Economy

A report published recently by Swiss bank UBS shows the world’s wealthiest are now worth $9.1 trillion, enough to spend $1 million per day for 30,000 years. In 2017, more than 2,000 billionaires around the world became even wealthier, pushing their collective fortunes to historic levels. According to a report recently published by Swiss bank […]

Russia

Putin: Other Powers will Dump Dollar as Reserve Currency if US goes on With Sanctions

TeleSur

(TeleSur) – “It seems to me that our American partners make a colossal strategic mistake,” Putin said, adding that it is a “typical mistake of any empire.” Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a speech on the Russian Energy Week, on Wednesday, saying that his Washington counterparts are making a “typical” and “colossal” mistake, referring to […]

Banking

The United States of Monopoly Rule

Jim Hightower

(Afterwords) – Five banks control half of all U.S. financial assets, and six conglomerates control 90 percent of our media. Monopolies aren’t merely un-American — they’re virulently anti-American. They suppress our fundamental values of fairness and opportunity for all. Our people have instinctively rebelled at monopoly avarice — from the Boston Tea Party to the […]

Trade

How Trump’s Trade War Hurts Working-Class Americans

The Conversation

By Jeffrey Kucik | – President Donald Trump justifies tariffs on imports by arguing that “unfair trade policies” have harmed American workers. This has led to a trade war in which the U.S. and China have placed tit-for-tat tariffs on each other’s products. Most recently, China said it’s ready to slap tariffs on US$60 billion […]

Plutocracy

5 Red Flashing Signals of the Great Trump Crash

Nomi Prins

New York (Tomdispatch.com) – Here we are in the middle of the second year of Donald Trump’s presidency and if there’s one thing we know by now, it’s that the leader of the free world can create an instant reality-TV show on geopolitical steroids at will. True, he’s not polished in his demeanor, but he […]

National Security State

For 40 Million US Working Poor, Trillion-Dollar Foreign Military Adventures Don’t Bring Security

Rajan Menon

(TomDispatch) – So effectively has the Beltway establishment captured the concept of national security that, for most of us, it automatically conjures up images of terrorist groups, cyber warriors, or “rogue states.” To ward off such foes, the United States maintains a historically unprecedented constellation of military bases abroad and, since 9/11, has waged wars […]

Featured

Whitey on the Moon Again?

Juan Cole

I’m ordinarily a big booster of NASA and space exploration. I understand the concerns of those who think the whole thing is a boondoggle that reduces government services to people who need a safety net. I don’t think they are taking account of all the benefits to science and technology and thence to everyday life […]

Inequality

Why the Supreme Court’s Gutting of Unions dooms US to Deeper Poverty, Inequality

Sam Pizzigati

(Inequality.org) – Any court ruling that limits how effectively unions can bargain on behalf of workers, even mainstream economists now recognize, concentrates wealth at our economic summit. The U.S. Supreme Court’s just-announced decision in the Janus case surprised no one who pays attention to America’s highest judicial panel. Every analyst following the case expected the […]

Featured

The American March to Inequality: Why the UN Alston Report Alarms the Trump Plutocrats

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – It is no surprise that flacks for the plutocrats in charge of the US like Nikki Haley are squawking about the report on American poverty just issued by UN Special Rapporteur Philip Alston. It throws loads of light on how unequal a society America is, how it is marching rapidly […]