Politicians sometimes find it convenient to ignore the facts when it comes to taxes and the cost of public services. Researchers and public agencies don’t have that luxury. Here is some of what they’ve dug up.

How much is too much? Check out the AFL-CIO’s Executive Pay Watch and decide for your self. The website chronicles the salaries, bonuses and other compensation of top executives at 300 of the nation’s biggest companies. You can search by state, by company – or see who made the Top 100. And you'll realize that the rich definitely can afford to pay their fair share.

Union workers in the U.S. earn, on average, $4.95 an hour more than nonunion workers in the same kind of job, according to new federal statistics.

Government budget deficits, wage freezes, layoffs, furloughs and other fallout from the nation’s recession are everywhere. More and more members are feeling the squeeze paycheck to paycheck. The silver lining is that workers have more resources than they realize.