Issue 51: The Internet Speaks

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Massive Wealth Inequality Exists in Every Age Group

Nursery Rhymes

The problem of age in the workplace used to tend in the other direction.

One Last Job

Many great directors lose their fastballs. But a few legends have managed to buck that trend, turning in some of their best work in their twilight years.

Our Aging Stars

Texas’s Governor Is Trying to Destroy Public Education — and Dim Those Friday Night Lights

Texas governor Greg Abbott is on a crusade against public education. But even rural Republicans aren’t going along with his privatization scheme, recognizing the threat it poses to youth education, adult employment, and Texas’s beloved football teams.

Azerbaijan Has Conquered Karabakh, but the Conflict Still Isn’t Over

Azerbaijan’s brutal offensive in Karabakh has killed hundreds and forced countless Armenians to flee their homes. And its expansionist agenda isn’t over yet.

Canada’s New Centrist Party Is the World’s Most Pointless Political Party

In Canada, a business class brain trust is launching a new centrist party for the upcoming election. With workers suffering multiple crises in housing and household debt, Canada needs a new centrist party like it needs a hole in the head.

A Newly Translated Novel Captures the Tragedy of Greek Communism

Written in 1972, during Greece’s military junta, leftist Marios Chakkas’s recently translated novel The Commune is a mournful testament from a world where the stakes of politics were communism or fascism, democracy or dictatorship.

Is Capitalism Terminally Ill?

A debate between Seth Ackerman and Aaron Benanav on the prognosis for capitalism: Is it experiencing the kind of long-run stagnation that many Marxists have long regarded as its destiny? And what does the answer mean for socialist political strategy today?

In Australian Universities, There Is No Such Thing as a Secure Job

Citing budget deficits, Australian Catholic University has announced plans to shut down the Dianoia Institute of Philosophy. But the shortfall isn’t the result of research expenses — it’s the product of bloated spending on consultants and executive salaries.

We All Live in a Company Town Now. The Labor Movement Can Lead the Way Out.

Private profiteers have concentrated their grip over real estate to such an extent that virtually every American lives in a company town now. Unions from all sectors need to wage campaigns for housing policies that break the vise grip of real-estate elites.

A Strike Surge in Manitoba is Challenging Wage Repression

Workers in Manitoba, Canada, the home of the historic Winnipeg General Strike, are striking to fight against wage repression. This resurgence of working-class strength will impact the province’s upcoming election.

The Global Trade in Passports Is the Latest Boom Industry Catering to the Superrich

If you can afford to pay, there are a growing number of states willing to sell their citizenship and the privileges it brings. The lucrative trade in “golden passports” exposes the dark side of capitalist globalization and its unequal valuation of human lives.

Unions Are for Fighting the Boss. Don’t Turn Them Into Toothless Guilds.

Manhattan Institute fellow Allison Schrager argues in a nationally syndicated opinion piece that unions can best serve their members by focusing on insurance schemes and cooperating to find boss-friendly solutions. That’s nonsense.

Most Americans Have Lost Faith in Our Political System. It’s Time to Change It.

Recent polling shows that most Americans have little to no faith in our political system and an increasing number disapprove of both major parties. It’s high time for the Left to champion reforms to our electoral system.

Dianne Feinstein Helped Lead the Democratic Party’s Neoliberal Turn

Dianne Feinstein deserves to be remembered as a representative of the country’s monied interests — and her centrist legacy should be rejected.

The US Wants Saudi Arabia and Israel to Get Cozy

The US is pushing for a peace deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia that could involve the US signing a defense pact with the Gulf monarchy. The US would thus be obligated to militarily defend a state where democratic institutions do not exist, even in name.

The Coincidences Behind Canada’s Nazi-Honoring Debacle Are Deeply Unsettling

The grandfather of Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s deputy prime minister, worked for a Nazi newspaper that recruited for the Galicia Division of the Waffen-SS — the same division as Yaroslav Hunka, the Nazi who was recently honored by Canada’s Parliament.

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar Is Another Day at the Office for Wes Anderson

In The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, the first of four Roald Dahl mini adaptations, I was hoping for something like Fantastic Mr. Fox — but it’s the same old Wes Anderson. Still, he claims it took “years to decide how to shoot the story.”