Street Smart Economics is a periodic series written for Street Roots by professors emeriti in economics.
Street Smart Economics
Opinion | Tax cuts won’t bring back Portland’s downtown
Street Smart Economics | High tech, not high taxes, Emptied the city’s downtown
Opinion | Solutions for Portland’s budget crisis
Street Smart Economics | Portland has a representative City Council that is much more varied by ethnicity, gender and class than ever before. There are both short and long term solutions to explore.
Opinion | The false promise of artificial intelligence
Street Smart Economics | Factual errors and environmental impacts, a case for pushing back against tech companies urging AI use
Opinion | Why the AI craze shouldn’t continue unchecked
Street Smart Economics | Driven by profit — and requiring an unbelievable amount of resources — artificial intelligence isn’t a public good
Feeling the heat: Capitalism and global warming
Street Smart Economics | Expecting market forces to address climate change is unrealistic and ineffective
Opinion | Proposals for our local governments’ economic agenda
Street Smart Economics | We need leaders who will steer toward a more inclusive, prosperous and sustainable economy
Opinion | Portland does not have the highest taxes in the country
Street Smart Economics | The city’s ‘high’ taxes are a beloved talking point of those who seek to gut services, but the numbers tell a different story
Opinion | Shortcomings in US labor law and its impact on union’s first contracts
Street Smart Economics | The scales of justice are weighted against workers
Opinion | Green capitalism is not a solution — don’t buy it
Street Smart Economics | Polluters try to sell you on the idea of buying a solution without seeking actionable change
Opinion | Support Portland teachers as they bargain for us all
Street Smart Economics | Portland Public Schools is shortchanging our children, our teachers and our schools
Opinion | Claims stating downtown’s pandemic recovery is prolonged lack evidence
Street Smart Economics | The narrative that downtown Portland isn’t recovering as quickly as other city centers is based on a flawed study, writes economist Mary King
Opinion | The kids are not alright
Street Smart Economics | From a lack of resources to a movement for child labor, growing up in the US is bad and getting worse
Opinion | The bipartisan embrace of US militarism
Street Smart Economics | While Democratic and Republican lawmakers squabble over the debt ceiling, they can always agree on one thing: more military funding
Opinion | Big Real Estate Investors Funding Opposition to Eviction Representation
Street Smart Economics | Monied interests are pushing a false narrative about Eviction Representation for All
Opinion | Attacks continue, but social security is strong
Street Smart Economics | The U.S. Social Security system should be improved, not eliminated
OPINION | The consequences of at-will employment
Street Smart Economics | In the US, bosses can fire workers for any or no reason — it doesn’t have to be this way
Opinion | Eviction representation for all is essential
Street Smart Economics | Legal representation for tenants facing evictions can mitigate the power imbalance between tenants and landlords in court
Opinion | We need a new unemployment insurance system
Street Smart Economics | The current unemployment system is punitive, inefficient and ineffective. It also favors businesses over workers.
Opinion | TriMet Should eliminate fares, not increase them
Street Smart Economics | TriMet is moving in the wrong direction when many other cities and countries are implementing free transit with success
Opinion | The Supreme Court: Working hard to make a business-friendly America
STREET SMART ECONOMICS | Business needs and desires are promoted as consistent with American values and enshrined into law
Opinion | Labor law failings and reviving the labor movement
Labor laws became more pro-business over time, but it’s possible to turn the tide
Opinion | Abortion is an economic issue
Three-quarters of abortion patients are poor or low-income and cannot afford another child
Opinion | It’s past time for a $15 federal minimum wage
It’s been nearly 13 years since the last federal minimum wage increase. A $15 minimum wage would raise the earnings of 32 million workers.
Opinion | Big finance continues to threaten our survival
Don’t believe the hype surrounding ESG investing
Opinion | Using austerity to fight inflation falls short
New policies that better support workers and employ more people are needed
OPINION | The costs of inequality are higher than you think
STREET SMART ECONOMICS | Organizing and exposing the maldistribution of power is vital
OPINION | Noncompete agreements restrict employment freedom for workers
It’s the bosses game: heads they win, tails you lose
Opinion | Guaranteed income can solve U.S. poverty
STREET SMART ECONOMICS | A team of researchers proposes the IRS make monthly payments to lower-income families to move every household above the poverty line
Opinion | Black Lives Matter protests have saved lives, study finds
STREET SMART ECONOMICS | This research legitimizes efforts in Portland and beyond to defund the police
Opinion | IRS audits the poor, ignoring wealthy tax dodgers and big corporations
STREET SMART ECONOMICS | Investing in enforcement of tax laws could bring in over a trillion dollars in government revenue
Opinion | The failings of our unemployment insurance system are there by design
STREET SMART ECONOMICS | It is hard to celebrate a system that covers fewer than 30% of America’s jobless
Opinion | Look to Washington state for ways to fund affordable housing
STREET SMART ECONOMICS | Prepare to step up locally, in case the feds don’t
Opinion | Big corporations offered pandemic hazard pay — until customers stopped paying attention
STREET SMART ECONOMICS | Most ended the additional pay for frontline retail workers before July
Opinion | Oregon lawmakers can ease economic inequality
STREET SMART ECONOMICS | The pandemic widened the gap between rich and poor, but the Legislature could provide remedies
Opinion | Fewer deaths from COVID-19 among unionized nursing homes
STREET SMART ECONOMICS | By protecting themselves, workers can better protect the people they serve
Opinion | Keeping people in their place: The economics of racial violence
STREET SMART ECONOMICS | Shifts in policy appear more possible now than they have in decades
Opinion | We must challenge militarism in efforts to defund police
U.S. defense spending and the resulting militarization of our nation’s police forces dwarf investments in actual needs, such as housing and social services
Opinion | No coincidence that redlined areas are now heat islands
STREET SMART ECONOMICS | Efforts to confront racism should extend to the fight for climate justice
Economic devastation from COVID-19 did not have to be this bad
COMMENTARY | The feds should pay people to stay home while investing in a long-term recovery plan
Back to normal is not good enough; we need a new economy
COMMENTARY | The failings of our current system are only accentuated by the coronavirus crisis
Business interests fighting Metro tax for homeless services are short on the facts
COMMENTARY | Their real goal may be to stop us from making them pay their fair share
U.S. military depends on fuel – and has the carbon footprint to prove it
COMMENTARY | As the largest greenhouse gas emitter in the world, America’s military must be reined in
Opinion | The real impact of universal preschool and a tax on the 5%
STREET SMART ECONOMICS | Pre-K education should be the right of all of our children
A wealth tax? It could work in the U.S.
COMMENTARY | We need more funding for public programs; we also need to address the obscene concentration of wealth
Baby boomers are ready to retire – if only they could afford to
COMMENTARY | With big businesses unwilling to bring back pensions or raise wages, seniors are left with tough decisions, and younger generations are left behind
Wall Street speculators and the loss of affordable housing
COMMENTARY | Investment giants are inflating Portland housing prices, a local expert argues
Like NAFTA, USMCA trade deal is about corporate globalization
COMMENTARY | Beware of biased methodology and bogus assumptions about the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement
PERS reform sticks it to teachers, other underpaid public employees
COMMENTARY | Oregon business lobbyists scapegoat public workers while ignoring corporate responsibility for budget cuts
The economy is tough on millennials, so they fight back
COMMENTRY | It’s true: These young adults are faring worse than earlier generations
Big money prevents real progress on rent stabilization
COMMENTARY | Oregon’s new law is nothing compared to efforts in some U.S. cities
What politicians get wrong – or do not care – about us
COMMENTARY | Thanks in part to corporate lobbying, lawmakers think constituents are more conservative than they are
Gutting workers’ rights with mandatory arbitration
COMMENTARY | Don’t count on the courts to protect you
The price we pay for militarism
COMMENTARY | The United States’ massive military spending means less money for everything else
Public school teacher strikes show workplace organizing pays off
COMMENTARY | Changing the balance of power to produce meaningful gains
Labor: Time is now to endorse a Green New Deal
COMMENTARY | The imminent threat of climate change means globalization is now a necessity, not a convenience
Local strategies to fight the federal government’s class war
COMMENTARY | State and local taxes on the rich could support affordable housing, child care, health care in Oregon
The case for doing away with NAFTA
COMMENTARY | The controversial trade agreement is set for renegotiation. Could this be the year we finally put our foot down?
We can fix global trade and create social, worker benefits
COMMENTARY | Government, not corporations, should manage trade policy in the U.S.
‘We can choose peace’: The need for new U.S.-Korea policy
COMMENTARY | Historically, it’s the United States – not North Korea – that has undermined diplomacy
Fix Portland’s housing crisis: Tax big businesses and the wealthy
COMMENTARY | They’ve been enormously enriched for decades while taxes on the 1 percent have fallen
A measured approach to globalization
COMMENTARY | Restoring prudent regulations for U.S. employers is the first step
Our fading American Dream and what we can do about it
COMMENTARY | Efforts to speed economic growth are not the solution
A progressive economic agenda for Portland
COMMENTARY | With two city council seats open in 2018, these initiatives could be included in a progressive platform
Corporate-sponsored globalization is not free trade
COMMENTARY | While multinational corporations benefit, less skilled workers, less developed countries and other Americans are harmed
The attack on labor unions – and why they matter
COMMENTARY | Improving our quality of life will require rebuilding union strength
On taxes, corporations win, Oregonians lose – once again
COMMENTARY | Measure 97 would have prevented businesses from passing a tax increase on to consumers. Instead, we’re left with a ‘bipartisan’ tax proposal that amounts to a gift to big corporations.
Rent stabilization: It’s Portland’s time
COMMENTARY | 200 U.S. cities have successful programs that could serve as models for Portland
Social Security works; don’t let Trump destroy it
COMMENTARY | There are many reasons to dismiss a declaration of crisis
Oregon must face facts and overhaul our tax system
COMMENTARY | By underfunding health care and education, Oregon is on a fast track to becoming Appalachia West