News & Updates

Mid-Week Reads: Corporate Welfare and Sleep-Deprived Workers

by | Apr 27, 2016 | Other

Every week, North Star will take some time out of our schedules to bring you our favorite reads from the past week.

Jeff Van Wychen

The Real Welfare Cheats

According to a new Oxfam report, governments around the world lose $100 billion every year because multinational corporations hide profits in overseas tax havens. Corporate income taxes have declined from one-third of the U.S. federal budget in 1952 to less than one-tenth today. Citing the Oxfam report, Nicholas Christof of the New York Times notes that “for each dollar America’s 50 biggest companies paid in federal taxes between 2008 and 2014, they received $27 back in federal loans, loan guarantees and bailouts.” How do multinationals get away with this? According to Christof, “The tax system is rigged against us precisely because taxation is the Least Sexy Topic on Earth. So we doze, and our pockets get picked.”

Stephanie Fenner

Many Grouchy, Error-Prone Workers Just Need More Sleep

NPR writes that one-third of Americans are sleep-deprived. The article notes that their employers are probably paying for it “in the form of mistakes, productivity loss, accidents and increased health insurance costs.” Sleep psychologist William David Brown says Americans are sacrificing more and more sleep every year, and the effects of fatigue are cumulative. A possible solution I can get behind? More naps.

Failure is Not an Option

Despite Minnesota having $12.5 billion in one time money and a structural general fund surplus of $6 billion, there is no surplus in transportation funding. This report details decades of declining revenue from dedicated funding sources of transportation...

Underfunded Minnesota: Collective Investment for a Brighter Future

The current budget surplus represents an important opportunity to improve the quality and affordability of life for Minnesotans. For decades, wages have largely stagnated, while workers and families have incurred steeply rising costs for major expenses like childcare,...

Losing Ground: State Disinvestment in Students

Our first report, “Losing Ground”, has a simple but stark finding: over the last twenty years, per pupil state aid received by Minnesota school districts declined by 20 percent, after adjusting for inflation. As state aid has fallen off, school districts have asked...

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