“Economic Populism” Was Nowhere to Be Found at the GOP Debate
We keep being told the GOP has become a working-class party that rejects neoliberal economics. Someone should’ve told the Republican candidates at last night’s debate.
19627 Articles by: Wouter van de Klippe
Wouter van de Klippe is a freelance journalist and writer based in Europe. He is particularly interested in organized labor, social and environmental justice, and social welfare states.
Way More College Students Struggle With Food Insecurity Than Go to the Ivy Leagues
The vast majority of college students don’t go to the elite universities that dominate media attention. Many struggle daily to make ends meet — and new figures show that one in four undergraduates suffer from food insecurity.
Big Pharma Is Threatening to Withhold Medicine in Protest of Regulation
The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act introduced modest drug pricing restrictions. In response, big pharma companies — which have seen record profits — are threatening to slow the rollout of a lifesaving drug.
Disaster Capitalists Are Circling Maui Like Buzzards
Before the embers were even cold in Lāhainā, Maui, survivors of the wildfires started reporting cold calls from land speculators hoping to scoop up Hawaiian properties at bargain prices — proving once again that capitalists never let a good crisis go to waste.
US Health Care Sucks, Even If You Have Health Insurance
It is a gross injustice that 30 million Americans lack health insurance — but the insured also face serious problems, paying through the nose for substandard care. We need a universal, automatic, free health care plan.
Black Ribbon Day Is an Ahistorical, Antisemitic Fraud
Black Ribbon Day is also known as the Day of Remembrance for Victims of Stalinism and Nazism. But this veneer of humanistic solicitude is a facade for historical distortion and antisemitic rhetoric, perpetuated by far-right movements across Eastern Europe.
Health Care Worker Unions Are on the Side of Patients
Hospitals portray unions as opposed to the interests of patients. The opposite is true: health care unions have been the strongest advocates for safer conditions and patients who can’t pay debts.
Trump’s Defeat Is Not a Foregone Conclusion
Donald Trump’s indictments are piling up. But it’s complacent to think he can’t win again.
Argentina’s Economic Crisis Has Become a Political Crisis
The unexpected victory of far-right libertarian Javier Milei in Argentina’s primaries marks a crisis for both Peronism and its traditional conservative antagonists. No one knows exactly what will happen next.
Plasma Donors Are Being Exploited in America
The United States is one of five countries where it’s legal to sell your plasma, and roughly 20 million people here do it every year. “Donating” plasma is low-paid labor that has become essential to an exploitative global medical industry.
Anti-Trans Bills Are Sweeping the US Despite, Not Because of, Public Opinion
The coordinated attack on trans rights in state legislatures across the US is built on a foundation of hateful paranoia and right-wing lies. But however unpopular anti-trans bills are, the human costs are real: thousands are migrating from anti-trans states.
The Idea of “Social Europe” Became an Alibi for the European Union’s Neoliberal Turn
European left parties responded to the crisis of social democracy by proposing more radical reforms to be carried out at a transnational level. But the call for “social Europe” ended up serving as a thin veneer for the neoliberal core of European integration.
In Failing to Strike at UPS, the Teamsters Missed a Big Opportunity
Members of the Teamsters just voted to ratify a new contract at UPS. The union made big gains — but in opting not to strike over demands beyond wages, the Teamsters may have passed up a transformative opportunity for the labor movement.
Social Democracy and Social Conservatism Aren’t Compatible
Sohrab Ahmari’s critique of capitalist power is surprising and compelling. But as long as he remains committed to unjust hierarchies of power in gender and sexuality, he can’t be a coalition partner with the Left.
Autoworkers Are Mobilizing for a Potential Strike at the Big Three Automakers
Under new leadership, the UAW is waging an aggressive campaign to win a new contract at the Big Three automakers. For the first time in decades, UAW workers are mobilizing for contract rallies at Ford, Stellantis, and GM plants ahead of a potential strike.
Stop Cop City Activists Want a Democratic Process. The City of Atlanta Doesn’t.
Activists with Atlanta’s Stop Cop City movement, which seeks to prevent the construction of a massive police militarization complex, want to put the issue to a popular vote. But city officials are hostile to the democratic initiative.
Major Carbon Emitters Are Fighting Accountability in California
As California strains under severe weather, oil companies and industry reps are fighting against legislation that would require large companies to fully disclose carbon emissions across their value chain.
Rowland Brown’s Brutal Portraits of the Life of Crime
The gritty 1930s crime dramas of Rowland Brown offer contemporary movie watchers something they won’t easily get elsewhere: an adult ability to look directly at an infinitely corrupt world without flinching.
Trader Joe’s Workers Are Carrying Out an Experiment in Independent Unionism
Independent unions are a real rarity in the US labor movement. But at multiple stores across the country, Trader Joe’s workers are organizing outside of established unions.
Australia’s Voice Referendum Is Losing Thanks to the “Radical Centrism” of Its Architects
Later this year, Australia will vote in a referendum on creating an Aboriginal Voice to advise parliament. The Yes campaign is flagging, hobbled by a technocratic strategy and language borrowed from corporate social responsibility values statements.