Published on Wednesday, December 16, 2015 by Common Dreams by Andrea Germanos, staff writer For the 12th year in a row, Norway has earned the honor of being listed as the best country in the world to live. The ranking appears in the United Nations Development Programme’s 2015 Human Development Report. The agency uses the Human Development Index (HDI) […]
Published on Sunday, December 06, 2015 by Common Dreams by Jon Queally, staff writer As a way to improve living standards and boosts its economy, the nation of Finland ismoving closer towards offering all of its adult citizens a basic permanent income of approximately 800 euros per month. “Basic income would increase everybody’s capacity to cope with financial shocks […]
Published on Monday, November 30, 2015 by Common Dreams by Lauren McCauley, staff writer Influential French economist Thomas Piketty is raising important questions this week after positing a theory that the rise of the Islamic State (or ISIS) can be attributed, at least in part, to extreme regional inequality in the Middle East fueled largely by oil wealth. Piketty […]
Published on Wednesday, October 21, 2015 by Common Dreams by Deirdre Fulton, staff writer Striking a blow against sweetheart tax deals that unfairly benefit large multinational corporations, the European Union ruled Wednesday that Starbucks and Fiat must repay up to 30 million euros ($34 million) each in tax breaks they received from EU nations. The decision is seen as […]
Published on Tuesday, September 22, 2015 by Common Dreams by Sarah Lazare, staff writer The mammoth Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) under secret negotiation between the United States and European Union is poised to slash the power of local governments to regulate toxins—from pesticides to fracking chemicals—the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) warned in a report released […]
Published on Thursday, August 27, 2015 by Common Dreams by Deirdre Fulton, staff writer In what is being described as “one of the biggest labor decisions of the Obama administration,” the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on Thursday expanded its “joint-employer” standard, paving the way for unions to organize on a much broader scale—and striking fear into the hearts […]
Published on Monday, August 10, 2015 by Common Dreams by Sarah Lazare, staff writer Discriminatory housing, zoning, and other policy choices are driving the dramatic rise of racialized poverty and segregation across the United States, with the number of people residing in low-income “ghettos, barrios, and slums” nearly doubling in the 21st century alone, a new report finds. Architecture […]
Published on Tuesday, August 04, 2015 by Common Dreams by Deirdre Fulton, staff writer Despite lofty rhetoric from politicians who vowed in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis to hold Wall Street accountable, U.S. Justice Department statistics show a “long-term collapse” of federal white collar crime prosecutions, which are down to their lowest level in 20 years, according […]
Published on Monday, August 03, 2015 by Common Dreams by Deirdre Fulton, staff writer “A message needs to be sent to the world of banking,” said UK Judge Jeremy Cooke on Monday as he handed down a 14-year sentence to former Citibank and UBS trader Tom Hayes, convicted in a London court on eight counts of conspiring to manipulate […]
Published on Wednesday, July 15, 2015 by Common Dreams by Deirdre Fulton, staff writer Thanks to “foot dragging by the Securities and Exchange Commission” combined with “aggressive lobbying and legal challenges by oil industry laggards,” a U.S. law meant to increase transparency around fossil fuel operations in developing countries has been stalled for nearly five years, charges a new […]