A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin Have a Model for Today
Bayard Rustin and A. Philip Randolph’s Jobs and Freedom Strategy offers a path forward for a Left that has become increasingly insular, minoritarian, and powerless.
Search Result(s) for: “Joe Biden ”
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.
Eric Adams Epitomizes the Democratic Party’s Sordid Love Affair With Israel
This week, NYC mayor Eric Adams is touring Israel, celebrating its use of military force to effectively repress Palestinians and Israeli protesters alike. It’s a sad yet characteristic example of Democrats’ sycophantic relationship to the apartheid state.
Health Insurers Are Posting Record Profits Thanks to Public Cash
Major US health insurance companies are posting record profits while receiving most of their revenues from the government. But they’re still jacking up prices by double digits while leaving nearly half of the country underinsured or uninsured.
Big Pharma Is Massively Overcharging Americans
Drugmakers are up in arms over a new program allowing Medicare to negotiate prices on some drugs. The real scandal, of course, is the absurd prices the companies set for these drugs’ sale in the United States, when they are sold for so much less elsewhere.
We Don’t Need George W. Bush Telling Us How to “Protect Democracy”
Earlier this month, presidential centers representing 13 former presidents put out a letter calling for Americans to “protect democracy,” in an implicit rebuke of Donald Trump. Given past presidents’ own assaults on democracy, it’s a hard pill to swallow.
Capitalist Greed Fueled the Catastrophic Hawaii Wildfires
Wildfires in Hawaii have killed over 100 people, and hundreds remain missing. From draining historic wetlands to failing to invest in safe energy infrastructure, the capitalist thirst for profits above all else helped create the disaster.
US Labor Unions Still Need to Get Serious About Organizing
With union popularity at historic highs and organized labor’s war chests overflowing, now is the time to spend big on strikes and new organizing. So far, unions mostly aren’t doing that.
We’re Closer to a Nuclear Incident in Ukraine Than You Think
There’s a disconnect between Western leaders’ increasingly hawkish public discourse and the quiet consensus among their military experts that any armed encounter with Russia would likely end in a nuclear catastrophe.
The 1962 Missile Crisis Was a Turning Point for the Cuban Revolution
Sixty years ago, the world seemed on the brink of nuclear war before the superpowers reached an agreement. The missile crisis led Cuba’s leaders to distrust their Soviet ally — an attitude that ultimately helped their revolutionary system to outlast the USSR’s.
How Bill Clinton Became a Neoliberal
Bill Clinton came to the presidency seeking to reinvent the New Deal for an era of deindustralization. Instead he consolidated the defeat of organized labor and hollowed out the welfare state.
The BRICS Expansion Isn’t the End of the World Order — or the End of the World
Responses to the expansion of BRICS ping-ponged from dismissal to fearmongering. But there’s not much reason to fear for the US-led world order quite yet — and we shouldn’t fear the multipolar one BRICS wants to build.
Elite-Driven Housing Policy Has a Long Record of Failure
Proposals for market-based solutions to the housing crisis have precedents in the elite-driven housing policy of the 20th century. Those policies favored business interests at the expense of poor and working-class people while worsening racial divides.
We Should Be Sober About the Risk of Nuclear Weapons in Ukraine
The risk of nuclear weapon use in Ukraine is low but rising. It’s deeply concerning. But we should also resist the kind of alarmism that is counterproductive to both principled internationalism and winning a world free of nuclear weapons.
Inflation Is Slowing Down. But Working-Class Life in the US Is Still Hard to Afford.
The inflation rate is cooling, providing a respite for workers. Yet there’s a reason why many are still unhappy with the economy: from health care to housing to childcare, life in the US is more unaffordable than ever.
The National Labor Relations Board Just Made It Easier for Workers to Win Unions
An NLRB decision delivered late last month substantially lowers the legal hurdles to union recognition. But using that opening will require unions to build strong cultures of shop-floor solidarity in the face of employer intimidation.
The White House Is Blaming China for America’s Opioid Problem
The opioid crisis in the US is ravaging the country, leaving an enormous human toll in its wake. But rather than dealing with the root causes, the US establishment is using the crisis as a weapon in its conflict with China.
The More the Pandemic-Era Welfare State Shrinks, the More Children Go Hungry
Brand-new Census data shows child poverty has exploded since the expiration of the child tax credit and other pandemic-era protections.
On Student Debt Forgiveness, the Biden Administration Is Setting Itself Up to Fail Again
The Biden administration could automatically cancel student debt for all borrowers right now. But its announced “Plan B” for debt forgiveness shows it’s setting itself up to be stymied by the Supreme Court all over again.
Defending the Killing of Palestinian Children Won’t Get You Punished in Hollywood
Actor Susan Sarandon is the latest target of the increasingly McCarthyite attacks on pro-Palestine figures. Supporters of Israel’s brutal war, meanwhile, can apparently say anything they want, including defending the slaughter of Palestinian civilians.