Grocery and big-box retailers in New York City will be required to contribute a set minimum to their employees’ health insurance, under an ordinance passed by the City Council on a 46 to 1 vote. … Read More
On June 27, the Supreme Court ruled that cable companies have the sole authority to decide who may use their high-speed communications networks. They can decide what information to transmit, and what information they will refuse to transmit.
The decision clears the way for the FCC to allow phone companies to monopolize their own information highways. And it underscores the need for communities to build their own information infrastructure.
Both cable and phone companies want to sign up as many Internet subscribers as possible because in the near future, phone, television and Internet will all be offered through the same broadband connection. … Read More
The New Economics Foundation’s Alternative Mansion House Speech, given by Stacy Mitchell in May 2005.
PORTLAND, ME [June 28, 2005]—Hundreds of Maine workers employed by Wal-Mart are enrolled in the state’s public assistance programs, including Medicaid, Food Stamps, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, according to data released by the Maine Department of Health and Human Services. … Read More
More than 40 percent of the towns surveyed for a new report by the London-based New Economics Foundation are so overrun by chain stores that they have lost their local identity and become little more than "clone towns." … Read More
Two proposals unanimously passed by the legislature and signed into law earlier this month by Washington’s Governor, Christine Gregoire, should put distributed generation and renewable energy on the fast track in the state. The first bill (SB 5101) establishes a renewable energy production incentive that is larger if the equipment comes from in-state manufacturers. The second bill (SB 5111) provides corporate tax breaks for solar energy businesses in the state based on their sales.
Watching minutes, ignoring hours by David Morris Originally published in Minneapolis Star Tribune, May 1, 2005 A few years ago the following tongue-in-cheek economics lesson made the rounds of mainstream news journals: Bill Gates would lose money if, on his way to work, he stopped to pick up a $100 bill. Why? Over his business career … Read More
Voters in San Luis Obispo, California, have defeated a 650,000-square-foot big-box shopping center.
The Marketplace project, which included a Target, Lowe’s, Whole Foods, Old Navy, Circuit City, and several other chains, was to be built on 130 acres of prime farmland at the gateway to the city. San Luis Obispo has a population of 45,000 and is located about halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Three Philadelphia City Councilors—David Cohen, Richard Mariano and Frank DiCicco—have introduced an ordinance that would bar "predatory superstores" from locating within the city. The ordinance defines predatory superstores as any store over 180,000 square feet or any store over 90,000 square feet that devotes more than 10 percent of its floor space to nontaxable grocery items.… Read More
