Plutocracy

There is surprisingly widespread support for higher taxes on the rich. Americans have typically felt that one should keep what one earns. Many are also convinced that they will one day become rich, hence the popularity of lotteries, which reflect and help sustain that belief. Dean Baker, co-founder of the Center for Economic Policy and […]

Democratic Socialism

Rashida Tlaib and Working Class Authenticity v. Trump’s Plutocrat Pretense

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Why does Donald Trump get a pass on speaking and acting obscenely but Rashida Tlaib is pilloried for calling him a Mofo? It is because US corporate media and political elites expect the wealthy to do bad imitations of working class profanity (so as to fool the rubes into voting […]

Inequality

How Corporate Monopolies and High Prices are Making you Poor and Rich Richer

Sam Pizzigati

(Inequality.org) – Andrew Leigh, a member of the Australian parliament, has a side gig. He just happens to be a working economist. Other lawmakers may spend their spare hours making cold calls for campaign cash. Leigh spends his doing research — on why our modern economies are leaving their populations ever more unequal. Leigh’s latest […]

Plutocracy

Trump’s Trade Czar, The Latest Architect of Imperial Disaster

Alfred W. McCoy

Trump’s Trade Czar, The Latest Architect of Imperial Disaster Five Academics Who Unleashed the “Demon” of Geopolitical Power By Alfred W. McCoy ( Tomdispatch.com ) – As Washington’s leadership fades more quickly than anyone could have imagined and a new global order struggles to take shape, a generation of leaders has crowded onto the world […]

Climate Change

All our Dystopias Now: Climate Crisis, Plutocracy and Hyper-Nationalism

John Feffer

(Tomdispatch.com) – The mid-term elections are over, and the Democrats have regained the House, but the rest of American political reality remains intact. Meanwhile, the campaigns barely touched on the most important issues of our time: war, climate change, and the fracturing of the international community. So, let’s consider these larger issues from a different […]

Inequality

Report: World’s Richest Got 20% Richer in 2017

TeleSur

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]