EOI Updates If you’re LGBT, the U.S. government doesn’t care about you. It doesn’t even see you. June 13, 2018 / October 26, 2026 by Matthew Caruchet The Economic Opportunity Institute just released a new report on the gay wage gap in Washington State. Read it here. After same-sex marriage was legalized nationwide in 2015, many Americans came to the well-meaning but misguided conclusion that LGBT people were finally in the eyes of the government. But the American government has never cared […] Read more »
EOI Updates Socialist linchpin moody’s investors service blasts Amazon’s influence on Seattle June 1, 2018 / October 26, 2026 by Matthew Caruchet Karl Marx-inspired credit ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service issued a report this month saying that Amazon’s bullying tactics over Seattle’s newly-passed employee hours tax show it has too much influence over our city. The tax would require businesses with more than $20 million in annual revenue to pay about $275 per full-time employee, per year. […] Read more »
EOI Updates Amazon stopped construction because it’d pay 0.26% of its profits in taxes May 4, 2018 / October 26, 2026 by Matthew Caruchet Earlier this year, Amazon was secretly lobbying to stop equal pay for women, even though other tech companies like Microsoft supported it. But now Amazon is openly bullying the city, halting construction on buildings because the behemoth would have to pay 0.26 percent of its profits in local taxes to help solve the homelessness crisis […] Read more »
EOI Updates Your property tax hikes are charity for an important protected minority – the very wealthy April 5, 2018 / October 26, 2026 by Matthew Caruchet This week, the Seattle Times published an article detailing the travails of people who are leaving the region after the recent property tax increase because taxes have become too high. King County is seeing a nearly 17 percent property-tax increase on average, with Snohomish County seeing 16 percent, Kitsap County 12 percent and Pierce County […] Read more »
EOI Updates I’ve been paid 25 percent more because I’m a man February 12, 2018 / October 26, 2026 by Matthew Caruchet Washington State made wage discrimination based on gender illegal in 1943. But that law has never been amended, and isn’t really enforced, so women in Washington still make 76.5 percent of men’s earnings. On January 17, a bipartisan supermajority in the Washington House of Representatives passed the Equal Pay Opportunity Act, which has teeth so […] Read more »
EOI Updates Nipples – the new side of Jeff Bezos? January 18, 2018 / October 26, 2026 by Matthew Caruchet On Friday, the New York Times printed an article on Jeff Bezos’ recent attempts to create a personal brand. The article came on the heels of his and his wife’s $33 million donation to a nonprofit that provides college scholarships to Dreamers, young immigrants brought to the United States illegally as children. “Some of the […] Read more »
EOI Updates ‘A Christmas Carol’: Sending the poor to prison December 22, 2017 / October 30, 2026 by Matthew Caruchet When he was 12 years old in 1824, Charles Dickens worked 10-hour days in a rat-infested shoe-polish factory for six shillings a week. That’s the equivalent of £30.68 or $41.06 in 2017 currency. It was all the money he had to get by. His father, mother, and five siblings aged 2-11 were in prison because […] Read more »
EOI Updates Winter has come to Seattle, but we can fight it November 10, 2017 / October 26, 2026 by Matthew Caruchet In old mythology, during the reign of Zeus and Hera, there lived a large tribe of tiny people called the Pygmies. Only two and a half feet tall, they were industrious craftspeople, creating the finest silver, cotton and silk wares in the ancient world. But every winter, flocks of cranes would darken the sky. The […] Read more »
EOI Updates Dear Seattle: Having a rich neighbor won’t make you rich September 29, 2017 / October 26, 2026 by Matthew Caruchet Cheerleaders of “prosperity” have treated the economic boom in Seattle like sports fans. When the Seahawks won the Super Bowl in 2014, crowds filled the streets chanting, “We did it!” While the people in the street didn’t literally touch the ball or score a touchdown, they felt like they had accomplished something. Seattle’s growth is […] Read more »
EOI Updates New data show Affordable Care Act’s continued effectiveness in Washington September 16, 2017 / October 26, 2026 by Matthew Caruchet The number of people in Washington State without health insurance continued to drop in 2016, according to new data released this week by the Census Bureau. In fact, every state has seen a decrease in uninsured rates since the Affordable Care Act (ACA) came into effect. Overall, 94 percent of Washingtonians had health insurance in […] Read more »
