The Robinhood trading app is an attempt to commercialize a powerful but thoroughly fictional myth: that finance can be democratized while ownership and control remain in the hands of powerful capitalists.
The politics of taxes, spending, and deficits are more congenial to the Left than they have been in years — but there are still some clouds on the horizon. Here's a guide to where things stand on the Biden budget proposal.
Inequality is on the rise in the West but globally it’s in decline. Economist Branko Milanovic speaks to Jacobin about the shifting dynamics of capitalism, and why going back to its so-called “golden age” is not an option.
Patents were once seen as a temporary reward for inventors. Now, as novelist Cory Doctorow tells Jacobin, they've become supposedly inviolable "intellectual property" rights that simply enrich people like Bill Gates.
Catapulted to media attention by its stunts, Extinction Rebellion has wasted its platform on a message of individualized guilt and obedience to the powerful. To avert climate disaster, we need economic transformation, not pointless moralism.
We can only print the letters without expletives.
COVID-19 has caused unprecedented disruption to the world economy, shining a harsh light on the frailties of global capitalism. But there won’t be a progressive paradigm shift coming out of the crisis without a dramatic upsurge of collective action.
Mark Carney, ex-governor of the central banks in Canada and Britain, has written a much-hyped book about the problems with modern capitalism. But this consummate insider can’t trace the roots of those problems back to their fundamental sources.
The latest film adaptation of Dune, Frank Herbert’s cult sci-fi novel series, is out next month. With its often-reactionary mix of political cynicism, ecological catastrophism, and lurid orientalism, Dune remains oddly attractive to left-wing audiences.
In Mexico, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is attempting to transform the country’s overpriced energy industry by nationalizing lithium — a move essential to kicking out private mining and developing a robust and affordable public energy sector.
Director Lucrecia Martel is famous for her subtle portrayals of class and race relations in Latin America. In Chocobar, she’s turning her lens on how 500 years of colonial history is connected to the contemporary murder of indigenous activist Javier Chocobar.
At a time when people around the world are suffering from shortages due to supply chain bottlenecks, megalomanic capitalists are organizing space flights with B-list celebrities — further proof of the urgency of separating the billionaires from their billions.
Today Portugal votes in snap elections, as prime minister António Costa seeks to end his center-left government’s reliance on far-left parties. If he succeeds, it will commit Portugal even further to a failed low-wage, low-investment model.
Governments around the world have partnered with tech companies to battle the COVID-19 pandemic. But their high-tech solutions haven’t saved lives — they’ve simply lined the pockets of Big Tech.
The techniques Russian billionaires use to avoid taxes and hide their wealth are the same ones American billionaires use. In fact, they often execute them with the help of the same Western companies.
South African trade unions have pushed for a just transition that prioritizes workers’ jobs and the public good against green neoliberals seeking to privatize the country’s energy. Their mission is clear: workers, not capital, must lead the climate movement.
The only way to stop climate change is to build a mass, working-class movement whose demands both resonate with average people and take on the billionaires who are profiteering from the climate crisis.
Jacobin ranks the all-time best James Bond villain secret lairs.
But why are we listening?
The electric car will be an important part of a green transition. But our main focus should be moving toward green collective mobility like public transportation and away from the dominance of personally owned cars.