News & Stories

The Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) has just released a new report on the importance of Social Security titled Social Security: Vital to Retirement Security for 35 Million Women and Men. Their research finds that Social Security provides benefits to more than 85% of men and women over the age of 65. But that’s […]

FACT: In the United States nearly 14% of Americans live in poverty – about 40 million people — compared to 6% in France, 8% in Britain, and 5% or less in Germany, Sweden and Belgium. Twenty percent of American children live below the poverty line, as do nearly 23% of the elderly, the highest figure […]

FACT: Europe’s energy efficiency is the best in the world. As a result of widespread implementation of conservation and renewable technologies, Europe’s ecological “footprint” (the amount of the earth’s capacity that a population consumes) is about half that of the United States for the same standard of living. The European landscape is being transformed slowly […]

SEATTLE – It’s like juggling three flaming torches – Washington legislators can make further cuts to state services and programs, enact tax increases or close tax loopholes. This week at a special session, the lawmakers will try to agree on a combination of actions to balance the state budget without burning anyone. The group Fuse […]

FACT: Europe is completely capitalist, not socialist, with more Fortune 500 companies and more small businesses than in the U.S. But Europe has figured out how to harness capitalism’s tremendous wealth-creating capacity so that its prosperity is broadly shared. Key to this harnessing are practices of economic democracy known as “codetermination,” “supervisory boards,” “works councils” […]

FACT: For their taxes, Europeans receive a seemingly endless list of benefits and services for which Americans must pay extra, out-of-pocket, via premiums, deductibles, hidden fees, tuition and other charges, in addition to our taxes. For example, many Americans who have health care coverage are paying escalating premiums and deductibles, while Europeans receive health care […]

FACT: Hardly a welfare state, Europe’s economy and comprehensive social system are two halves of a well-designed “social capitalism” that is better geared than America’s “Wall Street capitalism” to support families and individuals, and keep them healthy and productive.  Europeans are supported with quality health care, more job training, child care, paid sick leave, a […]

Making assumptions is a necessary part of an economist’s work — but that’s no excuse for failing to reveal them when you make your case for a particular public policy choice, as Kriss Sjoblom does in his recent Seattle Times column when he asserts: …tax hikes will cost Washingtonians jobs and depress the economy. The […]

Steven Hill is a political writer and director of the Political Reform Program at the New America Foundation. He has appeared on numerous national and local radio and television programs. His latest book is: “Europe’s Promise: Why the European Way Is the Best Hope for an Insecure Age.” He presented in Seattle on March 15, […]

FACT: Europe has the largest economy in the world, producing nearly a third of the world’s economic output, almost as large as the United States and China combined. It has more Fortune 500 companies than the U.S. and China combined, and some of the most competitive national economies in the world, according to the World […]

FACT: Greece, along with the other so-called PIIGS countries of Portugal, Italy, Ireland and Spain, have large budget deficits, but that is to be expected after a global economic collapse in which “prime the pump” government spending is playing a key role in stimulating the economy. While alarming,  Greece’s deficit at 12.7% is not that […]

Some 7.8 million workers who were infected with the H1N1 influenza virus between September and November 2009 worked while sick, despite official warnings to stay home and avoid infecting others, according to a report released by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, a Washington, D.C., think tank. (Occupational Safety and Health Daily) In the report […]

As the Obama Administration works up its 12,487th plan for keeping underwater homeowners in their homes, Arizona’s legislature may have the courage and good sense to do the obvious: let foreclosed homeowners stay in their home as renters. A bill was just introduced in legislature that would allow homeowners in houses that sell for less […]

That noise you hear is the sound of heads exploding over at the offices of the Washington Policy Center when reading last week’s Puget Sound Business Journal, in which EOI’s policy director Marilyn Watkins writes: Contrary to what some pundits are saying, the best bet to spur private sector jobs is to raise taxes as […]

From the Everett Herald: It is not just the cherry trees blossoming in Olympia. Our legislators are shaking off the winter doldrums. They know that public structures like education for our kids and basic health care are good things, necessary elements of a modern democracy and a vibrant economy. And they realize that cutting services […]

Witness mad macroeconomic skillz in “Fear the Boom and Bust” — wherein John Maynard Keynes and F. A. Hayek, two of the great economists of the 20th century, come back to life to attend an economics conference on the economic crisis. But before the conference begins, at the insistence of Lord Keynes, they go out […]

There are millions of working moms like Eva. Unable to find a job and kicked off welfare, she sells her food stamps to buy basic necessities. She is inches from losing her meager living in the middle of the worst recession in decade — and a lack of paid sick days contributed to her downward […]

From Slate.com: Central to the intellectual debate about marginal tax rates has been the question of whether higher rates discourage people from working. President Reagan is famously reported to have observed that, as an actor, once he hit the top marginal rate—then 91 percent—he stopped making movies for the rest of the year. The result […]

Governor Gregoire’s proposed revenue package is a good start toward restoring cuts to essential public services – but doesn’t go far enough. Under the Governor’s proposal, we’ll still have: over 90,000 working people on the wait list for the Basic Health Plan; low-income children cut off from access to quality daycare – while already underpaid […]

From the Puget Sound Business Journal: Our Legislature’s chief concern as it wrestles with how to close the $2.6 billion budget gap should be protecting and creating jobs. Contrary to what some pundits are saying, the best bet to spur private sector jobs is to raise taxes as much as necessary to maintain state spending. […]

Reprinted from the Everett Herald: Who is getting hurt most in this recession? It’s the workers among us who earn “too much” to qualify for Medicaid and food stamps, but don’t get much help from their employers for health care or any other benefits, for that matter. They make between $10 and $15 an hour […]

With the legislative cut-off just behind us and less than a month to go until the end of the session, legislators are getting down to business. Early learning issues have been a hot topic in this year’s short supplemental session. Four bills were introduced at the start of the session, two in each legislative chamber […]

President’s Day in Olympia was celebrated with rallies by two different groups, each delivering a different message to our state legislators and Governor. At 10 a.m. the first rally of TEA Partiers kicked off with some solid gold oldies and and no shortage of talk about limiting the role of government. A common theme with […]