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Society’s Decay Rewards Wrongdoers

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By Ralph Nader

Told you so.

Some might deem it celebratory to utter this phrase, as if one is boasting about their own clever foresight. But when it comes to serious matters — matters that affect millions of people, their jobs, their health, and their livelihoods, there is no satisfaction in being right about predicting bad conditions. It’s much better to predict good news. But as it now stands in our country, many problems that emerged years ago have developed into sheer catastrophes, despite the many warnings of forward-thinking experts, scholars and observers.

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New Report Shows More Than $300,000 Lost in Wages Per Worker

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Lost Wages: Over a Quarter Million Reasons to Increase the Inflation-Gutted Minimum Wage:  New Report Reveals the Amount of Wages a Minimum Wage Worker Has Been Deprived of Since 1968 June 13, 2013 A new report, Lost Wages, released today by the Center for Study of Responsive Law’s TimeForARaise.org project, revealed that a single minimum … Read more

Reining in the Corporation

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By Ralph Nader “We don’t use tax gimmicks” said Apple CEO Tim Cook this past Tuesday during a speech at a tech conference. This statement came just one week after congressional investigators released a report that documented how Apple, using a vast array of offshore subsidiaries, avoided paying their share in taxes to Uncle Sam. … Read more

Legalize Hemp — It’s Long Overdue

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By Ralph Nader A bipartisan legislative movement toward legalizing the growing of industrial hemp is finally on the rise. Last week, the Vermont General Assembly voted to lift a state statute that banned the growing of industrial hemp. While this, if enacted, would allow Vermont farmers to grow hemp under state law, it is still … Read more

Seeking Sustainability

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By Ralph Nader “Sustainability,” the late Ray Anderson–founder and chairman of Interface Inc. –once told theNew York Times, “doesn’t cost, it pays.” After his “conversion experience” on the harmful effects his modular carpet business had on the environment, Anderson redirected his corporate philosophy to focus on the noble goal of absolute sustainability. Through his efforts, … Read more

The Plight of the Postal Service

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By Ralph Nader The United States Postal Service is in a freefall due to poor management, a starkly shortsighted, paralyzed Congressional leadership, and the steady march of right wing ideologues. Corporate competitors who advance corporatization have severely eroded the historic institution created by Benjamin Franklin; one that currently delivers over 150 billion pieces of mail … Read more

Boston, Texas and Corporate Criminal Justice

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By Ralph Nader

The Boston Marathon bombings killed three and injured more than 180. The West, Texas industrial explosion killed at least 14 and injured more than 180. Guess which one drew the greater media and law enforcement response?

If it turns out that the West, Texas explosion is the result of a “terrorist act,” expect federal law enforcement officials and the mass media to fly to Texas from Boston. But until then, don’t expect much.

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The Regulatory Nullification and the Cruelty of Big Business

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By Ralph Nader

It’s time to start paying close attention to the mechanisms of the deregulation machine. For the past 30 years, the business lobbies have pushed Congress and the executive branch to disassemble the regulatory system that has protected us from the worst excesses of Wall Street and Big Business. The catastrophic effects of this dismantling are well known — the misbehavior of Wall Street brought us the financial collapse, the global recession, and the dominance of the largest banks being both “Too Big to Fail” and their culpable executives “Too Big to Jail”.

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Enlist the Enlightened Super-Rich!

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By Ralph Nader

You often hear progressives bemoaning the massive war chests of the right-wing funders, particularly after their successful backing of the boisterous Tea Party movement. But a common mistake made by the left is not adequately focusing on cultivating their own likeminded super-rich to provide the necessary resources to advance their own noble causes. It would only take a few enlightened mega-billionaires to provide the major funding needed to shift power from the few to the many and to get the ball rolling on long overdue, fundamental solutions to our country’s biggest problems.

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