Economy

By Nasser Saidi | (Project Syndicate) | – – BEIRUT – Saudi Arabia has long relied on oil to fuel its economic growth and development. Last year, oil accounted for about three-quarters of the Kingdom’s total export revenues and around 90% of government revenue. But the recent collapse in oil prices highlighted what should long […]

Dissent

Shadows of Plutocracy darken over our Democracy in this Election

contributors

By Bill Moyers | ( Tomdispatch.com ) | – – Sixty-six years ago this summer, on my 16th birthday, I went to work for the daily newspaper in the small East Texas town of Marshall where I grew up. It was a good place to be a cub reporter — small enough to navigate but […]

Democratic Party

Sanders: Aetna’s Obamacare threat shows what Corporate Control Looks Like

contributors

By Nika Knight, staff writer | (Commondreams.org) | – – Aetna threatened federal government with withdrawal from Affordable Care Act if controversial merger didn’t go through, new reporting reveals Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini bluntly told the Justice Department in July that the healthcare behemoth would drop out of the Affordable Care Act exchanges if its […]

Plutocracy

How labor’s decline opened door to billionaire Trump as ‘savior’ of American workers

contributors

By Raymond Hogler | (The Conversation) | – – Out of the economic maelstrom of the last decade, Donald Trump has emerged as the improbable, and self-proclaimed, champion of American workers. And that’s despite the fact that Trump has failed to articulate substantive policy positions regarding labor issues, other than generic railing against foreign competition […]

Democratic Party

When Dems ditched Workers for Professionals, they opened Door for Trump

contributors

Adam Barnett/ Thomas Frank | ( OpenDemocracy ) | – – The Democrats ditched the working class in favour of a professional elite leaving Trump – a master of ‘resentment politics’ – to hoover up their votes. An interview with Listen Liberal! author Thomas Frank. Now that the Republican Party has chosen a coiffured gargoyle as its nominee for […]

Economy

Can Turkey’s Economy come back from Coup and Massive Purge?

contributors

By Nader Habibi | (The Conversation) | – – The failed July 15 coup in Turkey has prompted a tsunami of responses by the government that is likely to have a lasting impact on all aspects of politics and society, including the economy. The initial arrest of military personnel who were involved or suspected of […]

Arms Sales

US does 1/2 of all World’s Arms Sales, then Surprised by Global Violence

contributors

By William D. Hartung | (Tomdispatch.com) | – – When American firms dominate a global market worth more than $70 billion a year, you’d expect to hear about it. Not so with the global arms trade. It’s good for one or two stories a year in the mainstream media, usually when the annual statistics on […]

Plutocracy

GOP Convention Opens in City Pillaged by Its Policies

contributors

TeleSur | – – Cleveland, once called the Mistake on the Lake, hosts nominating convention of the political party that authored its downfall Just a few miles from downtown Cleveland’s preoccupied hum and gleaming skyscrapers, in the hollowed-out slums that resemble deserted ghost-towns, the notion of this city hosting the Republican National Convention that begins […]

Bill of Rights

Can Americans get back their Democracy from the Oligarchy?

contributors

By John Scales Avery | (Inter Press Service) | – – COPENHAGEN, (IPS) – As many observers around the world have pointed out, the United States is no longer a true democracy. It is an oligarchy. The US government ignores the safety, wishes and needs of the majority of its citizens, and instead makes decisions […]