Southwest Harbor, Maine (Special to Informed Comment) – Did the massive explosion in Beirut, about three quarters of a century after the decimation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, have any lessons or warnings for us. I think the answer is clearly yes. Lesson 1: Early news reports regarding the Beirut blast indicate that government officials had […]
Political Suicide: GOP Senators holding up Stimulus are Retarding Recovery in Election Year
Southwest Harbor, Maine (Special to Informed Comment) – Be thankful for small favors. When the Covid-19 depression hit like a brick, almost no one advocated austerity as a cure. For the first time since Richard Nixon proclaimed that we are all Keynesians, budget deficits and a burgeoning national debt were accepted as crucial to mitigate […]
John Lewis knew that Democrats must build a Cross-Race Coalition against Plutocrats that Honors the Victimization of Minorities
Southwest Harbor, Maine (Special to Informed Comment) – Rep. John Lewis lay in state at the Capitol on Monday, after a lifetime devoted to racial justice issues. With racial injustice now more obvious than ever, steps both by business and government to redress the systemic failings may be possible. Nonetheless some of the best current […]
Taxpayers are Funding Coronavirus Vaccines, but Big Pharma will Profit
Southwest Harbor, Maine (Special to Informed Comment) – The business press is full of stories about the race for a Covid—19 vaccine. The corporations that succeed in cracking the biological mystery stand to make billions, and the success of the vaccine will likely “open up” the economy. What receives less attention, however, is the question […]
Covid-19 Won’t be the last Pandemic that Jumps to Humans from Animals, Unless we Take Action
President Trump’s misinformation campaign regarding Covid–19 serves only to highlight his gross incompetence and callous disregard for human life. It also has the unfortunate consequence of obscuring some of the deeper causes of pandemics, perspectives that will require much more attention if future pandemics are to be quashed or at least mitigated. Though our most […]
Amid the Covid-19 Recession, you can’t Afford the Bloated Pentagon Budget but Corporations Can
Southwest Harbor, Maine (Special to Informed Comment) – Imagine that as a member of Congress you are a strong advocate of urban public transit facilities. You have succeeded in prying from Congress funding for construction and maintenance of systems throughout midsized cities once almost exclusively dependent on the private auto for their transportation needs. You […]
Amid Pandemic and BLM Protests, Why Minimum Wage Must be Defended and Expanded
You can’t fault them for lack of effort. Having lost a series of political, legislative, and legal battles to defeat minimum wage increases in cities and states all across the nation, business lobbies are turning to an innovative strategy.. Covid-19 leaves businesses so burdened as to be unable to meet the costs entailed by a […]
To address Systemic Racism, we Must Focus on the Economy
Southwest Harbor, Maine (Special to Informed Comment) – Hate crimes are still too prevalent, but there is a widespread consensus behind efforts to root them out. More recently the concept of systemic racism has come to the fore. Though definitions have not been universally accepted, I take it to mean any set of widely held […]
What Corporations Fear: Best Recovery from Covid-19 Depression is Universal Income and Federal School Funding
Southwest Harbor, Maine (Special to Informed Comment) – I am betting that before November 2020 Congress will pass and the President will sign another major relief package. More interesting will be the debate on the measure. That debate already says a lot about the underlying anxieties that grip both parties and their aspirations for the […]
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