BOSTON HAS SERVED as a moral beacon for the nation on key social justice issues. We have taken great strides to ensure quality healthcare for all, led the way on […]
Economics
Posted inEconomy, The Download
Income inequality, Beacon Hill style
It would be hard to swing a dead cat in the State House without hitting a member of the nearly all-Democratic Legislature who has railed in one form or another […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
The Lottery’s reverse Robin Hood ways
Raise your hand if the Boston Globe’s story on Lottery spending inequity was news to you. Not a lot of arms in the air. The Globe rolls out the numbers […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
Are casino odds slipping?
The state’s casino law, though not even three years old, is starting to look a little like an old sweater. Start pulling at that loose thread and it’s not clear […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, The Download
What’s Walsh’s end game on casinos?
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh won a skirmish on Thursday in the fight to gain host community status for the two proposed eastern Massachusetts casinos, but does he really want to […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
Comcast: Is bigger better?
Comcast’s proposed $45 billion acquisition of Time Warner is getting lots of negative reviews, but the monopolistic nature of cable service today makes it difficult for customers to see what’s […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
Is CVS a leader – or merely reading the smoke signals?
Ed Sweda must be dusting off his costume and doing a little dance. Sweda is the longtime archnemesis of Big Tobacco and, as senior counsel for the Group Against Smoking […]
Posted inEconomy, State House News Service, The Download
Fall River goes all in – again
The last time a casino deal blew up on Fall River Mayor Will Flanagan, he shrugged it off as the cost of rolling the dice. Flanagan’s gambling had nearly blown […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
What makes a community livable?
CNNMoney this week issued its annual list of America’s best places to live, and Sharon came in first. Two other Massachusetts towns were also on the list: Westford at No. […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
The 50 worst charities
Every year Attorney General Martha Coakley issues a report on charities that hire professional fundraisers and every year a smattering of stories are done about how most of the money […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
Boston Fed chief Rosengren: Austerity hurts
Eric Rosengren, president of the Boston Federal Reserve Bank, has rarely shied away from controversial issues, and he’s showing no sign of stopping now. In a speech today at a […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
Harvard econ study debunked
Just how soporific is the US Senate primary that is coming to a head tomorrow? The Bay State showdown that’s getting national attention these days is not the sleepy Senate […]
Posted inEconomy, State House News Service, The Download
The (rich) kids are alright
To paraphrase Mark Twain’s weather observation, everyone talks about the middle class but no one seems to be able to do anything about them. The U.S. Census Bureau released a […]
Posted inEconomy, Education, The Download
Student loan debt got you down? Move to Niagara Falls.
Struggling cities and rural towns that have seen better days don’t spring to mind as places that recent college graduates would flock to. Yet officials in locales like Niagara Falls […]
Posted inEconomy, State House News Service, The Download
The Big Lug is in trouble
It’s the ninth inning, bases loaded, no outs, and the Big Lug (aka Curt Schilling) is on the mound, trying to keep the dreams of his video game company alive. […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, The Download
Return of the King of Bain
Back in January, Newt Gingrich did something so craven and bloodless, it sent shockwaves across the already craven, bloodless world of presidential politics: He cribbed a line of attack from […]
Posted inEconomy, Education, The Download
College debt daze
It’s tough to make the math work on a social worker’s starting salary and $80,000 in student loans. But that’s what 23-year-old Jillian Potter, a recent graduate of Anderson University […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
Occupy turns left
Liberals have had lots of fun mocking Tea Party activists who decry federal spending and government overreach while fiercely defending their access to Social Security and Medicare. Today, the left […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
The income (inequality) wars
We began this week talking about the Buffett Rule, an attempt to make millionaires pay a tax rate of at least 30 percent. President Obama and Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, State House News Service, The Download
Where the Pentagon sees guns, Mass. sees butter
With Gov. Deval Patrick gone AWOL more and more, Lt. Gov. Tim Murray has been tapped to lead the fight to forestall cutbacks at Bay State military facilities. So far, […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
Mostly Martha
NOTE: The Download will be taking an end of the year break next week, and will return on Tuesday, January 3rd. Happy holidays!If living well is the best revenge, Attorney […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, The Download
Populist fury may not yield electoral edge
When President Obama traveled to Kansas recently and delivered speech full of populist fury at the great concentration of wealth among the country’s richest elite, a great sigh of relief […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, The Download
Unemployment down; political intrigue up
The economy, bit by bit and with all sorts of caveats, appears to be improving, which could reshape the political landscape next year. The national unemployment rate fell to 8.6 […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
Coakley’s foreclosure gamble
We’ll know as soon as this week whether Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley was right to walk away from a national foreclosure settlement, or whether that decision will leave Bay […]
