the Restaurant Association, Farm Bureau and a handful of other corporate interest groups sought to block a scheduled minimum wage cost-of-living adjustment for 2011. Their challenge to Washington’s voter-approved law was denied — but that hasn’t stopped them from bringing their faulty economic theory and poor business practices to Washington’s legislature. House […]

This post excerpted from Restoring America’s Middle Class Starts with Keeping Social Security’s Promise || Part 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 Social Security is more important now than ever. Half of the workforce has no retirement plan other than Social Security. Traditional pensions have all but disappeared in the private sector. Americans have […]

Over 30,000 Washington homeowners lost their homes in 2009, 37,000 in 2010, and the Associated Press reports that 2011 is projected to be even worse, with 41,100 home foreclosures forecast. Many people could keep their homes if they could get their lender to work with them to come up with a modified loan. Doing so […]

This post excerpted from Restoring America’s Middle Class Starts with Keeping Social Security’s Promise || Part 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 Much ado is made over the projection that in addition to the payroll tax, Social Security will begin spending Trust Fund interest later this decade, drawing on the principal of the Trust […]