The new normal: Links & comment 2/26/14

I can remember when it was possible to live a life of dignity on a low income. I know people, including some of my first cousins, who say, “When I was growing up, we were poor, but I never know that we were poor.”

http://www.salon.com/2014/03/10/hi_im_right_here_an_open_letter_to_paul_ryan_about_poverty_and_empathy/

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/17/business/economy/low-wage-workers-finding-its-easier-to-fall-into-poverty-and-harder-to-get-out.html?hp&_r=2

I can remember when you could find out how much a medical treatment would cost just by asking your doctor.

http://www.protectpatientsblog.com/2014/03/more_frustration_in_medical_co.html

I can remember, as recently as the savings and loan crisis during the first Bush administration, when what Theodore Roosevelt called “the criminal rich class” were subject to prosecution.

http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/locking-up-the-banksters-its-not-hard

I can remember when corporations, no matter how powerful, were ultimately accountable to the governments of the countries in which they operated.

http://triplecrisis.com/new-study-shows-dangers-of-trade-agreements-that-help-corporations-sue-governments/

The new normal: Links & comments 3/17/14

I’m 77 years old, and, I can tell you, things weren’t always the way they are now.

I’m not saying that life back in the day was better in all respects, but I can remember when people could work in factories, earn a good living and have time left over for their families.

This is what a job in America’s new manufacturing industry looks like by Lydia Depillis for the Washington Post’s Wonkblog.

How Finance Gutted Manufacturing by Suzanne Berger for Boston Review.

I can remember when retail clerks worked for the same store for years and knew their customers personally.

My Life As a Retail Worker: Nasty, Brutish and Poor by Joseph Williams for The Atlantic.

I can remember when we Americans were took it for granted that all our public utilities worked, and mocked foreign countries where this wasn’t true.

Not Just New York: Gas Leaks Are a Problem All Over the U.S. by Francie Diep for Popular Science.

I can remember when people didn’t have to worry about information about the details of their lives going into data banks and being used against them.

When Health Costs Harm Your Credit by Elizabeth Rosenthal for The New York Times.

A vast hidden surveillance network runs across America, powered by the repo industry by Beta | Boston.

I can remember when economic growth benefited everyone – rich, poor and the middle class.

Wall Street’s 2013 Bonuses Exceeded Total Incomes of U.S. Minimum Wage Workers by Sarah Anderson for Other Worlds.

The “Paid What You’re Worth” Myth by Robert Reich.