Two stories broke the same week: the CEO of McDonald’s announced that 10% of its employees would get a raise from $9 to $10 an hour; the CEOs of big retailers and restaurants, on the other hand, earn $5,859 per hour.
We, the Corporations
The US Supreme Court has expanded the “corporate personhood” ruling in Citizens United, which expanded individual First Amendment rights to corporations that are established in order to evade personal liability, to allowing them to express their religious beliefs (actually the beliefs of their top executives) via, among other things, what health care benefits they’re willing to provide.
Third Term
The president’s defenders told liberals and progressives that Obama would burst out as a liberal during his second term. But he renewed 99.5% of Bush’s tax cuts for the rich. He nominated Chuck Hagel, a homophobic Republican, as Secretary of Defense. For Treasury Secretary he picked a veteran of Citibank who bet on the housing market to collapse. What’s going on? Maybe Obama will turn into FDR in his third term.
LOS ANGELES TIMES CARTOON: Arizona Gives the Business
I draw cartoons for The Los Angeles Times about issues related to California and the Southland (metro Los Angeles).
This week: An Arizona business group will fly 100 chief executives to Arizona to try to lure their companies into leaving California.