income inequality


Panic in the Real Economy

Panic in the Real EconomyLast week’s stock market turmoil here and in China threw the financial infotainment shows into a tizzy. If only they covered the financial drama unfolding in regular homes across the country with the same level of enthusiasm.

Gas and oil prices are really low right now. In a sane world, this would be a good time to raise the gas tax and plug the long-neglected gaps in infrastructure funding. But things are not sane, and low gas prices are only seen as an opportunity to go back to the SUV excesses of the 90’s.

Read the comic at the New York Times.


The Personal Shopping Assistant

Personal Shopping AssistantKansas Governor Sam Brownback recently signed sweeping welfare “reforms” into law. They’re ostensibly supposed to curb welfare fraud, but in reality they create even more hurdles for the poor, much like how voter ID laws exist to keep the poor and minorities away from the polls rather than prevent voter fraud.

We’re all beneficiaries of government assistance in one way or another, be it tax cuts, tax credits, and if you’re a large bank, free billions from the Fed, but it’s only the poorest who get shamed for getting what amounts to a pittance. At least Brownback has spared the poor from going on cruises and getting diarrhea.

Other states are pulling the same shenanigans, and it’s all thanks to Bill Clinton’s welfare reform.

Read the comic at the New York Times.


Keeping Currency Current

Keeping Currency CurrentThere is a long overdue movement to get women featured on our paper currency. For too long they’ve been relegated to our country’s lame attempts at dollar coins that are too similar to quarters (Thanks, Big Vending Machine!).

I can go on and on about currency policy, so I’ll just point out that Canada began phasing out their even more worthless penny years ago, and to the best of my knowledge, Canada’s economy has yet to be reduced to a system where maple sugar candy and hockey pucks are exchanged for goods and services.

Another thing I learned while drawing this cartoon is that Adobe thinks everyone who wants to open a picture of money is a potential counterfeiter, and not a cartoonist who lacks access to a physical $20 bill for visual reference.

I learned about Photoshop’s counterfeit protection while drawing Sunday’s Strip.

A photo posted by Brian McFadden (@brianmc_fadden) on

Read the comic at The New York Times

Read the comic at The Nib.