We are entering a recession – but what did we learn from the last one? March 20, 2020, in The Conversation, Ken-Hou Lin, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Texas at Austin and Megan Neely, Postdoctoral Researcher, Stanford University As the coronavirus continues to spread around the world, it is abundantly clear that the global economy is entering a recession – the first we’ve …
A Moral Agenda Based on Fundamental Rights, advanced by the Poor People’s Campaign
Over the past few years, the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival has connected with communities across this nation to learn from the struggles being waged. We have met with tens of thousands of people, witnessing the strength of their moral courage in trying times. We have gathered testimonies from hundreds of poor people and we have …
Frederick Douglass Railed Against Economic Inequality: On Land Reform, Resources, and Socialism
BY FREDERICK DOUGLASS The great abolitionist and former slave Frederick Douglass died 125 years ago. Today, Jacobin publishes never-before-transcribed articles from Frederick Douglass’ Paper denouncing capitalism and economic inequality. Our new print issue, “Political Revolution,” is out now. Get a discounted subscription today. Everyone knows that Frederick Douglass, who died 125 years ago today, was a fierce opponent of slavery and a powerful champion of freedom, justice, …
Slavery Was Defeated Through Mass Politics: Democratic revolution through the unpredictable and transformative experience of democratic struggle itself
What accounted for this astonishing change? Not just the sagacity of Republican statesmen, or the audacity of abolitionist activists, but the unpredictable and transformative experience of democratic struggle itself. BY MATT KARP, Catalyst The overthrow of slavery in the United States wasn’t a byproduct of capitalist development nor the triumph of an enlightened activist vanguard. It was a battle waged …
Cross-state air pollution from the electric power sector continues to kill Americans. Decade’s coal plant closures saved 26K lives in US: study. Fracking bills introduced.
Midwestern states are the biggest exporters of air pollution, while Northeastern states are the leading importers. BY REBECCA BEITSCH, The Hill, 01/06/20 The decline of coal could be saving thousands of lives as power plants reduce air pollution by switching to natural gas, according to a study published Monday. More than 26,000 lives in the U.S. were saved over the course of …
DOD, FBI, King and the Tremors of History
January 23, 2020 by Common Dreams The FBI—the agency that saw King and the civil rights movement as a communist plot—subjected him to merciless surveillance and may have tried to get him to commit suicide. by Robert C. Koehler This nation’s lack of atonement for its past—combined with the endless wars it is currently waging—make King’s legacy profoundly problematic, by …
Shifting Comfort Zones to Face Realities of Colonization, American Genocide and Slavery
Clearing the FOG (CtF): This year was the 50th commemoration of the landing of the pilgrims in Plymouth Rock and all the ramifications that have extended from that. Can you talk about the National Day of Mourning? Jean-Luc Pierite (JLP): The National Day of Mourning started in 1970. We’re going into the 400th year since the landing of the Mayflower. In 1970, …
Other bad periods: Why 536 was ‘the worst year to be alive’
By Ann GibbonsNov. 15, 2018 , 2:00 PM Ask medieval historian Michael McCormick what year was the worst to be alive, and he’s got an answer: “536.” Not 1349, when the Black Death wiped out half of Europe. Not 1918, when the flu killed 50 million to 100 million people, mostly young adults. But 536. In Europe, “It was the beginning …
Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and other congressional progressives want to tax companies that overpay their CEOs. Most Republicans would go even further: A Harvard Business School study found that Americans think the right CEO-worker pay ratio is no higher than 7 to 1
All this could mean bipartisan traction for a new bill introduced by Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren and Representatives Rashida Tlaib and Barbara Lee earlier this month. It would raise the federal corporate income tax rate on companies that pay their CEOs more than 50 times their median workers’ pay.The bigger the gap, the bigger the hike. At a …
The End of Neoliberalism and Rebirth of History
By Joseph E. Stiglitz, Project-syndicate.org November 14, 2019 | CREATE! For 40 years, elites in rich and poor countries alike promised that neoliberal policies would lead to faster economic growth, and that the benefits would trickle down so that everyone, including the poorest, would be better off. Now that the evidence is in, is it any wonder that trust in elites and confidence …