News and Views from Political Author Steven Hill
By Steven Hill, Huffington Post, April 3, 2017
Most Americans don’t realize it, but yesterday, April 2 the US quietly celebrated the centennial of an event that is as auspicious as Martin Luther King’s birthday or July 4, Independence Day. On April 2, 1917, Jeannette Rankin from Montana was sworn in as the first woman ever elected to the U.S.…
By Steven Hill, American Prospect, March 13, 2017
Everybody knows that for decades Big Tobacco profited from deception and clever marketing. The companies even conducted their own studies and concluded—surprise, surprise—that tobacco was a safe product with no link to cancer.
Now Uber has been caught in a similar ruse.…
Washington Post, March 10, 2017
(Interview by Frederick Kunkle)
Steven Hill, who wrote about Uber in his book about the sharing economy, compared Uber’s alleged deception about its autonomous vehicles to the practices of Big Tobacco. Uber is betting big on developing an autonomous fleet of driverless taxis, but it has also been accused of deceptive claims about its self-driving program before.…
by Steven Hill, Die Zeit, February 16, 2017
(English version; for the original German version, click here)
Recently I was having a pleasant conversation in Berlin with a highly-regarded professor and former university president when the conversation turned unexpectedly disagreeable. We hit an impasse as we discussed the impact of new digital technologies on society and the economy, specifically the impact on jobs and the labor force.…
By Steven Hill, American Prospect, January 30, 2017
Why Uber’s business model keeps bleeding money—and how it might yet right itself as a useful but less grandiose venture
Uber, the wildly popular ride-sharing company, now hopes to pioneer both self-driving and self-flying vehicles. But long before Uber gets to that futuristic strategy, the company’s core business model appears to be in serious trouble.…
CityLab, December 14, 2016
Unlike most experts who pontificate about the gig economy, Steven Hill is actually part of it. The 58-year-old author, formerly a fellow at the New America Foundation, hasn’t worked at a permanent position for several years. In the opening of his 2015 book Raw Deal, he describes seeing more and more of his peers toiling under similar conditions.…Interview with Steven Hill, CityLab, December 14, 2016
by Jake Blumgart
A sharp critic of the gig economy says a “portable safety net” would help today’s untethered workers.
Unlike most experts who pontificate about the gig economy, Steven Hill is actually part of it. The 58-year-old author, formerly a fellow at the New America Foundation, hasn’t worked at a permanent position for several years.…
by Steven Hill, Guardian, November 16, 2016
WikiLeaks and a network of anonymous hackers have become a major influence – but are they enhancing our democracy or undermining it?
A new and disturbing factor emerged during this presidential election, and one that may change elections forever: democracies are now at the mercy of hacking and surveillance technology – and those who control it.…
By Steven Hill, EU Observer, October 31, 2016
On Sunday the European Union and Canada finally signed the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, or Ceta, following an 11th hour resolution between Wallonia and the European Union.
The pressure on tiny Wallonia and its politicians was immense, as it was being blamed for scuppering a trade agreement that was seven years in the making, and turning the EU into a laughing stock before its Canadian partners and the world.…
By Steven Hill, Huffington Post, October 13, 2016
Many hipsters and “new tech” enthusiasts are enraptured by the so-called “sharing economy” and its leading companies, such as Airbnb, Uber and Lyft. If you really believe that these companies have anything to do with “sharing,” then you really need to see Company Town.…
By Steven Hill, Die Zeit, October 5, 2016
(published in German, here is the link to the German version)
Many people from across the political spectrum are shaking their heads over the recent Apple tax scandal. But it is only the latest example of the corporate malfeasance and misconduct that have flourished as politicians and regulators on both sides of the Atlantic either failed to do their jobs or actively contributed to a tainted corporate culture.…
Interview by Andrew Ross Sorkin, CNBC, October 4, 2016
Author Steven Hill is interviewed by host Andrew Ross Sorkin on CNBC’s Squawk Box. Here’s the link to the broadcast.…
Washington Post, September 26
Interview by Fredrick Kunkle
Steven Hill thinks Uber has shaken up the taxi industry — or Big Taxi, as Hill calls it – in a way that’s been beneficial to many consumers.
And that’s about the nicest thing Hill has to say about the San Francisco-based ride-sharing company.…
By Steven Hill, Friedrich Ebert Foundation, September 15, 2016
Policy paper written by Steven Hill for the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Germany
Executive Summary
* The latest trend from Silicon Valley is known as the »sharing economy,« sometimes referred to as the »gig economy,« »on-demand,« »peer-to-peer« or »collaborative consumption« economy.…
Interview by Steffen Gassel, Stern, September 1, 2016
This interview with author Steven Hill is published in German, “Die idee dahinter ist gut, aber…” (PDF version). The interview appeared in Stern, the second most popular publication in Germany (750,000 circulation)…
By Steven Hill, Yes! Magazine, August 23, 2016
The whole sector won’t enjoy broader success until its companies learn how to combine flexible work with better treatment
More and more businesses are exploiting what is known as the “1099 worker loophole”—hiring workers as “independent contractors” instead of as regularly employed workers.…
By Steven Hill, Los Angeles Times, July 11, 2016
The U.S. has entered an anxious era in which fewer workers have a single employer or a regular workplace. Instead they have various employers and multiple part-time jobs and “gigs,” with these businesses not required to provide healthcare, make Social Security contributions or even offer compensation for workplace injuries.…
by Steven Hill, New York Daily News, July 11, 2106
The ever-popular Social Security has had a number of saviors and destroyers over the years, but none of them more infamous than Monica Lewinsky. Eighteen years ago this month, special prosecutor Kenneth Starr was turning the screws on President Bill Clinton, with testimony from Lewinsky and others about salacious things like cigar tubes and sex stains on a blue dress.…
by Steven Hill, BillMoyers.com, July 8, 2016
Here’s a plan to secure retirement for all Americans — without spending any more government money.
Recently President Barack Obama announced his support for expanding Social Security for our nation’s retirees. That is welcome news because Obama and other Democrats like Hillary and Bill Clinton have not always been the best friends of Social Security. …
Interview with author Steven Hill, Truthout, June 29, 2016
Social Security is one of the most important and popular government programs of all time. Not only has it been crucial as a foundation for US retirees and as the most effective anti-poverty program ever — it also has been indispensable as “the policy cornerstone of a decades-old philosophy which deploys the ‘visible hand’ of government to foster a fair economy for all,” according to author Steven Hill in his new book, Expand Social Security Now: How to Ensure Americans Get the Retirement They Deserve.…
Economic Policy Institute, June 28, 2016
Presentation by Steven Hill about his recently published book Expand Social Security Now! How to Ensure Americans Get the Retirement They Deserve. Hill appeared at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington DC, along with Nancy Altman, co-director of Social Security Works and Maya Rockeymoore, president of the Center for Global Policy Solutions.…
By Steven Hill, C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal,” June 26, 2016
Here’s the link to go the C-SPAN broadcast.
Author Steven Hill talks about his book, Raw Deal: How the Uber Economy and Runaway Capitalism Are Screwing American Workers, about the evolution and negative effects he believes the “gig economy” is having on the U.S.…
by Steven Hill, Die Zeit, June 23, 2016
(German language version, Du bist super – gewöhn dich dran!)
If you type the words “European Union” and “crisis” into the Google search engine, you instantly receive 115 million hits. When I did that back in 2009, before the eurozone crisis, “only” 58 million hits popped up.…
By Steven Hill, Deutsche Telekom AG, June 8, 2016
What will jobs of the future look like, in a world in which “sharing economy” companies like Uber, Upwork, and ClickWorker are becoming the model for a new kind of company?
On the positive side, these new ways of employment can open up some opportunity.…
By Steven Hill, Tagesspiegel, June 2, 2016
(German language version, Berlin sollte härter gegen Airbnb vorgehen)
The cost of rental housing in Berlin has nearly doubled in the last 10 years, making it harder for many people to make ends meet. Many factors cause housing prices to rise, but one market pressure has come from the hotel service Airbnb.…