Archive
When Postal Workers Double as First Responders
America's letter carriers deliver letters and packages to nearly every address in the country six days a week. They also serve their customers in unexpected ways. Letter carriers know and care about their neighborhoods and customers, and they can sense when something...
The Un-American Way
The United States is negotiating a NAFTA-style trade deal that should be alarming to American consumers. The main reason it's not getting much attention is that the mainstream media is largely ignoring it. This pact deserves more news coverage. It threatens to...
Et Tu, Buddhist?
Throughout the centuries people have killed each other in vast numbers for the very best of reasons — religion. Oh they've done it for other reasons too — money, politics, geography, skin color, revolution — but never with more enthusiasm than when the cause was holy....
In America’s West, Equality Takes a Hit
In The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Us Stronger, the landmark 2009 book on the impact of deep economic divides on our daily lives, the surprise societal star — at least for most American readers — turns out to be the state of Utah. On all sorts of measures...
The Fake Thing
New rule (as Bill Maher would say): If you make billions of dollars a year selling unhealthy food, you don't get to tell us to work out. It was one thing when Cookie Monster began telling kids to eat vegetables. Cookie Monster doesn't earn a living by selling cookies,...
Wall Street’s Fix for Homelessness
It's so great — truly heartwarming — to see billionaires devoting their deepest thoughts to finding solutions for eradicating poverty. For example, I can't begin to tell you how grateful America's homeless people are going to be once they hear about Andy Kessler, who...
The Medical-Industrial Complex
Getting well Takes lots of pluck, With health guys out To make a buck. As the Obama administration struggles to keep rolling out its landmark Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act amid partisan squabbling, the shortcomings of American health care are more evident...
Patients vs Profits
The Food Stamp Fracas
"Stop the moochers!" shouted a flock of GOP budget whackers in the House of Representatives. It was back in July, before they flapped away for their five-week long summer break. This was the battle cry of conservative House lawmakers as they ripped all food stamp...
This Week in OtherWords: August 14, 2013
This week in OtherWords, Ryan Alexander weighs in on the price we're paying for our do-nothing Congress and Jill Richardson notes that good food must come with at least a pinch of humility. Do you want to make sure you don't miss the latest from OtherWords? Then...
