News & Stories

Guest blogger: Stan Sorscher, Seattle, WA Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 America is focused on our banking crisis, the deepening recession and the trillion dollars demanded from taxpayers to avert even worse problems. We should look ahead to the recovery. What policies and mechanisms will restore prosperity? Conventional economic wisdom failed to […]

From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer: We applaud the long history, investigative journalism, and incisive and wise editorial work of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Even in the face of its impending closure, the P-I continues to be a central voice for improving our society and pointing out the pathway we need to take. Next month we presume we […]

Do Americans want government health care reform?: As President Barack Obama hosts a Thursday summit at the White House on health care reform, recent national polling suggests that nearly three out of four Americans support government programs to improve the country’s health care system. | CNN Obama takes on health care reform: President Barack Obama […]

Our current health care system has finally reached its tipping point. The cycle of higher premiums and lowered benefits have forced many businesses to cut back significantly on employer contributions or altogether abandon employee health care plans. As people lose employer coverage, more turn to Medicaid—increasing financial strain on government health care programs that already […]

Rerpinted from the Everett Herald: My neighbor across the street thought he was all set for retirement. Then the housing crash and the stock market slide took away his part-time job as a small contractor and the nest egg he had built up for the future. So now he’s driving around prescriptions for a local […]

Last year, even with a budget surplus, public outrage nixed a tax break sought by Microsoft and Yahoo for server farms in Eastern Washington. (The WaPoWa post – and P-I column – on it is still current reading.) This year we’ve got a hole in the state budget big enough to swallow 25% of the […]

Seattle P-I | I woke up this morning, made the coffee and walked out to get the P-I. As I began reading the headlines, I started thinking and moping about its presumed demise. Bad enough that it merged local with national news and business with sports. But in a month, we will most likely have […]

Check out this debate between Ellen Bravo of 9to5 and Tim Sheehy of the Milwaukee Metropolitan Association of Commerce (MMAC) discussing the benefits of Milwaukee’s new paid sick leave law. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RK59QADy9KU]

Workplace insurance (a.k.a. L & I) might not grab headlines the way an $8 billion revenue shortfall does, but it affects every worker and business in Washington. “Retro” is an L & I program that lets employers pool risk in exchange for improving safety records. Last year, a review of Retro found a coding error […]

Economists urge Legislature to raise taxes to deal with budget: Twenty-two of them signed a letter to Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown and many of them will be meeting with Brown today. | Publicola House Dems say they may put tax increase on ballot: House Democratic leaders say they’ll likely propose sending Washington voters a […]

Everett Herald | Real Change News | Abraham Lincoln was born 200 years ago last Friday. Lincoln began his presidency intent, as were most white citizens, on the preservation of the union rather than the defeat of slavery. But the war itself, in a prolonged, agonizing effort, delivered the death knell to slavery in our […]

Abraham Lincoln was born 200 years ago today.  We celebrate Lincoln as our president, our leader who achieved victory for the union in the civil war, and is so doing delivered the death knell to slavery in our country. He was as much a receiver of events as a maker of our world.  In the […]

Food stamps, tax breaks for poor in stimulus bill: More than 37 million Americans live in poverty, and the vast majority of them are in line for extra help under the giant stimulus package coming out of Congress. Millions more could be kept from slipping into poverty by the economic lifeline. Gregoire: State deficit could […]

Washington State is poised to repeat the mistakes of the past by slashing public services – and jobs – which could deepen and prolong the effects of the recession locally. Using state economic data through year-end 2008, a new analysis by the Economic Opportunity Institute emphasizes the severity of this recession, and notes that current […]

Combing the tax code to find every possible (legal!) deduction, offset or credit is a time-honored tradition for Americans during income tax season. But our tax laws don’t treat all income equally — which means some people pay far less than their fair share.

For the first time in many years, Americans are saving money. As families are threatened by loss of jobs, shrinking health coverage, and diminishing retirement savings, their natural inclination is to cut back consumption to avoid deeper debt, and have a little “rainy day” money. In general, saving money is a good thing. But at […]