Author: Marc Jampole

The announcement by the bipartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) that raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour will lead to 500,000 jobs disappearing is just wrong. Now I’m not saying that the report’s authors are lying or stupid, just that they are making the wrong assumptions or looking at the numbers in the wrong […]

Read More… from CBO estimate on additional unemployment from raising minimum wage is probably wrong

You can almost hear Chubby Checker intoning “How low can you go?” in the lowest register he could hit. What made me think of Chubby’s hit, “Limbo Rock” is the limbo dancing that conservatives are doing with the minimum wage. It seems as if right-wingers are falling over themselves in advocating for a new minimum […]

Read More… from Conservatives play Limbo Rock with proposals to lower minimum wage

Sports Illustrated and Mattel have entered into a relationship based on the exchange of money and sex. For those who haven’t figured it out yet, the whore is Sports Illustrated. The transaction is what in advertising is called a “pay-for-play.” Mattel has bought four pages of advertising in the annual Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition and […]

Read More… from Mattel buys cover of Sports Illustrated in campaign to congratulate itself for the image of women it sells

For 30 years, children, primarily girls before their teen years, have played with plastic dolls called My Little Pony. The first My Little Pony hit the toy stores in 1983 as a single doll. Now manufacturer Hasbro sells dozens of models, each with its own name and distinct look; plus My Little Pony doll houses, […]

Read More… from More proof that adults are maintaining habits of childhood: adult fans of My Little Pony & Lego

How soon would you get bored if every other song on the radio station included the exact same guitar riff, usually at the beginning of the tune? Not long I imagine. Nothing to fear: music producers and musicians would figure it out pretty quickly and come up with new riffs and other ways to make […]

Read More… from Joe Queenan’s narcissistic verbal selfie symbolizes what’s wrong with contemporary feature writing

If a business owner has three job openings and 10 people apply, she can pay less than if only two apply. It’s one of the most simple examples of the law of supply and demand—the less the supply or the greater the demand, the higher the price. The law of supply and demand is a […]

Read More… from Republicans are right when they say ACA will ruin their economy, but it will improve the economy of the 99%

Here is an abridged version of my review of G. William Domhoff’s new book, The Myth of Liberal Acendancy: Corporate Domination from the Great Depression to the Great Recession, which appears in the Winter 2014 issue of Jewish Currents. Check out the longer version online and buy the issue, which has a lot of other interesting […]

Read More… from New book by G. William Domhoff traces control of country by corporate elite since 1930’s

Most media critics are calling the Super Bowl ads tame and sweet compared to past years, then declare unofficial commercial winners based on how much online activity each ad drew. Virtually ignored is a trend that has been building gradually but inexorably over the past few decades. The trend has encompassed all of public life—from movies […]

Read More… from This year, Super Bowl ads went to the dogs, like much of the rest of the country

The dining experience of most Americans is beginning to resemble how the agricultural industry prefers to raise cattle and chickens: an impersonal industrialized process. Unbeknownst to many, most of the food eaten in casual dining restaurants comes to the restaurant already prepared and partially cooked, often frozen, ready to be popped in the microwave or […]

Read More… from The future of eating out: microwaved frozen food served by robots

Obama was Obama in his 2014 State of the Union address. He set an agenda that will help staunch the bleeding from more than 30 years of class warfare by the wealthy on the rest of us. But that’s all it will do—staunch the bleeding. As usual, the President didn’t go far enough. He asked […]

Read More… from Grading Obama’s State of the Union address: was it well-written?