Archive
The Corporate-GOP Attack on America’s Middle Class
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s autocratic attempt to abrogate the democratic right of public employees to bargain with their governmental bosses is not wearing well with the public. Recent polls show that a mere one-third of Wisconsinites favor his blatantly political power play, and that if he had told voters in the last year’s election that he intended to do this, he would’ve lost.
Echoes of Fascism
As the saying goes, Franco’s still dead. But fascism isn’t. Its basic tenet is what Mussolini called “supercapitalism,” a system where governments and corporations work hand-in-glove. Some modern business moguls might like to give it a shot. In Mussolini’s day, that meant government needed to take over companies. Today, the companies just take over the government.
From Libya to Wisconsin, with Love
The Lineup: Week of March 7-13, 2011
William A. Collins laments the dangers that the nation’s health care system poses to our health while Robert Alvarez explains why managing nuclear weapons should be the Pentagon’s job, instead of an Energy Department task.
The Government’s Nuclear Millstone
The Obama administration is making a big fuss over its proposal to boost the Energy Department’s budget to $29.5 billion.
Sidelining Egyptian Women after the Uprising
A century ago, more than a million people marched in streets across Europe on the first International Women’s Day. They called for an end to discrimination and for women to have the same rights as men to work, vote, and shape their countries’ futures.
China’s Wise Wheat Reserves
It’s fashionable to worry about China. One common fear is that China’s increasing demand for food will wreak havoc on international markets, causing mass starvation in food-importing countries. However, China uses safeguards to stave off food shortages. We could learn from its approach.
Moving Past the Jobless Recovery
Most of the 15 million unemployed Americans want to be back at work. What Americans need first and foremost is to be able to go to work and bring home a paycheck. Two more of my friends just lost their jobs. I have two brothers-in-law who are out of work. They aren’t lazy. They’re willing to do just about anything.
The Road to Budget Sanity
President Obama delivered the first salvo by presenting his $3.5 trillion proposal for the 2012 fiscal year to Congress in a telephone book-sized document. It was very Barack–measured and balanced. It cut a little here, put on a little there, added a pinch of taxes and came up with a budget he said would cut more than a trillion dollars from the deficit over the next ten years.
Surprise: Guess Who Wants Gun Control?
Irony isn’t a town, but a concept. Though the state’s political leaders don’t seem at all familiar with it. Claiming to represent the will of the people, they’ve enacted the most free-wheeling gun toting laws in America – no state has fewer restrictions. Which brings us to irony: a recent poll reveals that far from being a wild bunch of devil-may-care gun-slinging ideologues, a majority of Arizonans actually want tougher gun laws. Overall, 55 percent of the residents favor more stringent controls.
