Guest Columns

Alabama Port Director Stars in Theatrical Coal Hearing

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Watch Video 13: State Docks Director Jimmy Lyons Argues For Coal Terminal – See more videos of the hearing here – “He displayed the serene confidence of a Christian holding four aces.” – – Mark Twain – By David Underhill – MOBILE, Ala. – The director of the Alabama State Port Authority glided smoothly through…

Antitrust in the New Gilded Age

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By Robert Reich – We’re in a new gilded age of wealth and power similar to the first gilded age when the nation’s antitrust laws were enacted. Those laws should prevent or bust up concentrations of economic power that not only harm consumers but also undermine our democracy — such as the pending Comcast acquisition…

President Obama’s Climate Action Plan Full of Good Ideas

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Coming Clean By Michael Brune Choose Wisely… We all make choices, and some turn out better than others do. But the choices we end up regretting the most are usually the ones we make against our better judgment. Both individually and collectively, we humans seem uniquely capable of acting as our own worst enemy. We…

Why the Minimum Wage Should be Raised to $15 an Hour

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By Robert Reich – Momentum is building to raise the minimum wage. Several states have already taken action. Connecticut has boosted it to $10.10 by 2017, the Maryland legislature just approved a similar measure, Minnesota lawmakers just reached a deal to hike it to $9.50. A few cities have been more ambitious — Washington, D.C.…

The Latest Jobs Report and the Supreme Court’s ‘McCutcheon’ Debacle

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By Robert Reich – What does the Supreme Court’s “McCutcheon” decision this week have to do with today’s jobs report, showing 192,000 new jobs for March? Connect the dots. More than five years after Wall Street’s near meltdown the number of full-time workers is still less than it was in December 2007, yet the working-age…

How Big Oil Controls Local Governments

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Whom Do You Serve? Thoughts on Local Government and Dirty Industries – By Brad Nolen – MOBILE, Ala. – We the people of Mobile have long been organized to safeguard and promote the flourishing of our fair community. And part and parcel to this organization we’ve put together was the hiring of a city councils,…

The State of The State: The Opinion of One Employed Alabamian-American

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Guest Column – By Brad Nolen – If you listened to Governor Bentley’s State of the State address, you probably noticed that he mainly thinks of us, Alabamians, as workers, not citizens. Also that mean old U.S. Government can’t help anyone and just wants in on the dysfunctional ménage a trois between Americans, health Insurers…