Smartphones Aren’t the Problem — Capitalism Is
All of the fretting about social media addiction and smartphones destroying our attention span misses the point. Capitalism and the profit-seeking of big tech is the real problem.
19613 Articles by: Karl Leffme
Karl Leffme is a socialist in New York CIty.
Joe Biden Can’t Hide for Much Longer
Joe Biden emerged victorious last night, but his disastrous interview with MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell last week was yet another indicator of why Biden’s handlers have been trying to keep their candidate out of public view. Even in friendly exchanges, Biden can’t help but perform terribly.
Where Do We Go After Last Night’s Defeat?
The bad news is that the Democratic Party isn’t going anywhere. The good news is that today’s commonsense political demands are, almost unthinkably, democratic socialist ones. Our work continues today.
Bernie Supporters, No Surrender
Morbid despair won’t get us anywhere — win or lose, we should fight to the end for Bernie’s campaign.
Clare Boothe Luce, From Broadway to the Cold War
Author of Broadway hit The Women, the Vanity Fair managing editor Clare Boothe Luce was a dogged anticommunist. As US ambassador to Italy, she worked tirelessly to keep the Left out of office — and set a precedent for Washington’s meddling in democracies abroad.
Noam Chomsky: “Bernie Sanders Has Inspired a Mass Popular Movement”
Noam Chomsky says that Bernie Sanders is vilified by the media because he’s trying to shape US politics in the interest of working people. We shouldn’t expect anything else.
Joe Biden Is No Friend of Public Education
We deserve a presidential candidate who will eradicate high-stakes testing, champion teachers and public schools, and help free students from the shackles of student debt. Joe Biden is not that candidate.
Sanders Is Offering a Science-Based Coronavirus Policy. Trump Wants a Cruise-Ship-Industry Bailout.
Bernie Sanders’s competent, evidence-based approach to the pandemic provides a much-needed contrast to the shambolic public health menace of Donald Trump. We need legislation providing for free COVID-19 tests, mandatory paid sick leave, free health care for COVID-19 patients, and quarantine pay.
Joe Biden Can’t Cure Cancer
Once again, Joe Biden has pledged to cure cancer. At the same time, his campaign is being bankrolled by the very industries that profit from keeping treatment prohibitively expensive.
To the Boomers We Love: Join Us Young People in the Movement Behind Bernie Sanders
Polls show that many older Americans don’t support Bernie Sanders. But we don’t want to write those boomers off — we want to warmly invite them to join our movement that’s fighting for dignified lives for us, for them, and for their children and grandchildren.
Joe Biden Is Not All There Mentally. Running Him for President Is Incredibly Dangerous.
Joe Biden’s boosters want to sell him as the safe bet against Donald Trump. But running a man in clear cognitive decline against a mean-spirited bully who relishes the exploitation of weakness is anything but safe — it would all but hand the election to Trump.
How Greece Became Europe’s “Shield” Against Refugees
Five years after Alexis Tsipras proclaimed his government’s solidarity with migrants, he has joined European Union leaders in calling for Greece to “close the borders.” The narrative of migrant “invasion” has mainstreamed far-right ideas — turning nationalist rhetoric into violent attacks on refugees.
The Coronavirus Economic Crash
Today’s coronavirus crash in the stock market exposed the frailty of global capitalism. With governments tapped out on quantitative easing, only significant public investment on the scale of a Green New Deal can prevent a slump.
Don’t Be a Coward, Joe Biden: Debate Bernie Sanders on Health Care
Bernie Sanders challenged Joe Biden to an hour-long debate on health care last week. But Biden still hasn’t taken him up on the offer — because he knows Bernie would trounce him.
“Democratic Socialism Is Fighting for Regular Working-Class People”
Mckayla Wilkes is a first-time candidate for Maryland’s 5th congressional district. In an interview with Jacobin, she talks about her experiences with incarceration, how Bernie Sanders inspired her to run, and what it means to run a working-class campaign against a corporate-funded incumbent.
Wall Street Is High on Government Supply
For more than a decade, the US government has been taking over ever larger portions of the financial system to prop up shaky markets. It hasn’t worked. We need a real socialization of finance — for the majority, not the banks.
Jeff Bezos Wants America to Be One Giant Amazon Marketplace
Amazon just opened a 10,000-square-foot cashierless grocery store in Seattle. It’s part of a dangerous drive to undermine workers and control and commodify new spheres of life. The company and its plans for us should be resisted.
Yanis Varoufakis: “Syriza Was a Bigger Blow to the Left Than Thatcher”
Former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis told Jacobin why he’s publishing his secret recordings of the critical Eurogroup meetings of 2015 — and why the Left around Europe is struggling to overcome Syriza’s disastrous legacy.
Tech Workers for Bernie
Bernie Sanders wants to rein in Big Tech, but tech workers love him anyway. Why? Because tech workers, like all workers, recognize the impact that policies such as Medicare for All and student loan debt relief could have on their well-being.
When the Carpetbaggers Came to Georgia (the One Near Russia)
Founded by a former Bill Clinton aide, Frontera is a failed oil firm known for its bid for domination in the former Soviet Union. Now, US congressmen are trying to stop it being expelled from Georgia — blaming its well-deserved legal woes on “Russian interference.”