Plutocracy

(Tomdispatch.com) – Despair about the state of our politics pervades the political spectrum, from left to right. One source of it, the narrative of fairness offered in basic civics textbooks — we all have an equal opportunity to succeed if we work hard and play by the rules; citizens can truly shape our politics — […]

Climate Change

We Don’t have a Global Emissions Problem, we Have a Rich Peoples’ CO2 Problem

The Conversation

By Nicholas Beuret | – American congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently shook up environmental politics by releasing a broad outline of a Green New Deal – a plan to make the US a carbon-neutral economy in the next ten years, while reducing both poverty and inequality. Lauded by many as a radical and necessary step, president […]

Plutocracy

Jared Kushner is Poster Boy for Elite Universities’ Pay to Play Scandal

AFP

By Thomas URBAIN New York (AFP) – The scandal of parents paying to cheat their children’s way into elite US universities has put a harsh spotlight on the ultra-competitive college admissions process, in which the haves hold a massive advantage over the have-nots. Thirty-three wealthy parents — financiers, lawyers, and two famous actresses among them […]

Inequality

The Survival of the Richest: The Real Wall

Nomi Prins

( Tomdispatch.com) – Like a gilded coating that makes the dullest things glitter, today’s thin veneer of political populism covers a grotesque underbelly of growing inequality that’s hiding in plain sight. And this phenomenon of ever more concentrated wealth and power has both Newtonian and Darwinian components to it. In terms of Newton’s first law […]

Climate Crisis

Capitalism vs. Socialism Is a False Choice: We need true democracy to Avoid self-extinction.

David Korten

( Yes! Magazine) – Economic power is—and always has been—the foundation of political power. Those who control the peoples’ means of living rule. In a democracy, however, each person must have a voice in the control and management of the means of their living. That requires more than a vote expressing a preference for which […]

Climate Crisis

Democracy and the Green New Deal Demand higher Taxes on Rich

Sam Pizzigati

( Inequality.org ) – Innovative proposals like tying income tax rates for America’s riches to the minimum wage for America’s poorest could help high tax rates survive over the long haul. Jan Schakowsky doesn’t need to apologize for anything. This veteran member of Congress from Illinois has a record second to none on issues that […]

Climate Change

The Main Drag on Saving Planet from Boiling? The Super-Rich

Sam Pizzigati

(Otherwords.org) – Millions of years ago, life on Earth survived an existential climate crisis. But that Earth had a distinct advantage: no rich people. We either keep fossil fuels in the ground, or we fry. That’s the conclusion of another new blockbuster study on climate change, this one from the National Academy of Sciences. Our […]

Plutocracy

Billionaire Wilbur Ross on Unpaid Fed Workers: “Let them Eat Debt!”

Chris Lefkow

By Chris Lefkow | – Washington, D.C. (AFP) – Donald Trump’s billionaire commerce secretary fueled accusations Thursday that the US administration was deaf to the impact of the government shutdown after saying he didn’t understand why some federal workers were turning to food banks. Wilbur Ross shrugged off the impact of the shutdown — now […]

Featured

Why Martin Luther King, Jr., would Support Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Juan Cole

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), the youngest woman ever elected to Congress, at 29, has become a lightning rod. She was recruited to run against a corporate Democrat by activists of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), which has become a significant caucus within the Democratic Party. Her advocacy of a higher marginal tax rate (no, she […]