Attacking Trump as a “Fake Billionaire” Is a Dead End
The real scandal isn’t that Donald Trump is secretly poor — it’s that our system let such an obvious fraud get so rich.
19461 Articles by: Benjamin Case
Benjamin Case is a researcher, educator, and organizer living in Pittsburgh.
How Thomas Piketty Ignores Class Struggle
Offering a welcome rejoinder to many neoliberal orthodoxies, French economist Thomas Piketty has established himself as a sharp critic of growing inequality. But when he presents these ills just as a result of wrong choices, he ends up erasing the realities of class struggle — leaving him unable to explain how neoliberalism imposes its power.
The Myth of Progressive Canada
Canada’s growing economic and military might abroad is exploding any notions of “Canadian exceptionalism.” It might not be as vicious as the United States, but Canada is nonetheless an imperialist power.
Donald Trump’s Bailout of Fossil Fuel Companies May Cost States $280 Billion
Trump was asked to employ jobless workers to plug abandoned wells that are exacerbating climate change. Instead he bailed out oil and gas executives and shareholders — potentially putting states on the hook for $280 billion.
Abraham Lincoln Taxed the Rich. This Election Day, Illinois Can, Too.
A tiny handful of rich people make life worse for the vast majority of us, and most of the time it feels like we can’t do much about it. But Illinois voters could change that on Election Day: the state can follow the example of Abraham Lincoln and finally establish a progressive state income tax.
Deutschland 89 Shows the Scrap for Power After the Fall of the Berlin Wall
The new series in the Deutschland trilogy starts in the hours before the fall of the Berlin Wall. But there’s little time for either joy or commiseration — everyone’s too busy trying to lay their hands on East Germany’s assets.
Bengal Is Being Hit Hard by Climate Catastrophe
When it hit the Bay of Bengal in May, Cyclone Amphan caused apocalyptic scenes, flooding whole districts and flattening villages. Amid a pandemic and in a region already riven by food insecurity, storms like these are catastrophic.
Andrés Arauz Is Refusing to Let Neoliberals Bury Ecuador’s Citizens’ Revolution
After a sustained campaign of judicial persecution, Lenín Moreno’s increasingly unpopular government has barred former president Rafael Correa from running in February’s elections. But radical economist and presidential candidate Andrés Arauz is pushing ahead with his bid to continue Correa’s Citizens’ Revolution — standing defiant against moves to block the Left from standing.
How Pepe the Frog Morphed From a Goofy Cartoon to a Hate Symbol
An entertaining new documentary helps explain the strange visual alchemy of the internet — and how a goofy cartoon of Pepe the Frog became, despite its creator’s opposition, a mascot of the postmodern right’s virulent reactionary politics.
We Shouldn’t Have to Work So Damn Much
We’re working longer hours than in decades. But we don’t have to. We deserve a more democratic economy in which we have the free time to develop our talents, hang out with friends and family, and do whatever else we please.
Private Equity Firm Blackstone Actually Had a Sub-Zero Tax Rate Last Year
Even though Blackstone, the world’s largest private equity firm, raked in billions in profits last year, new documents show their tax rate actually went below zero. This may help explain why CEO Stephen Schwarzman has spent nearly $25 million to help Trump and GOP senators win: to ensure the tax breaks enriching Blackstone stay in place.
The First Presidential Debate Was Completely Nuts
Last night’s debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump was a ninety-minute stream of consciousness that pitted a mediocre-at-best challenger to a raving, dangerous reactionary. Were we expecting anything different?
“We’re Not Just Grateful for Red Vienna — We Need to Fight for It”
Austria’s capital city is famous for its model public housing and social services, the legacy of municipal socialism in the 1920s. But it’s been decades since the Social Democrats have done anything to build on this record. Now a new leftist party is working to turn Vienna red again.
Donald Trump Endorsed Right-Wing Violence During the Debate
In last night’s debate, Donald Trump failed to condemn white supremacists — even telling the Proud Boys to “stand by” — then refused to promise he would encourage his supporters to refrain from political violence in November. His rhetoric is growing more and more dangerous.
North Carolina Nurses’ Union Victory Is One for the History Books
Earlier this month, nurses at Mission Hospital in Asheville, North Carolina voted to unionize. Taking place in one of the most anti-union states in the country, and challenging a bitterly anti-labor employer, the campaign is a monumental victory for labor.
Trump’s “Deterrence” Strategy Targeting Black Voters Doesn’t Have to Work
In both his campaigns, Trump has run ads aimed at killing black voters’ enthusiasm for the Democratic nominee and lowering their turnout. The strategy is craven, but the ads exploit real disillusionment. Without a sharp break from their history of failing black constituents, Democrats will remain vulnerable to such opportunistic gambits in the future.
The Baku Congress of 1920 Sounded the Call for the End of Empire
A century ago this month, the new Soviet government summoned anti-colonial revolutionaries from across Asia to a gathering in Baku. The Baku Congress proved to be a watershed in the fight against European colonial domination and the rise of the Global South.
We Still Don’t Know Who Is Paying for Trump’s Supreme Court Seats
The conservative front group backing Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination already spent $27 million to remake the Supreme Court. We have no idea where the money came from.
What Ruth Bader Ginsburg Learned From Swedish Social Democracy
The seeds for Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s pioneering sex-discrimination Supreme Court briefs were planted in the early years of her legal career of the 1960s, from an unlikely source: Sweden, under the prime ministership of social democrat Olof Palme.
The Lessons We Need to Learn From Europe’s Struggle Against Fascism
The catastrophic descent of interwar Europe into fascist rule may not be repeatable in today’s world. But a different form of reactionary politics could still take shape and prove to be just as harmful.