Financial inequality became even wider in the U.S. last year, with average income for the top 1% surging 7.7% to $1.36 million. Income for the richest sliver rose twice as fast as it did for the remaining 99%. Income inequality has been a rallying cry of the 2016 election, with more Americans turning angry about a shrinking middle class. Donald Trump has pledged to restore prosperity by ripping up trade deals and Hillary Clinton has backed a debt-free college option and higher minimum wages.   read more

Where a hospital is located and who owns it make a big difference in how many of its doctors take meals, consulting and promotional payments from pharmaceutical and medical device companies. A higher percentage of doctors in the South have received such payments than doctors in other regions of the country. Doctors in New Jersey, home to many of the largest drug companies, led the country in industry interactions: Nearly eight in 10 doctors took payments in 2014.   read more

Justice Scalia was an enthusiastic traveler, taking more than 250 privately funded trips from 2004 to 2014. A few weeks before he died, he visited Singapore and Hong Kong. Justice Stephen G. Breyer was the most active traveler last year, taking 19 paid trips, including three to London and two to Paris. The trips were partly to promote his book “The Court and the World,” which was published last year. Justice Sonia Sotomayor was next, with 16 paid trips, but to less exotic places.   read more

A defense contractor responsible for cleaning up pollution at a facility where most munitions manufacturing was done under contracts with the U.S. military can seek cost recovery from the government, the Ninth Circuit ruled Monday. In 2013, Whittaker filed its own lawsuit under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, seeking recovery from the United States for expenses Whittaker incurred since the 1980s investigating and cleaning the Bermite site.   read more

House lawmakers Friday passed legislation to increase their office budgets for the first time in years but again deny themselves a pay raise of their own. The additional money for staff salaries and other office expenses is aimed in large part at retaining staff aides, who are often 20-somethings who struggle to make ends meet in Washington, where rents have skyrocketed and opportunities outside of Congress often pay more than Capitol Hill jobs.   read more

An analysis of CEO pay at 100 large companies last year found that companies with greater gender diversity on their boards paid their chief executives about 15 percent more than the compensation dispensed by companies with less diverse boards. In dollars, this translated to approximately $2 million more in median pay last year among these companies. The median pay among the chief executives overseeing the companies whose boards had more gender diversity was $15.7 million last year.   read more

Among those with incomes under $50,000, 58% say they feel more anxious than secure about the amount of savings they have for retirement. People with higher incomes appear less anxious, but still 40% of those with incomes of $100,000 or more worry whether their savings will be sufficient. Alison Cowen said she doesn't see any path for her to retire--ever. "I just don't have enough to live on for the rest of my life." The poll said a quarter of workers over 50 say they never plan to retire.   read more

Women led companies in a variety of industries including technology, defense and retail. While there are few women at the helm, they tended to be in higher paying industries or positions — making up 10 of the top 100 highest paid overall. A recent report highlights the gulf between words and actions in hiring women as CEOs. "Despite all of the attention placed on increasing the number of female executives at American companies, the needle on the gender gap has hardly moved," wrote Pavle Sabic.   read more

“Since the days of Watergate, the American people have had an expectation that nominees to be the leader of the free world not hide their finances and personal tax returns,” said Wyden “Do you even pay taxes? Do you give to charity? Are you abusing tax loopholes... Are you keeping your money offshore? People have a right to know.” Clinton and Sanders have disclosed their tax returns. Trump has refused, citing an IRS audit and that his tax rate is “none of your business.”   read more

These difficulties span all incomes, according to the poll. Three-quarters of people in households making less than $50,000 a year and two-thirds of those making between $50,000 and $100,000 would have difficulty coming up with $1,000 to cover an unexpected bill. Even for the country's wealthiest 20% — households making more than $100,000 a year — 38% say they would have at least some difficulty coming up with $1,000.   read more

In cities across America, the middle class is hollowing out. A widening wealth gap is moving more households into either higher- or lower-income groups in major metro areas, with fewer remaining in the middle. Middle class adults now make up less than half the population in such cities as New York, L.A., Boston and Houston. That sharp shift reflects a broad erosion--one that has has animated this year's presidential campaign, lifting the insurgent candidacies of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders.   read more

The cornerstone of the Joint Strike Fighter program is affordability. The program was sold using affordability as its battle cry. The program promised to "affordably develop the next generation strike fighter weapons system to meet an advanced threat (2010 and beyond), while improving lethality, survivability, and supportability." The affordability was addressed by combining multiple programs into one. It didn't work, especially with poor project management.   read more

Our study compared black and white neighborhoods, and we found that in the same city, the mostly black neighborhoods had twice as many court judgments as the mostly white neighborhoods, even when accounting for income. One big firm, Pressler & Pressler, obtained at least 76,000 judgments for its clients. In about 69,000 of those suits, the firm used the same attorney who took as little as four seconds to review a suit, and he did between 300 and 400 — sometimes as many as 1,000 — per day.   read more

Money-making hospitals include nonprofits such as the Carle Foundation Hospital in Illinois, where a state appeals court in January ruled a state law allowing hospitals to avoid taxes is unconstitutional. Urbana Mayor Laurel Prussing said her city lost 11% of its assessed tax value when Carle stopped paying $6.5 million a year in property taxes. "We need to question this whole idea of what not-for-profit means," Prussing said. "This is a highly profitable business that manages to not pay taxes."   read more

A tribe attorney said: "All we're seeking is for the citizens of Rosebud to get what they've been promised here. We're not suing because the emergency room was shut down. We're suing because [the federal government] under law is required to deliver an open emergency room that provides reasonable medical care. The emergency room has been closed for five months...?" The Sioux say "the federal government spends less on Indian health care than on any other group receiving public health care."   read more

Suing someone in Nebraska is cheaper and easier. The cost to file a lawsuit in that state is $45. About 79,000 debt collection lawsuits were filed in Nebraska courts in 2013 alone. Suing became an irresistible bargain for debt collectors. It’s a deal collectors have fought to keep, opposing even the slightest increase. For debtors, unaffordable debts turn into unaffordable garnishments, destroying already tight budgets and sending them into a loop.   read more