GREECE’D: We Voted ‘No’ to Slavery, but ‘Yes’ to Our Chains
Greek journalist Michael Nevradakis and US investigative journalist Greg Palast have a different take on the Greek ‘No’ vote against Europe’s cruel austerity demands.
Read more...Category Archives: Social values
De-Industrialisation, ‘New Speenhamland’ and Neo-Liberalism: Government Subsidies to Low Wage Employers
Efforts to reform social welfare programs in England operated on the assumption that lack of consistent work (as in periods of unemployment) and overly large families were the big drivers of poverty. But the majority of poor now are working poor, and as in the Speenhamland days, social welfare programs are helping to subsidize below-living-wage pay levels.Similar factors are in play for US employers like Wal-Mart and McDonalds.
Read more...Why Don’t Americans Take More Vacations? Blame It on Independence Day
On Independence Day’s roots as an “Americanization” propaganda project to increase acceptance of immigrants who competed with native-born workers.
Read more...Proof that Fraud is the Biggest Business in America
Fraud is an even bigger force in the US economy than you imagined.
Read more...Tsipras Accepts Most Creditor Terms as Merkel Insists on Referendum
Post-bailout expiration dynamics are likely to produce even worse outcomes for Greece than it had on offer from the creditors last month.
Read more...Affordable Housing Crisis Grows Across the Country as Apartment Rents Skyrocket
An update on where and how tenants are being squeezed by rising rents versus stagnant to low wage growth.
Read more...The Standard Definition of Money is in Error
Yves here. This post is elegant in the way it challenges the standard (sloppy) definitions of money. Even if you don’t agree, it will force you to think and articulate why you don’t agree (hopefully in a rigorous manner).
Read more...How Institutional Conflicts of Interest Exacerbate the Anechoic Effect – the Example of ASCO Fearing “Biting the Hand that Feeds You”
Ancien regime levels of corruption wherever you look.
Read more...Detroit: A Case Study of Oligarchs and Vigilantes Taking Over Public Safety in a Big City
In Detroit, safety is a privilege enjoyed by the white and wealthy.
Read more...Who was Alexander Hamilton? Militarism, High Finance and Checking the Democracy.
Alexander Hamilton, often held up by liberals as the most admirable Founding Father, was not the man you probably thought he was.
Read more...The Bankruptcy of America’s Elites
Why America’s elites have failed.
Read more...Tom Engelhardt: Armed Violence in the Homeland
If you worry about safety, stop fretting about terrorists and focus on the nasty intersection of rising social stress and widespread gun ownership.
Read more...The Decline and Fall of American Public Space as Shown in #BlackLivesMatter Tweets
Looking at the backgrounds of #BlackLivesMatter images shows America’s decaying infrastructure.
Read more...Hillary Clinton’s Campaign Rollout Speech: The S.S. Clinton Sails From Roosevelt Island in New York Harbor
A close reading of Clinton’s speech, comparing it to FDR’s “Four Freedoms” speech (sadly, to Clinton’s disadvantage).
Read more...Michael Hoexter: The Climate (and Climate Justice!) Movement Cannot Remain a Genteel Environmentalist Movement
Hoexter examines the disconnect between the preferred methods of climate activists versus the magnitude and urgency of the issues they are trying to address. His analysis echoes an important 2012 post by Richard Kline, Progressively Losing.
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