Economy

By Oana Godeanu-Kenworthy | – Bernie Sanders has emerged as the Democratic front-runner in the race for the presidential nomination. Yet even some left-leaning pundits and publications are concerned about what they see as Sanders’ potential lack of electability. Sanders is a Democratic Socialist. And the label “socialist” is a political liability in American culture. […]

Banking

Bernie Sanders and the Poor Little Rich Boys: Why Billionaire Financiers are Bullying the Democratic Party

John Buell

Southwest Harbor, Maine (Special to Informed Comment) – Quiet concerns about a possible Sanders victory became a loud and agitated freakout after the Senator’s resounding victory in Nevada. The anguish came from the financial hub of the centrist Democratic establishment. In an incoherent rant, for which he later apologized, Chris Matthews drew a confused and […]

Bashar al-Assad

With a Million Fresh Refugees and a 9-Year Civil War, Can Impoverished Syrians Survive?

Stasa Salacanin

( Middle East Monitor ) – A devastating civil war and international sanctions have destroyed Syria’s economy, leaving it with a GDP that is a third of what it was in 2010. The monetary crisis and depreciation of the currency is the latest chapter of the country’s economic meltdown. Despite the lack of accurate statistics, […]

Donald Trump

No Trump ‘Blue Collar Boom’: 1/2 of Americans work Low-Wage Jobs and Manufacturing is in Decline

Peter Certo

(Otherwords.org) – Trump is counting on the working class he’s betraying most aggressively. Can the left get out of affluent suburbia and back to its roots? By Peter Certo | February 5, 2020 There’s an image burned into my brain from childhood: the graffitied train tracks along the intersection of Fifth and Patterson in downtown […]

Democratic Socialism

Social Democracy has made Nordic Countries Happy and Prosperous: Americans should Learn from Them

George Lakey

( Yes! Magazine ) – The U.S. opioid crisis has been unfolding for years and shows no signs of stopping. As we reach for solutions, we can do more than regulate the pharmaceutical companies. Fresh research provides the clue: we can tackle a root cause of opioid deaths while creating a greener and more just […]

Inequality

Filthy Rich: How America’s Unprecedented Inequality is Literally Killing Us

H. Patricia Hynes

“The 500 richest people in the world…gained a combined $1.2 trillion in wealth in 2019, further exacerbating inequities that have not been seen since the late 1920s…Eight of the 10 richest people in the world are from the U.S.” – Bloomberg, 12/27/2019 Greenfield, Ma. (Special to Informed Comment) – Why, in the richest of countries […]

Bernie Sanders

On the Big Issues, Bernie Sanders is the Only one who Can Save America

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Generations of orators have told the story that if you put a frog in a pan of steaming water it will immediately jump out, but if you put it in a pan of cold water and gradually heat it, it will be lulled and end up boiled to death. The […]

Children

The Shame of Child Poverty in the Age of Trump: Billionaires Are Soaring, Poor Kids Are Losing More

Rajan Menon

By Rajan Menon | – (Tomdispatch.com ) – The plight of impoverished children anywhere should evoke sympathy, exemplifying as it does the suffering of the innocent and defenseless. Poverty among children in a wealthy country like the United States, however, should summon shame and outrage as well. Unlike poor countries (sometimes run by leaders more […]

China

With Visa Ban, has Trump’s US just Lost Nigeria to China?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Trump and his white nationalist pet Stephen Miller have placed Nigeria on their racist visa ban. But Nigeria is not Chad, and there could be serious repercussions for the United States of slapping around Africa’s most important country. Nigeria is Africa’s most populous country at over 200 million persons, and […]