The Poverty Trap

This is the trailer for the PBS film that explores the concept of Corporate Welfare and how it helps corporations to thrive, and allows average working taxpayers to suffer. Crime and Punishment: Why the Poor Stay Poor In America is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber I first heard the words “corporate welfare” when S...

“I do care a great deal about the environment but my real work and my greatest challenge is trying to overcome deceits that end up jeopardizing public health and safety.” Erin Brockovich Yes, I admire the “real” Erin Brockovich because she’s clearly a fighter, and often put the common good over her own needs. And I love Erin Brockovich the movie because it told the truth. The film and the true sto...

I hope all of you who celebrated Thanksgiving or Indigenous Peoples’ Day… or nothing at all, are happy and content right now. I wanted to take a short break this week, so I thought I would re-share my first post for Crime amd Punishment: Why the Poor Stay Poor in America. This piece is important to me because it lays the groundwork for everything else I’ve written about: a robust support system al...

From the 1972 movie, “The Candidate” Some stories are timeless and resonate hundreds of years later. But why? Is it because the “human condition” doesn’t change, or humans are incapable of real change, or people are just too lazy to break from their patterns, no matter how destructive? For a more optimistic perspective, perhaps these stories tap into universal emotions like love, greed, hate, comp...

“The best journalists and writers do not simply relay information, their value is in discovering what really matters to people.” Nora Ephron I always keep this advice from the late author, Nora Ephron, in mind as I write posts for this newsletter. Although the issues I write about are important to me, it doesn’t mean that I can make it clear why these issues should be important to you and your fam...

Housing for All “In the richest country in the history of the world, every American must have a safe, decent, accessible, and affordable home as a fundamental right.” Senator Bernie Sanders Read about the Yellow Springs, Ohio Community Land Trust model here . One of the reasons I started this newsletter is to share with as many people as possible, what I have learned and continue to learn as an “i...

“I am glad to approve this legislation which is to be known as the Clean Air Act. It will make possible a national effort to control air pollution, a serious and growing threat to both our health and our safety. Ninety percent of the population of our cities, over 100 million people, already suffer from a degree of air pollution that demands immediate action.” President Lyndon Johnson, speaking af...

“The ultimate test of man's conscience may be his willingness to sacrifice something today for future generations whose words of thanks will not be heard.” — Gaylord Nelson (1916-2005), former governor of Wisconsin, founder of Earth Day “Conscience” and “sacrifice” are two concepts that have long seemed in short supply, at least from businesses. It’s not hard to understand why, though, because the...

“The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” William Faulkner A few days ago, I re-tweeted a piece by longtime contributing editor to Rolling Stone and now fellow Substack writer, Matt Taibbi, who interviewed author and activist, David Sirota, about his new podcast, “Meltdown”: Today, CNN journalist and host of “Reliable Sources”, Brian Stelter, also interviewed David Sirota about his new podcast...

“How many times must a man look up Before he can see the sky? Yes, ’n’ how many ears must one man have Before he can hear people cry? Yes, ’n’ how many deaths will it take till he knows That too many people have died?” Blowin’ in the Wind, Bob Dylan Listen to “His Bobness” sing the full song here. The words “moral document” have been used plenty of times before to refer to our budget, and most tim...

“The businessman wants to create something for everyone, which leads to products that are middle of the road,”… It becomes about consensus, and that’s why you rarely see the spark of genius.” Robert Brunner, Apple’s director of Industrial design from 1989-1996 Sometime in the early 1990’s, I went to a talk hosted by our local Chamber of Commerce, featuring Steve Jobs as the guest speaker. He had b...

“Universal basic income is not a solution in search of a problem - it is the obvious solution that has been in front of us for years. It only requires us to have the vision, empathy and courage to adopt it for the American people before it is too late.” Andrew Yang “Vision, empathy and courage” are three hefty words when applied to our government, and perhaps their implementation involves more hea...