Blue Devils

More than half of the top 15 crypto-PAC-backed candidates during the 2024 campaign season were Democrats.

High Rise, Hard Times

Wannabe Gordon Gekkos

Are you missing the point by idolizing them?

Minecraft Scorsese

A Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg satire of mainstream film’s IP problem — in which everything is an adaptation of something else — fails to excuse or address their own extensive IP crimes.

In Carbon We Trust

In Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Ministry for the Future, a global currency backed by carbon removal turns speculation into salvation.

Five Books on Speculation

As history and literature are quick to remind us, many a get-rich-quick scheme has ended in sorrow.

Fruit of the Union

Union assets have skyrocketed while membership remains largely stagnant.

DJ D-Sol’s Double Life

Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon knows how to drop a beat. But could he handle a drop in the markets?

Heavy Metals Music

Zamrock emerged from the optimism of postindependence Zambia, fusing psychedelic rock with nationalist ambition. Its rise and fall mirror the promise — and the exhaustion — of a country built on copper.

Money for Nothing

Why the modern financial sector is better at extracting rents than funding the future.

Elon’s Slash-and-Burn Operation

DOGE has cut millions of dollars’ worth of grants in every state.

On Cupcakes, ICE, and Matchmaking Incels With Immigrants

A Socialism That Invents

Why Nordic countries out-innovate the United States.

On Standstills, Social Media, and Soaring Toward the Strongest Democratic Party Possible

Making Plagues Investable

The World Bank’s pandemic bonds tried to turn public health crises into speculative opportunities.

State of the Art

At the height of the NFT craze, the cost of some digital art surpassed that of the great masters’.

Attacks on Undocumented Workers Are Attacks on Unions

Contrary to popular belief, many undocumented workers are organized in unions across the US. But ICE’s mass arrests will target these unionized immigrants disproportionately and weaken the hand of labor.

Zohran Mamdani Is Right on Public Safety

In last night’s New York City mayoral debate, socialist candidate Zohran Mamdani warded off attacks about “defunding the police” by articulating a principled and compelling message on public safety.

For All That Is Good About Humankind, Ban Smartphones

Smartphones are making us unhealthy, miserable, antisocial, and less free. If we can’t yet nationalize the attention economy, maybe it’s time to abolish its primary tool — before it finishes abolishing us.

The Danish Government’s Awful Stance on Gaza

Some European leaders have started to rhetorically distance themselves from Israel — but Denmark’s government hasn’t even gone that far. For all its boasting about its role championing human rights, it turns a blind eye toward Israeli crimes.