Economy

By Ro McFarlane, University of Canberra; Nenad Naumovski, University of Canberra; and Shawn Somerset, University of Canberra | – Global wheat prices have soared since Russia invaded Ukraine in February. The two nations account for 30%of the world’s wheat exports. That means many low-income nations who are net food importers are bracing for a year […]

African-Americans

Under DeSantis, Republican “Child Identity” McCarthyism comes for Mickey Mouse

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Gov. Ron DeSantis’s attack on the Disney Corporation may seem odd, coming from a pro-business governor in a state where Disney is one of the largest employers. But DeSantis is pushing back at Disney on behalf of big capital, in a roundabout way. The entertainment corporations are problematic for the […]

Epidemics

The Poor at the Crossroads: The First and Worst Hit by Pandemics of Every Sort

Liz Theoharis

( Tomdispatch.com ) – The 54th anniversary of the assassination of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., just passed. Dr. King was shot down while organizing low-wage sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee. At that time, he was building the Poor People’s Campaign, an effort to organize America’s poor into a force to be reckoned with. In […]

Climate Crisis

Can we Afford a Fair Global Climate Transition?

Foreign Policy in Focus

By Tom Athanasiou | – ( Foreign Policy in Focus ) – How to create the political backing for the international effort necessary to achieve a fair and rapid global climate transition, even though that support would be properly denominated not in billions of dollars but rather in trillions, or even as percentages of Gross […]

Epidemics

Americans in poorer Counties have died of COVID at Double the rate of Wealthier Counties

OtherWords

By Karen Dolan | – ( Otherwords ) – As our country approaches 1 million deaths from COVID-19, it can feel impossible to wrap our heads around such a devastating figure. But it’s essential if we want to treat the pre-existing conditions that made it so deadly. In the beginning, many thought the pandemic would […]

Inequality

The Richest Americans pay 3.4% in Federal Taxes, a rate 5 Times Less than most People

ProPublica

By Paul Kiel, Ash Ngu, Jesse Eisinger and Jeff Ernsthausen | – ( ProPublica ) – Which people and professions rake in the most income year after year? Which are most adept at shielding that money from the taxman? And what does this tell you about America? The top earners, of course, are often fodder […]

Cold War

I may have failed as a Tax Resister, but Corporate America is Hugely Successful at it

Rebecca Gordon

( Tomdispatch.com) – Every April, as income-tax returns come due, I think about the day 30 years ago when I opened my rented mailbox and saw a business card resting inside. Its first line read, innocently enough, “United States Treasury.” It was the second line — “Internal Revenue Service” — that took my breath away. […]

Inequality

It Goes up but Never Comes Down: What Would It Take to Reduce US Military Spending?

William J. Astore

( Tomdispatch.com) – I have a question for you: What would it take in today’s world for America’s military spending to go down? Here’s one admittedly farfetched scenario: Vladimir Putin loses his grip on power and Russia retrenches militarily while reaching out to normalize relations with the West. At the same time, China prudently decides […]

Corporations

The billion dollar deal that made Google and Amazon partners in the Israeli occupation of Palestine

Ramzy Baroud

( Middle East Monitor ) – “We are anonymous because we fear retaliation.” This text was part of a letter signed by 500 Google employees last October, in which they decried their company’s direct support for the Israeli government and military. In their letter, the signatories protested a $1.2 billion contract between Google, Amazon Web […]