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John Buell

John Buell has a PhD in political science, taught for 10 years at College of the Atlantic, and was an Associate Editor of The Progressive for ten years. He lives in Southwest Harbor, Maine and writes on labor and environmental issues. His most recent book, published by Palgrave in August 2011, is "Politics, Religion, and Culture in an Anxious Age." He may be reached at jbuell@acadia.net

Inequality
Our Problem isn't "Supply Chains" - it is that Workers and Truckers are being Stiffed

Our Problem isn’t “Supply Chains” – it is that Workers and Truckers are being Stiffed

John Buell

A chain is no stronger than its weakest link. Weak links have been the story for much of the last year. That should force us to consider the possibility that weak links are not just a sh**t happens event but symptomatic of larger pathologies pervading many of our most basic industries. Consider Boeing, once regarded […]

Employment
We don't need a Debt Ceiling, we Need Gov't to Invest in Truly Rewarding Jobs

We don’t need a Debt Ceiling, we Need Gov’t to Invest in Truly Rewarding Jobs

John Buell

Southwest Harbor, Maine (Special to Informed Comment) – Who is at fault for a standoff on the debt ceiling? Republicans are the obvious choice because when in power deficits don’t matter but out of power deficits and a growing debt are the path to hell. Deficits will burden our grandchildren and so we must accept […]

Brazil
Our Health depends on Indigenous Botanical Knowledge and Plants that are rapidly being Destroyed

Our Health depends on Indigenous Botanical Knowledge and Plants that are rapidly being Destroyed

John Buell

Southwest Harbor, Maine (Special to Informed Comment) – While mainstream media celebrate the remarkable development in record time of vaccines spectacularly effective against the Covid virus, knowledge that might contribute to other medical breakthroughs is being steadily undermined. This decline is not the result of some dramatic lawsuit or corporate takeover. It is one of […]

Democratic Party
Arguing with Sen. Joe Manchin

Arguing with Sen. Joe Manchin

John Buell

As I write this piece the so called moderate Democrats are locked in combat with the party’s progressives, but what issues besides numbers to be appropriated receive scant attention. Since Senator Manchin plays so pivotal a role in this conflict it is imperative that progressives understand from where he is coming and formulate careful responses. […]

Inequality
If even the Democratic Party can't raise Taxes on the Super-Rich, is the US even a Democracy Any More?

If even the Democratic Party can’t raise Taxes on the Super-Rich, is the US even a Democracy Any More?

John Buell

Southwest Harbor, Maine (Special to Informed Comment) – The struggle over efforts to revise and reform the tax code offers left and labor activists as well as the “democratic wing” of the Democratic Party an opportunity to test its strength and to clear up some widely circulated but misleading facts about the distribution of wealth […]

Epidemics
Public Citizen: It Turns out Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccine depends Heavily on Publicly-Financed Research

Public Citizen: It Turns out Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccine depends Heavily on Publicly-Financed Research

John Buell

Southwest Harbor, Maine (Special to Informed Comment) – Public Citizen recently uncovered “an agreement that the European Commission reached with Pfizer and BioNTech last November to purchase 100 million doses of the companies’ mRNA vaccine, which was developed with the support of https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-11-09/pfizer-vaccine-s-funding-came-from-berlin-not-washington”> government funding and U.S. taxpayer-financed technology. In the 104-page contract, Public Citizen […]

Climate Crisis
Zombie Wars v. Climate Cooperation

Zombie Wars v. Climate Cooperation

John Buell

Southwest Harbor, Maine (Special to Informed Comment) – New York’s new governor, Kathy Hochul – forced to deal with every political leader’s nightmare, a weather disaster, after just one week in office – called the rain “far more than anyone expected.” In fact, despite many residents getting caught unaware, the potential for high-end flooding was […]

Afghanistan
Failure in Iraq and Afghanistan: Did the Mighty, Cutting-Edge US Military Machine founder on Guerrillas' humble Improvised Explosive Devices?

Failure in Iraq and Afghanistan: Did the Mighty, Cutting-Edge US Military Machine founder on Guerrillas’ humble Improvised Explosive Devices?

John Buell

Southwest Harbor, Maine (Special to Informed Comment) – Victory always seems to be just around the corner or at the end of the tunnel, until it isn’t. With the humiliation of defeat compounded by the difficulties extricating US personnel, second guessing is well underway and will likely last for years. The corruption of the government […]

Climate Crisis
How Can US Corporations address the Climate Emergency if their Stock Buy-backs even Interfere with their Ordinary Business?

How Can US Corporations address the Climate Emergency if their Stock Buy-backs even Interfere with their Ordinary Business?

John Buell

Southwest Harbor, Maine (Special to Informed Comment) – The international panel of climate science experts presents the challenge in the starkest terms. A panel of leading scientists convened by the United Nations issued a comprehensive report Monday that contains a stark warning for humanity: The climate crisis is here, some of its most destructive consequences […]

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