Plutocracy

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Last Monday, CNN reports US troops on patrol in eastern Syria were allowed to move through Syrian territory by the Syrian Arab Army, but then abruptly a small unit of Syrian troops fired on them. The US soldiers fired back, and took no casualties, but killed a Syrian soldier. There […]

Authoritarianism

The Fox is Still in the Henhouse at the Post Office

OtherWords

By Sarah Anderson | – ( Otherwords.org) – Skyleigh Heinen, a U.S. Army veteran who suffers from rheumatoid arthritis and anxiety, relies on the Postal Service for timely delivery of her meds to be able to function. She was one of thousands of Americans from all walks of life who spoke out recently to demand […]

Democracy

When Did Democracy become a Partisan Issue? The Dilemmas of Late Neoliberalism

John Buell

Southwest Harbor Maine (Special to Informed Comment) – Many US citizens take comfort in the conviction that progress toward democracy has been steady even if bitterly contested on occasion. Early in the post Revolutionary War period the right to vote was extended to all white men, even those who held no property. Women achieved the […]

Inequality

Super-Rich making out like Bandits in Pandemic is an Argument for Basic Wealth Tax

Inequality.org

By Lee Price and Bob Lord | – ( Inequality.org) – Changes in tax policy since 1980 have been driving U.S. inequality to levels not seen since the original Gilded Age. Reversing that trajectory — and restoring a more egalitarian society — will require a complete overhaul of the changes in tax policy we’ve seen […]

Climate Crisis

OK, Boomers: Will the America we die in be unprecedentedly Hot, Racist, Unequal, Sickly and Authoritarian?

Tom Engelhardt

( Tomdispatch.com ) – Let me be blunt. This wasn’t the world I imagined for my denouement. Not faintly. Of course, I can’t claim I ever really imagined such a place. Who, in their youth, considers their death and the world that might accompany it, the one you might leave behind for younger generations? I’m […]

Employment

Will Beirut’s Port Explosion and Economic Crisis Spur Mass Migration from Lebanon?

The Conversation

By Hannes Baumann | – The explosion that tore through Beirut on Tuesday August 4 was so strong that shockwaves were felt on the island of Cyprus, over 200 kilometres away. At least 135 people were killed and 5,000 injured in the blast. Such devastation would be difficult to deal with at the best of […]

Donald Trump

American Nervous Breakdown: Super-Spreader Trump and His Deranged Cult Infect Us All with their Toxic Lunacy

Dan Dinello

Chicago (Special to Informed Comment) – While the plague rages, the economy crashes, and millions of jobless Americans just lost unemployment benefits, President Trump and his slavish cult descend further into madness. Their mental aberrations are acted out as reactionary behavior that embraces racism, fascism, the confederacy, and a delusionary denial of the pandemic. As […]

Employment

Political Suicide: GOP Senators holding up Stimulus are Retarding Recovery in Election Year

John Buell

Southwest Harbor, Maine (Special to Informed Comment) – Be thankful for small favors. When the Covid-19 depression hit like a brick, almost no one advocated austerity as a cure. For the first time since Richard Nixon proclaimed that we are all Keynesians, budget deficits and a burgeoning national debt were accepted as crucial to mitigate […]

Inequality

Defund the Bloated U.S. Military

contributors

By Eric Stoner | – ( The Progressive) – The bold call by Black Lives Matter activists to defund police has profoundly reshaped the national conversation, but it is only the start of the movement’s sweeping vision for public safety. To reduce our reliance on policing and prisons, racial justice leaders are urging that resources […]