News and Issues

Editor's Note: We have, for decades, watched Consuelo Mack's informative business programs on Public Television, helping investors to build and protect wealth over the long-term. During her tenure hosting the Wall Street Journal Report it won the Overseas Press Club award, the Gracie award and was nominated for a News and Documentary Emmy award for excellence in background and analysis. These series of videos may aid you in future tax years prepare for both planning and investing. more »

There is no single explanation for the rise in inequality and the decline in the share of jobs that provide a middle-class standard of living. Economists generally agree that technological change and globalization have played a role. Both of these forces have reduced the demand for workers whose jobs had involved routine work that can easily be mechanized or offshored while, at the same time, increasing the productivity of higher-skilled workers. However, it is less clear whether technology and globalization are sufficient explanations for the increased share of income going to those at the very top of the income distribution. more »

Marsha Mercer writes: "From World War II to the early 1960s, men 20 to 64 were very, very heavily relied upon" by women and families, Gary Burtless at Brookings said. Men without a high school diploma were able to hold a stable career and support a family by working in construction and heavy manufacturing. Over the last few decades, many of those jobs have disappeared, and women have become more equal in the workplace. When manufacturers of cardboard boxes, wire bagel baskets and other products said they needed workers with technological expertise and strong social skills, Maryland officials agreed to set up manufa… more »

Roberta McReynolds writes: The breeze lifting the hair off my face didn’t originate from any meteorological conditions. It occurred when my wheelchair broke free of my white-knuckled grip at the top of a long ramp, consequently launching me across the parking lot. It felt like I was about to execute an imitation of one of those metal balls in a pinball machine, poised to ricochet off all obstacles in my path, but without the bells and lights. more »