Archive
It’s Your Fault
You. Yes you there, wearing your complacency like a suit of medieval armor, proud that you only have three cars in your family and that you keep the thermostat at 70 degrees in the winter.
Plutonomism
Yes, it’s an actual word, derived from “plutocracy.” It was coined in 2005 by a team of “global investment strategists” at Citigroup, the Wall Street financial giant. While populism is based on the egalitarian principle of the common good, plutonomism unabashedly espouses the virtue of “the rich getting richer.”
American Gothic, 2010
Yes, Virginia, Banks Really Are the Bad Guys
I have here in my hand, as Sen. Joe McCarthy used to say about alleged communist evidence, a bona-fide “Delivery Authorization” from Wachovia Bank (“a Wells Fargo Company”). They’ve already sent two. By simply moving a gold sticker from the top of the sheet to the reply form at the bottom, and entering the last four digits of my Social Security number, I can get my valuable “free” credit report.
Pelosi Protest Followed by Cautious Optimism at Progressive Gathering
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s speech at the America’s Future Now conference went off-script. The Washington Post did a great job telling the story of how the California lawmaker spoke for a half an hour over the garbled jeers of more than a dozen infuriated healthcare activists in orange t-shirts, many of them in wheelchairs
Arkansas and America’s Future Now
I’m spending the time I can spare while not editing OtherWords’ upcoming commentaries at America’s Future Now, which runs through Wednesday in Washington. This annual progressive summit fittingly coincides this year with Arkansas’ Democratic primary runoff.
God’s to Blame Too
We blame the government for bad health care and for trying to improve it. We blame it for the lousy economy and wars that never end and for the education of our children, which is also lousy. We blame it when it runs a deficit and when it tries to lower the deficit by taxing us. We blame it for the high price of gasoline and the low price of corn. In short, we blame government for pretty much everything, but ourselves for nothing. Neither do we blame God.
Israel’s Flotilla Massacre: Made in the USA
When Israeli commandoes launched their pirate-style assault on the unarmed flotilla of ships carrying hundreds of humanitarian aid workers and 10,000 tons of supplies for the besieged Gaza Strip, killing at least nine activists and injuring scores more, part of the operation was labeled “Made in the USA.”
Show Some Guts: Stop the Cuts
From now well into the fall, a big story will unfold across the United States. Big as in bad. It will be terrible for our children, our communities, even the future of our country. I’m talking about massive cuts in public services, particularly in the area of education.
Feisty Grannies Stand Up for Peace
How grand it was in Washington for Hamid Karzai. The corrupt, inept president of Afghanistan–whose regime is being propped up by 87,000 of our troops and a $7-billion-a-month bill from us taxpayers–got the red-carpet treatment in our nation’s capital in May, including a meeting with President Obama in the grandeur of the White House.
