Archive
My Advice for High School Graduates: Learn a Trade
In the classic 1960s movie The Graduate, a family friend offers Dustin Hoffman, the recent graduate, one word of advice: “plastics.” My advice for today’s high school graduates: “learn a trade.” Unfortunately, there's a historic stigma about “voc-ed,” the result of...
This Is the Wrong Time to Cut Back on Public Housing
Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Ben Carson has answered President Trump’s call to shrink the social safety net. Carson recently offered a proposal that would triple the rent some of America's poorest families have to pay before they get housing...
In OtherWords: April 25, 2018
We're a few days shy of May Day -- known to the rest of the world as International Workers' Day. The U.S., however, prefers to call it the vaguely menacing "Loyalty Day" instead. In OtherWords this week, Saurav Sarkar decides it's a good time to ponder just how loyal...
Bring Back May Day
Most of the world recognizes May 1 — May Day — as International Workers' Day. Here in one of the few countries that doesn't, it's worth pausing to ask how U.S. workers are doing. At an event last December, Fight for $15 organizer Terrence Wise recalled "going to bed...
Corporations Should Have to Hear From Their Owners
When we think about ways to pressure corporations to improve their practices, we may think of petitions, street demonstrations, boycotts, or social media campaigns. Yet there's another way that's been used effectively for decades. It involves those who stand to gain...
Why Are Palestinians Protesting in Gaza?
Once again, the Israeli military has turned its guns on Gaza — this time on unarmed protestors, in a series of shootings over the last few weeks. Gaza’s already under-resourced hospitals are straining to care for the thousands of protesters who have been injured, on...
What ‘Toys R Us’ Teaches Us About Taxes
By the time you read this, your favorite hangout as a kid may have gone kaput. Toys “R” Us, the iconic global retailer, recently announced its impending demise after over a six-decade run. That sad news no doubt has many of us waxing nostalgic. All those aisles piled...
‘The Art of the Deal’ Was a Lie
Remember how Trump's one main virtue as a leader was excelling in "the art of the deal"? Alas, the story of Trump the brash dealmaker famously told in The Art of the Deal was — as the author has revealed — not entirely truthful. Although apparently Trump thinks that...
A Quiet Conspiracy of Billionaires
The Koch brothers are oil magnates and billionaire GOP funders. They believe that their great wealth entitles them to rule over the many. For decades, they've been running a surreptitious assault on the rules that protect the majority of us from their abuse. From...
Who Needs Sessions When You’ve Got Starbucks?
