Gary Shteyngart’s novel Super Sad True Love Story was published a decade ago, and it offers a portrait of a near-future, dystopian United States that might suddenly be upon us. It’s perfect reading for the pandemic lockdown.
Progressive economist Joseph Stiglitz means well, but the dream of a “progressive capitalism” will remain just a dream, its horizons always strictly limited by capitalist private ownership.
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought a change of priorities, as states buy up masks and ventilators regardless of the cost. Basing economic decisions on human need, not our ability to pay, imposes a principle of equality — allowing us collectively to decide what kinds of production we really need.
The G20 has announced it will allow 76 poor countries additional time to pay back their loans. But it’s not an act of benevolence — it’s a desperate maneuver to maintain the global debt peonage that undergirds neoliberal capitalism.
The COVID-19 pandemic will transform our world. Massive state intervention is essential to head off an unprecedented slump. We must come out of this crisis with a better society.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has apologized to Italy for the EU’s underwhelming response to coronavirus. But faced with economic meltdown, battle lines are hardening between the German-led bloc and the states of the Southern periphery — and the splits are about to become even more irreconcilable.
Democratic Party liberals got what they wanted in a Joe Biden nomination for president — and yet they’ve never been more contemptuous of Bernie Sanders supporters.
Poor and blockaded Cuba not only has better health indicators than the United States, but its international medical efforts save thousands of lives a year. We should be applauding the Cuban health system — and learning from it.
With Joe Biden releasing racist anti-China ads and Donald Trump trafficking in his usual toxic xenophobia, it’s becoming clear liberals and conservatives alike are trying to stoke a New Cold War with China. Democratic socialists must stand against it.
Mexican elites have done everything in their power to discredit and undercut President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador since he first took power. In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, they’re ramping up their attacks.
After he left Siberia in 1900, Lenin would spend much of the next decade in London. He didn’t much like the food — but his time in the émigré milieu would help make him the revolutionary he was.
Small business owners, who feature prominently in the anti-shutdown protests, occupy a unique place in capitalism’s class hierarchy — although many share the same kinds of struggles experienced by wage workers, as a class, they’re often drawn to the far right.