Medicare Advantage Is a $140 Billion Scam

According to a bombshell new report, the federal government is losing as much as $140 billion per year by subsidizing Medicare Advantage, the privatized insurance scheme managing health care for seniors.

US Labor Law Protects the Use of Scabs. Rebuilding Workplace Solidarity Is the Solution.

US labor law gives employers carte blanche to replace striking workers with scabs, like the Big Three automakers are doing against the UAW right now. But history shows that workers can create their own “law” of the workplace through a culture of solidarity.

With Kevin McCarthy’s Removal, a Long Government Shutdown Just Got More Likely

Kevin McCarthy’s ouster as House speaker shows just how hopelessly divided the Republican Party is. But divided doesn’t mean harmless — the hard right can still inflict pointless suffering on the millions of people who depend on government services.

We Need a Real Green Jobs Program to Fight Climate Change

Joe Biden’s newly unveiled American Climate Corps is set to provide green jobs training to just 20,000 people. It falls far short of the ambitious public jobs program the Left has long demanded.

Unionized Starbucks Workers Are Considering Calling for a Boycott

Starbucks Workers United has not yet asked supporters to stop frequenting Starbucks locations. But unionized workers have been ramping up customer solidarity organizing, potentially laying the groundwork for a Starbucks boycott.

No, Ireland Shouldn’t Join NATO

Irish liberals are mounting a loud campaign for the state to abandon its neutrality and join NATO. Their agenda has minimal public support — and ignores Ireland’s potential to do good in the world as a nonaligned state.

California’s New Senator, Laphonza Butler, Is No Friend of the Left

Laphonza Butler, who was just sworn in to fill Dianne Feinstein’s Senate seat, originally hailed from the labor movement. But her career has taken a sharp pro-corporate turn, including a stint acting on behalf of Uber against gig workers in California.

Guatemala Voted for Democracy. It Will Take More Than Anti-Corruption to Achieve It.

In the face of a hostile conservative elite, radical democratization is Guatemalan president-elect Bernardo Arévalo’s best hope to both tackle corruption and revive the country’s “democratic spring.”

The United States Has Its Fingerprints All Over the Chaos in Haiti

The ongoing turmoil in Haiti has been exacerbated by US meddling. There’s a very good chance that the foreign intervention announced yesterday by the United Nations will make things worse.

Rich People Marry Rich People, and That’s How They Stay Rich

A new book makes the supposedly brave claim that two-parent families are good, and that unmarried poor people are miring themselves in poverty. But what upper-class people practice is not just “marriage” — it’s “marriage to upper-class people.”

The UAW Decided to Use a Novel Strike Strategy. It’s Working.

The UAW’s “stand-up” strike strategy, which targets portions of the Big Three simultaneously, was a gamble. But the approach has worked so far, allowing the union to gradually escalate pressure on companies while empowering rank-and-file workers.

The Largest Health Care Strike in US History Is Set to Begin Tomorrow

Tomorrow, 75,000 health care workers are set to strike at hundreds of Kaiser facilities across several states in the largest such strike in US history. Their primary grievance is low staffing levels, which unions say are hurting patients and workers alike.

Gavin Newsom Is Anti-Worker Purely by Choice

Gavin Newsom is governor of deep-blue California, so he doesn’t have the excuse that Republicans are torpedoing his progressive aims. Yet he’s still selling out workers — including, this week, by killing unemployment insurance for striking workers.

The Doomer Crooner

In his sixties and seventies, the balladeer Scott Walker swerved into making some of the most aggressive, complex, and political music of our time.

Hollywood Is on Strike Against High-Tech Exploitation

Will average entertainment workers be able to eke out a living in an industry awash in cash, or will studio executives use new tech like AI to gobble it all up?

Ripe Old Rage

The French have a long history of protesting pension reforms.

The Empire Calls Back

India’s phone scam industry targets the elderly to the tune of billions each year. Its secret weapon? The loss of communal public life and family support.

How Death Became Big Business

Instead of caring for the elderly, corporate interests in elder and hospice care are looking out for their bottom line.

Stardust to Stardust

The Welfare State Can Survive the Great Aging

Workers spend their whole lives producing wealth for society, only to be told that being provided for in old age is impossible. It’s not a rollback ordinary people should accept.