The IRS Is Letting the Rich Get Away With Tax Evasion
New data shows a huge drop in tax audits of the wealthy and corporations. The IRS is hounding working people but letting the rich get away with murder.
20420 Article(s) by: Frances Abele
Frances Abele CM is Distinguished Research Professor and Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy Emerita at Carleton University. She is a research fellow at the Carleton Centre for Community Innovation and the Broadbent Institute. Much of her work focuses on indigenous-Canada relations.
Biden Aides’ Corporate Ties Should Surprise No One
Newly released documents show Joe Biden’s White House staffers recently working as consultants for Lyft, billionaire foundations, and an Israeli facial recognition firm. It’s another reminder of the revolving door between big business and the state.
A Year After Teachers Closed Them, NYC Schools Are Still Unsafe
Last year, as elected officials dithered on whether to shut down schools at the pandemic’s beginning, educators forced them shut. A year later, educators are making the same demand — against the efforts of both Mayor Bill de Blasio and their own union, the United Federation of Teachers.
How Montana Unions Defeated a Right-to-Work Bill
Labor has suffered defeat after defeat in recent years, especially when it comes to the steady expansion of state-level right-to-work bills. But earlier this month, the state of Montana bucked that trend — by defeating right-to-work.
Columbia Graduate Workers Are on Strike. Other Higher-Ed Workers Should Follow Their Lead.
Graduate workers at Columbia University are currently on strike, the culmination of a yearslong campaign for a decent contract. This kind of confrontation with the neoliberal university is the only way to win decent pay and working conditions in higher education.
A Hospital in Flames Exposes Romania’s Collapsing Neoliberal Model
The death of five people in a Bucharest hospital fire is the latest illustration of how neoliberal shock therapy has run down Romania’s public services. For the labor protesters who have been in the streets since January, the blaze only confirms their message: Romania has to invest in its own public services, not just rely on remittances from abroad.
The Dutch Left’s Collapse Shows How It Failed to Politicize the Pandemic
On Wednesday, the Netherlands held Europe’s first national election since the start of the pandemic — and the entire center-left took just 20 percent of the vote. While the crisis provided a chance to call for radical economic change, the “post-ideological” center-left posed no alternative to the government’s call to return to normal.
Flight Attendants’ Leader Sara Nelson: “You Have to Look for the Next Fight”
This week, AFA-CWA president Sara Nelson traveled to Bessemer, Alabama, where Amazon workers are now voting on unionization. We spoke to Nelson about the union drive, Amazon’s tone-deafness, and how her members are doing one year into the pandemic.
Joe Biden Will Not Save the Labor Movement
Talk of Joe Biden as a transformational president is getting ahead of itself. Historically, labor law reform has triggered some of the fiercest battles from business — and Joe Biden has shown no evidence he’ll go to the mat for the PRO Act, the most transformative piece of labor legislation in decades.
With COVID-19 Relief Passed, It’s Time for Democrats to Destroy the Filibuster
To fulfill his campaign promise of raising the minimum wage and safeguard the most basic elements of democracy, Joe Biden must publicly and vocally support scrapping the filibuster.
“New York City’s Working Class Has Been Left Out”
Jaslin Kaur is a socialist running for New York City Council. In an interview with Jacobin, she talks about the desperate need for debt relief for New York taxi drivers, cutting the New York Police Department’s massive budget, and the spurious attacks on socialists as “white gentrifiers.”
The FBI Is Now Investigating Cuomo’s Corporate Immunity Law
Last year, we reported that New York governor Andrew Cuomo trying to shield killer nursing home execs from criminal liability for actions during the pandemic. Now the FBI is probing how the corporate immunity law came about.
Biden’s COVID Relief Bill Is the Biggest Anti-Poverty Program in…Months
The Biden administration is selling its COVID relief bill as a historic milestone in the war on poverty. In reality, it’s a temporary measure whose anti-poverty impact is roughly the same as last year’s CARES Act signed by Trump. For Biden to claim an anti-poverty legacy, he needs to make the child benefit permanent.
Pablo Iglesias’s Madrid Campaign Can Shake Up Spanish Politics
On Monday, Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias announced he is resigning as Spain’s deputy prime minister to run for election in the Madrid region. Iglesias’s move to regional politics is aimed at blocking the formation of another far-right government in the capital — but it also highlights his own party’s need to go beyond relying on one brilliant communicator.
To Win Labor Law Reform Like the PRO Act, We Must Scrap the Filibuster
Finally, it appears that the filibuster’s days may be numbered. This is good news, because the closer we get to scrapping the filibuster, the closer we get to passing major labor law reform like the PRO Act.
Kamala Harris Has a History of Passing the Buck on Police Killings
Vice President Kamala Harris now touts herself as a police reform advocate. But troubling incidents — including fatal shootings by police officers in the state — during her time as California’s “top cop” suggest that wasn’t always the case.
Bernie Brings the Amazon Union Drive to Washington
At a Senate Budget Committee hearing yesterday, with Bernie Sanders presiding, economists, labor experts, and the day’s star witness — Jennifer Bates, an Amazon warehouse worker in Bessemer, Alabama — exposed the grim workings of an economy that continues to funnel wealth and power to a tiny capitalist elite.
The Communards Were More Than Just Beautiful Martyrs
150 years since the Paris Commune, the militants who built the world’s first working-class government are often commemorated as martyrs rather than taken seriously as revolutionaries. Yet in the years after 1871, socialists sought to draw practical lessons from this experience — and build the organizations that could turn the Commune’s promise into lasting social change.
How Yemen’s Old Order Snuffed Out the Country’s Hopes for a New Dawn
Ten years ago, inspired by revolts in Egypt and Tunisia, Yemenis challenged an authoritarian ruler and dared to dream of a new future for their country. But a backlash by Yemen’s old guard and interference by foreign powers crushed those hopes and plunged the country into war.
The Paris Commune Is Still a Beacon for Radical Change
On this day in 1871, the working class of Paris seized control of the capital and established the Commune. Though it ruled for just two months, the world’s first workers’ government still stands as a vivid example of the kind of society workers themselves can create, according to their own vision of freedom and equality.