High-technology companies often rely on federal support, particularly for early-stage funding. “Every year the federal government spends billions of dollars to support private-sector tech firms,” writes Karla Walter in a recent white paper from the Center for American Progress, a DC think tank. “This includes government-backed venture capital loans; grants and technical assistance for small businesses; and patented government technologies provided to emerging companies at  ...

“Where have all the good jobs gone?” is a common refrain these days. Politicians of all stripes promise to “bring them back.”

“Good jobs” in this lexicon usually refers to good jobs for non-college workers, and it nearly always means factory  ...

New analysis from the NCEO’s ongoing study of government data shows that employee-owners at every level of income stay longer on the job, make higher base pay, and have greater household net worth than similar individuals without ownership.

For example, employee-owners in the middle of the income distribution reported $46,250 in wage income, compared to $38,000 for non-owners. Their net worth was $45,750 compared  ...

Harvard economist Richard Freeman recently pointed out that, between 1980 and 2017, real wages rose 14% while returns to the S&P 500 went up 543%. That’s almost a 40X difference. By contrast, Freeman added, the differential was less than two to one between 1945 and 1980.

In other words, owning stock pays a whole lot better than working for a living. And yet the richest tenth of American households currently own 84 percent of all US-owned stock, including shares held in 401(k)s  ...