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President Obama cannot raise the minimum wage without the help of Congress. He has, however, found a way to raise the wages of many low skilled employees by raising the exemption for overtime payment from $23,660 a year to about $50,000 annually. He gave  without even asking Congress. Obama  on March 13.

 joins the list of cities contemplating raising the minimum wage. Seattle Mayor Ed Murray convened a committee to discuss a proposal to raise the minimum wage to 15$ an hour. Murray said they will be looking at research from San Francisco which showed that the cities gradual increase in the minimum wage to $10.74 an hour over the past decade had little discernible effect on the economy.

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And now for your ! Krugman discusses whether or not wages are rising, asks why many people are saying this means we need to increase interest rates. He argues that rising wages are a good thing!

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 said it will sue the IRS if it passes a set of rules proposed in November designed to specifically define what counts as political activity. The rules would make it difficult for many political organizations whose activities influence elections to maintain 501(C)(4) designation, the designation that allows donors to channel large amounts of money into politics while remaining anonymous.

Some of the donors who funnel money into the Kochs political machine  by dontating to organizations with 501(C)(4) designation were revealed when a guest at the Kochs’ Palm Springs donor event left a document lying out. It was found by someone and given to Mother Jones.

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 writes a summary of her new book for Salon, arguing that rising tuition costs, among other factors, have made it difficult for children from low-income families with little education to get a college degree. The current higher education system is increasing income inequality.

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Thomas Frank  Obama’s presidency in term of what he has done to reduce inequality and restore a meritocracy. He argues Obama has let the 1% continue to run the show, and he has done a bad job of addressing what he called “the defining challenge of our time.”

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Charter schools often outperform other public schools in America’s cities and help to reduce educational inequality. They are under attack in Los Angeles, where a school board has voted to close two top performing charter schools, and in New York, where elected officials voted to make them pay rent for public school facilities, 

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The private sector is picking up where the federal government fizzled on the DREAM act by providing scholarships to illegal immigrants. The Dream.us scholarship is giving Araceli Mendez the chance to go to college, reports 

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The New York Times  on the tie between life expectancy and income by focusing on the microcosm of two towns in Virginia. They are separated by only 350 miles, but the average life of men differs by 12 years.