workers

LAST week, while watching videos on YouTube, I was repeatedly served with an advertisement in which a mournful woman informed me that unfortunately, Obamacare “just doesn’t work.” This left me bemused, since I live in a country where a variety of Obamacare…

Economy

Walmart Admits that its Business Model Requires Employees to Depend on Food Stamps

contributors

Critics cite irony of annual report filing: ‘This is a company that everywhere it goes it creates poverty’ (By Lauren McCauley) [ Walmart employees are known to be among biggest Medicaid and Food Stamp recipients in over half of the states. – JRIC] Although a notorious recipient of "corporate welfare," Walmart has now admitted that […]

Politics

RIP: Tony Benn – “We’ll never have Democracy as long as Big Business can buy Both Parties

Juan Cole

British socialist stalwart Tony Benn dies at 88 (via AFP) Political foes and allies paid tribute to Tony Benn, the totem of the British left who spearheaded the movement against the Iraq war, following his death on Friday aged 88. A Labour cabinet minister in the 1960s and 1970s, Benn was a widely respected… […]

Economy

The Tea Party Just Turned Five — Is it Winning its War on Workers and Minorities?

Juan Cole

Some date the advent of the tea party to 2007, when then-presidential candidate Ron Paul held a “tax day tea party” fundraiser to fill his campaign coffers. But the broader movement began five years ago last week — shortly after Barack Obama was…

Arab Spring

As Egyptian Gov’t Falls, Leftist Presidential Candidate seeks Youth Vote

Juan Cole

(Via AFP) Egypt presidential hopeful fears return to autocracy (via AFP) Presidential hopeful Hamdeen Sabbahi said he fears a return to autocratic rule in Egypt, telling AFP that the army chief, a likely election frontrunner, has failed to dispel these concerns. Sabbahi, 59, who came third in the 2012 presidential election… —— Related video: […]

Barack Obama

The Human Cost of Income Inequality in America

Juan Cole

BBC: “What does Income Inequality mean for Americans?”

Climate Change

Top Ten Ways GOP could avoid “War on Women” Label

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) Mike Huckabee objects to the charge that the Republican Party is waging a war on women. The GOP obviously is increasingly a party of angry white men. It suffers from a significant gender gap, which helped elect Barack Obama twice. Huckabee wants to just wish all these realities away. But in the […]

Human Rights

Obama Era a new Gilded Age, with Rich Getting Richer, Poor Poorer

contributors

(By Paul Buchheit) Anyone reviewing the data is likely to conclude that there must be some mistake. It doesn't seem possible that one out of twenty American families could each have made a million dollars since Obama became President, while the average American family's net worth has barely recovered. But the evidence comes from numerous […]

Climate Change

A New Red-Green Alliance: Why Workers should Join the Climate Fight (Klein)

Juan Cole

The following remarks were delivered by Naomi Klein on September 1, 2013 at the founding convention of UNIFOR, a new mega union created by the Canadian Autoworkers and the Canadian Energy and Paper Workers Union, and provided to Common Dreams by the author for publication. I’m so very happy and honoured to be able to […]