Afflicting the afflicted and comforting the comfortable

Here's a piece of mine for the Chronicle of Higher Education's Chronicle Review. This issue focused on an important subject:inequality. The article lists the ways that higher education hurts the poor and working class, and helps the elite:

It requires a subscription to read, but you can get to the article here. Thank you to my AD, Scott!

It's only speculation

This little piece is in the current issue of Mother Jones magazine, for an article on the proposed Financial Transaction Tax, which is a tiny tax on the sale of stocks, bonds and derivatives. Unlike sales taxes generally, which are basically regressive, an FTT would largely only affect the rich.

The tax is seen as a simple way of generating revenue, as well as curbing more destructive Wall Street behavior, like speculation via high-frequency trading (which was the culprit for the flash crash in May 2010, and others like it). The article even mentions Dean Baker, of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (who I linked to in a previous post about an FTT in Italy), who believes the tax could raise over $130 billion a year. Pick up a copy of Mother Jones and read all about it, along with some great stories, including Shane Bauer's experience as a private prison guard.
Here's my issue:

Thank you so much to my wonderful AD, Ivy!

Regarding He-Man and Warren Buffett

Wow! Two posts in one day. That's a record for me. Usually it's outstanding if I post twice a week. So here's my piece in the current Fortune:

The story is on the new social networking site Relationship Science, or RelSci. Interested? Well, do you also have an extra $3,000 to spend? No? Don't feel bad, neither do I. But that's what it costs for a yearly membership. The site is billed as a networking tool for the so-called Masters of the Universe. No, not He-Man and Man-At-Arms, more like Warren Buffett or Jeff Bezos. The super wealthy.

 
I took a peek at the RelSci website, and used their particular "connection" graphic to relate the piece to the company.

 The editors wanted to make sure we weren't suggesting LinkedIn with the illustration, as they're two completely different companies. Connecting the two tycoons' monocles worked out great. Thank you so much to my old buddy Josue, who ADed.