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The idea that companies have a duty to address social ills is not just flawed, argues Aneel Karnani. It also makes it more likely that we'll ignore the real solutions to these problems.

By ANEEL
Wall Street Journal

Can companies do well by doing good? Yes—sometimes.

But the idea that companies have a responsibility to act in the public interest and will profit from doing so is fundamentally flawed.

Congressional Budget Office

By IANTHE JEANNE DUGAN
Wall Street Journal

Cities and states across the nation are selling and leasing everything from airports to zoos—a fire sale that could help plug budget holes now but worsen their financial woes over the long run.

California is looking to shed state office buildings. Milwaukee has proposed selling its water supply; in Chicago and New Haven, Conn., it's parking meters. In Louisiana and Georgia, airports are up for grabs.

Dallas privatized the operation of its zoo and now wants to sell the Farmers' Market and Fair Park.

Dreams of average Americans dashed by taxes, higher costs and little job security

By MICHAEL T. SNYDER
New York Post

The 25 statistics below prove that the middle class is being systematically wiped out of existence in America. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer at a staggering rate.

Press TV

The American middle class is on the verge of disappearing, while the United States, itself, is in danger of becoming a third world country, a leading German newspaper says.

According to an article appearing in the German newspaper, Der Spiegel, the negative consequences of the global financial crisis include a widened social class rift and the elimination of the middle class in the US.

By Chrystia Freeland
Huffington Post

By Dean Baker
Huffington Post

The middle class is getting whacked by the Great Recession. Fifteen million people are out of work, another 9 million workers can only find part-time jobs, and millions more have given up looking for work altogether. Those lucky enough to be employed are unlikely to see any substantial wage gains for years to come.

Collapse of middle class means there's no fuel for recovery, Gerald Celente argues

By Daniel Tencer
Raw Story

The US economic recovery in recent quarters is little more than a "cover-up" and the world is headed for a "Greatest Depression," complete with social unrest and class warfare, says a renowned economic forecaster.

Gerald Celente, head of the Trends Research Institute, told Yahoo!News' Tech Ticker that there's no risk of a "double-dip recession" because the first "dip" never ended.

By Robert B. Reich
Politcio

Mitt Romney is smart enough not to join Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin in using the proposed mosque at ground zero to to lauch a presidential bid. While Gingrich is busy comparing Muslims to Nazis (“Nazis don’t have the right to put up a sign next to the holocaust museum in Washington”), and Palin is calling on New Yorkers to “refudiate” the plan (she subsequently corrected her word choice), Romney is offering an economic plan.

That’s a wise choice. Mitt knows Americans don’t care about mosques in Manhattan. They care about money in their own mitts.

By James Lamont in New Delhi and Joe Leahy in Mumbai
Financial Times

Call centre workers are becoming as cheap to hire in the US as they are in India, according to the head of the country’s largest business process outsourcing company.

High unemployment levels have driven down wages for some low-skilled outsourcing services in some parts of the US, particularly among the Hispanic population.

At the same time, wages in India’s outsourcing sector have risen by 10 per cent this year and senior outsourcing managers based in the country command salaries above global averages.

By Robert Field
NewsLanc

An article “Past Peak Prosperity” from a prominent Sunday News columnist reflects:

Popular Daily News

Who cares how the rich spend their money? Well, perhaps we should these days. Consumer spending accounts for roughly two-thirds of United States. Gross domestic product or the value of all goods and services produced in the nation. And spending by the rich now accounts for the largest share of consumer outlays in at least 20 years.

The top 5% of Americans by income account for 37% of all consumer outlays. Outlays include consumer spending, interest payments on installment debt and transfer payments, according to new research from Moody’s Analytics.

By MARGARET KIMBERLEY
Counterpunch

By Dean Baker
Truthout

If there were any doubts about the health of the economy, two reports issued in the last ten days should have eliminated them. First the second quarter GDP showed the economy growing at just a 2.4 percent annual rate. Then the Labor Department reported on Friday that the economy created just 12,000 jobs in July after removing the impact of temporary Census employees. Both reports are really bad news about the economy’s near-term prospects.

By Rebecca Abrahams
Huffington Post

Election fraud attorney Bob Fitrakis is sending letters today to attorneys representing the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and American Crossroads requesting that they retain all documents, emails, accounting records and other records. This "document hold" is the first step toward legal action based on the groups' alleged laundering of illegal campaign contributions from large corporations.

By CARL HULSE
NY Times

WASHINGTON — The Senate on Thursday approved $26 billion in aid to states and school districts to prevent the layoffs of tens of thousands of teachers and government workers while allocating $600 million to strengthen border security as senators headed toward an August recess.

Both measures require approval by the House, which is being rushed back into session next Tuesday from its own extended August break to consider the state and local aid that had been caught up in a partisan impasse.

By ERIC LIPTON
NY Times

WASHINGTON — Nearly a dozen current or former lawmakers have been honored by university endowments financed in part by corporations with business before Congress, posing some potential conflicts like that attributed to Representative Charles B. Rangel in an House ethics complaint.

The donations from businesses to the endowments ranged from modest amounts to millions of dollars, federal records show. And the lawmakers, who include powerful committee chairmen or party leaders, often pushed legislation or special appropriations sought by the corporations.

By changing their measurement of progress, Marylanders can see for themselves whether chasing the benefits of continued economic growth is worth the costs.

By Scott Gast
YES! Magazine

The Daily Beast

Economists Manifesto