Arun Gupta – The West Coast Is the World’s 5th Largest Economy. Can it Unite to Stop Big Oil?

Rex Parris, the three-term Republican mayor of Lancaster, California, is no squishy liberal. “I believe when you walk out the door of your home, you should be safe. I think capitalism is the best economic system we have available, and the United States should have the strongest military in the world.” But when it comes to climate change, Parris calls …

Demand for Organics Shows *No Sign of Slowing* After Double Digit Growth

Monsanto isn’t cheering the news that U.S. organic food sales have approached $37 billion annually, up 12% from just a year ago, but the trend shows no sign of slowing. This double-digit growth is expected well into the future, suggests aNutrition Business Journal report. [1] Due to pressure from individuals, the annual growth of organic food sales for the nation has exceeded …

New Report Links Pesticides Used in Combination Near California Schools to Increased Cancer Risk

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – A new report by the University of California – Los Angeles (UCLA) has shown an increase in cancer risk from fumigant pesticides frequently used in combination near schools. In response to the report’s findings, a coalition of parents, health professionals, teachers, and food advocates has urged state policymakers to create stronger protections for schoolchildren across the state. …

Peter Van Buren – Nickel and Dimed in 2016

When presidential candidate Bernie Sanders talks about income inequality, and when other candidates speak about the minimum wage and food stamps, what are they really talking about? Whether they know it or not, it’s something like this. My Working Life Then A few years ago, I wrote about my experience enmeshed in the minimum-wage economy, chronicling the collapse of good people who …

Peter Stone – Koch brothers convene donor retreat as dark money spending set to soar

The billionaire Koch brothers are set to convene one of their famed retreats this weekend for several hundred of their fellow super-rich conservatives in Palm Springs, California, as observers forecast a record year for secret donations, dubbed dark money, to Koch-backed groups and other outfits from the NRA to the League of Conservation Voters. “Given the trends we’re seeing, we wouldn’t be …

BofA: The Oil Crash Is Kicking Off One of the Largest Wealth Transfers In Human History

 Economists are still hotly debating whether the oil crash has been a net positive for advanced economies. Optimists argue that cheap oil is a good thing for consumers and commodity-sensitive businesses, while pessimists point to the hit to energy-related investment and possible spillover into the financial system. A new note from Francisco Blanch at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, however, …

Jeannette Wicks-Lim – Is a $15 Minimum Wage Economically Feasible?

Campaigns like 15Now and Fight for $15 are bucking convention and demanding minimum-wage hikes far larger than what has been past practice. Take, for example, the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007—one of the larger sets of increases in the federal minimum. This Act raised the federal wage floor by 40% in three steps: from $5.15 to $5.85 in 2007, …

Toxic exposures caused illness in gulf war veterans, new report says

Twenty-five years after 700,000 U.S. troops fought and won the first Gulf War with remarkably low casualties, research “clearly and consistently” shows that exposure to pesticides and other toxins caused Gulf War Illness, a complex and debilitating disorder that affects as many as 250,000 of those deployed, according to a new report led by a Boston University School of Public …

Kelly Brogan – Immunity: The Emerging Truth

In Humble Awe of Human Complexity Eastern wisdom tells us that when we think we know, we don’t. But when we admit ignorance, we achieve enlightenment. The most profound part of my departure from conventional medicine has been the depths of my surrender to all that we do not, cannot, and must not understand about the body and its experience. Humble …