I have this up over at AlterNet: 5 of the Worst Cities to Be a Renter Unless You’re Fabulously Wealthy,

The housing market is supposedly recovering, yet the homeownership rate is dropping. Meanwhile rents in urban areas were already high but now are absolutely skyrocketing. What’s going on? As millions lost their homes many of the houses were and are being bought up by large investors. And what do these investors want? They want rent and lots of it. According to a NY Times report, In Many Cities, Rent Is Rising Out of Reach of Middle Class, “In December, Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan declared ‘the worst rental affordability crisis that this country has ever known.’ ”

Click through to read the rest.

I wrote this for AlterNet: 8 Phony GOP Solutions for Poverty That Will Only Bring More Economic Pain,

On the 50th anniversary of the war on poverty, Republicans are whipping out “compassionate conservatism” again, in an attempt to rebrand themselves as something other than the harsh, anti-poor, anti-women, anti-minority, anti-gay, anti-everything wingnuts they have been showing us they are. It’s a strategy Republicans default to when they’ve taken things to such an extreme that the country is revolted. And here we are with Republicans pretending to have proposals geared toward fighting poverty instead of just boosting the fortunes of those who already have huge fortunes.

Read the rest at AlterNet.

Take a look at a newcomer to the scene: The Left Hook: Politics with a Punch.

“The Left Hook offers a progressive perspective on issues that impact Silicon Valley. We stand for social and economic justice, and our writers seek to advance those values by bringing to light current events and issues that too often are neglected. Although this site is curated by the South Bay Labor Council, its subjects will not be limited to labor issues. The Left Hook will provide a platform for a broad spectrum of news and commentary from a wide variety of citizen journalists. ”

On Twitter: @LeftHookBlog

I did this for AlterNet: The New Financial Scam Driving Workers Deep Into Debt,

If you can lure people into borrowing then you own them, sometimes literally—it’s a game as old as money itself.

Regular people don’t know much about money, loan terms or the trap of debt-slavery. This enables predators to dangle loans in front of desperate people and entrap them into various forms of financial and even actual servitude. Again and again schemes and scams pop up that trick people into borrowing. Of course, we all know how the credit-card trap has ensnared millions. Car loan terms have gone from two to three and now as long as five or even six years because people think a lower monthly payment is a good thing. In recent years we’ve seen “subprime” mortgages and payday lenders entrap borrowers. Now there is a new predatory lending scheme in operation called “workplace loans.” Keep an eye out for this, it is just one more way for the financial industry to lure workers into debt slavery.

But also keep an eye out for a different form of workplace loan that can actually help employees.

Read the rest at AlterNet.

Virtually Speaking is a regular online “radio” show that you can listen to live while it is recorded, or later (and on Podcast.)

This week, commentators Dave Johnson (Campaign for America’s Future) & Cliff Schecter (Libertas LLC) talk about good public policy as popular public policy and how a government jobs program with a minimum wage increase would be both, e.g. Moral Mondays and Gillibrand’s populist “Opportunity Agenda”

A ridiculous moment from Culture of Truth

Then potential progressive options to a Clinton candidacy e.g., Sanders, Schweitzer, O’Malley; and the impact they may have on the Democratic Party as well as Clinton’s positions and campaign.

You can listen live or any time later http://www.blogtalkradio.com/virtuallyspeaking/2013/12/23/dave-johnson-cliff-schecter-virtually-speaking-sundays-1.

You can also get Virtually Speaking on Podcasts.

I have an article up at alterNet: 5 Signs the Rich Have Way Too Much Money,

Here’s something to read after you get done trying to figure out how to make the mortgage or the rent or the car payment this month. It’s a little story about how the other half lives. Well, maybe not the other half, exactly. More like the obscenely wealthy .01%.

What do you do when you just have too darn much money? Let’s say you already have your mansion(s), your jet, your yacht, your cars, your $50,000 watches, and you’ve still got too much money left over. (Yes, this really is a problem some people have.) While many, many Americans are struggling to get by, and a very few ultra-wealthy have too much money, here are five signs that the rich are just too rich.

Click through to read 5 Signs the Rich Have Way Too Much Money.