As CNN reports – wage theft complaints have increased 400% over the last decade – with over 7,000 lawsuits alleging wage and hour violations against employers filed just in 2011. The complaints center on workers accusing their employers of not paying them for all the hours they worked or not paying overtime that they were entitled to. Some of the companies that have had suits filed against them are Walmart, Starbucks, and Bank of America.

This is yet another consequence of our corporate capitalism model – where executives are rewarded for squeezing whatever profits they can out of a company – including nickel and dimeing their workers – or outright stealing from them – just to hit quarterly profit goals. Time to bring back business in the public interest.