Economists’ Obsession With “Efficiency” Is Just an Endorsement of Greed
The global economy is “efficient” alright: it efficiently funnels wealth to the top while leaving most of humanity behind.
20378 Article(s) by: Abigail Torre
Abigail Torre grew up in Chile and now lives in Berkeley, California where she is cochair of the East Bay chapter of Democratic Socialists of America.
The Edwardian Baroque Anticipated the Architecture of Global Capitalism
A new book shows how the grand designs of Edwardian architects expressed the anxieties and illusions of their time. Imperial confidence in the peaceful integration of the world ran alongside fears of decline and collapse, echoing the dilemmas of our own age.
Pete Buttigieg’s Transportation Department Is Skirting Safety Standards
The recent train derailment in Ohio shows the need for more stringent safety rules for train brakes, especially for trains carrying hazardous materials. Transportation regulators are instead bending to the interests of rail industry lobbyists.
Temple University Administrators Have Declared War on Striking Grad Workers
Unionized graduate students at Temple University are on strike. The school’s administration has responded with unabashedly brutal retaliation, cutting off their health care and tuition remission, in an attempt to crush them.
“Soundbite Economics” Obscures Who’s Causing and Profiting From the Crisis
Capitalism’s apologists are throwing around economic concepts like inflation, recession, labor shortages, and supply chain shortages to justify ripping off consumers, raising rents, and depressing wages. Don’t ask them to define their terms.
Only Socialism Can Put an End to Exploitation
The exploitation of workers is central to the functioning of capitalism. The socialist argument is simple: we can live in a world without such exploitation.
Trader Joe’s Workers in Louisville Just Voted for a Union. We Spoke to One of the Workers.
A third Trader Joe’s store location has just voted to unionize, this one in the notoriously anti-union South. “If a Trader Joe’s in Louisville, Kentucky, can do this,” says an organizer, “any Trader Joe’s across the country can do this.”
Crimea Is a Powder Keg
Whether the Ukraine war brings on a global catastrophe will hinge in large part on whether Washington decides to back a Ukrainian effort to retake the Crimean peninsula.
France’s Once-Mighty Socialist Party Must Change or Die
Once a major national force, today’s French Socialist Party finds itself outcompeted by both the radical left and neoliberal president Emmanuel Macron. But last month’s congress shows many leaders would rather kill the party than sign up for radical policies.
Automation Isn’t the Cause of Unemployment — Capitalism Just Can’t Generate Enough Jobs
Social theorists identify automation as both the main cause of unemployment and the future launchpad for a high-tech post-scarcity world. But, Aaron Benanav argues, the problem is the stagnation of global capitalism and its inability to generate enough jobs.
Loblaws Is Crushing Canadians With High Food Prices — While Raking in Enormous Profits
“Let them eat price gouging” appears to be grocery giant Loblaws’ response to the rising number of food-insecure Canadians. The company blames supply chain issues and inflation for soaring grocery costs — yet is posting stratospheric profits.
Israel’s Law of Return Lets Criminals Abroad Run From the Law
Israel routinely refuses to extradite its own citizens — including people who’ve flown there purely to escape justice. Its Law of Return rewards criminals who can claim a vague connection to Israel, even as it denies innocent Palestinians their homeland.
Even When Times Are Tough, Keep Socialism as Your North Star
Achieving a fully socialist society is going to take a long time, and there’s no guarantee of victory. But we should never lose sight of the goal, because every step we take in that direction makes life better for working-class people and deepens democracy.
Railroad Corporations Are Blocking Safety Regulations to Protect Profits
For years, rail companies have resisted federal safety regulations to cut costs. The major train derailment in Ohio last weekend, which resulted in the emergency evacuation of residents nearby, is the fruit of such profit maximization.
For the GOP in 2024, It’s Still Trump
Since he first ran for president, Donald Trump has not only become the dominant figure in Republican politics — he’s embedded his own priorities and personal style deep in the GOP base. They’ll accept no substitutes for the real thing at this point.
France’s Left-Wing Coalition Risks Splitting Apart
Mass protests on Tuesday showed the strength of popular anger at Emmanuel Macron’s plans to raise the pension age. But the coalition of left-wing parties, NUPES, has fallen into infighting — which risks wasting the progress it has made since last spring.
Gandhi’s Assassin Helped Build the Forces Ruling India Today
Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination in 1948 shocked the newly independent India. Seventy-five years later, the assassin’s associates are now in power and dismantling secular democracy.
At a New Jersey Factory, Workers Are Up Against a Pension-Backed Private Equity Giant
Workers at a soft drink maker owned by private equity megafirm KKR say the company is stalling in contract negotiations and denying workers more than six weekends off per year. Ironically, KKR’s union busting is funded in part by union pension investments.
The Judiciary Has Never Been Impartial — Something the GOP Has Long Known
The idea that judges are objective interpreters of the law is a polite fiction. With their ability to carry out a far-right agenda through democratic means declining, the GOP is embracing judicial partisanship.
Joe Biden Still Has No Plan to Turn His Rhetoric Into Reality
Joe Biden actually showed signs of life in his State of the Union. And Sarah Huckabee Sanders’s response reflected a GOP determined to stay weird and unhinged. But whatever his rhetorical innovations, Bidenism in practice remains grounded in Beltway orthodoxy.