By Robert Reich – “We renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country,” Donald Trump said recently. Someone should alert him that America is now a hotbed of socialism. But it’s socialism for the rich. Everyone else is treated to harsh capitalism. In the conservative mind, socialism means getting something for doing…
Tag Archive for Capitalism
Oliver Stone Warns Against Surveillance Capitalism and ‘Pokémon Go’
EDITORS NOTE – I knew there was something fishy about this Pokemon game. – By Jordan Riefe – Controversy and Oliver Stone have never been strange bedfellows. He courted it with movies like âJFK,â âNixonâ and âNatural Born Killers,â and last week, he made headlines in the unlikely milieu of Comic-Con, where he spoke about…
The U.S. Could Learn From Vietnam’s ‘One For All’ Not ‘All For One’ Philosophy
Jim Rhodes – Income inequality, raising the minimum wage, an unfair tax structure, gender based wages, corporate outsourcing to avoid taxes and adequately compensating workers has provided Bernie Sanders with issues that resonate with the working poor, students, veterans, and a cross section of Americans excluded by the corporate elite that now control Washington. Mainstream…
Post Post 9/11: Memorial Day Reflections on Maturing in These Times
By Carrie Louise Nutt – The America I grew up in is not the America of today. This is always true. Life is constantly changing. The world is constantly changing. Nothing stays the same. It’s one big ball of organic aliveness. But the difference is that the America of today is not an improvement over…
Why College Is Necessary But Gets You Nowhere
And Now the Richest .01 Percent
By Robert Reich – The richest Americans hold more of the nation’s wealth than they have in almost a century. What do they spend it on? As you might expect, personal jets, giant yachts, works of art, and luxury penthouses. And also on politics. In fact, their political spending has been growing faster than their…
The Choice of the Century
By Robert Reich – The President blames himself for the Democrat’s big losses Election Day. “We have not been successful in going out there and letting people know what it is that we’re trying to do and why this is the right direction,” he said Sunday. In other words, he didn’t sufficiently tout the Administration’s…
Government Spends More Per Pupil at Private Universities than Public Schools?
By Robert Reich – Imagine a system of college education supported by high and growing government spending on elite private universities that mainly educate children of the wealthy and upper-middle class, and low and declining government spending on public universities that educate large numbers of children from the working class and the poor. You can…
Why the Economy is Still Failing Most Americans
By Robert Reich – I was in Seattle, Washington, recently, to congratulate union and community organizers who helped Seattle enact the first $15 per hour minimum wage in the country. Other cities and states should follow Seattle’s example. Contrary to the dire predictions of opponents, the hike won’t cost Seattle jobs. In fact, it will…
Students Head Into Heartland to Help Walmart Workers Organize
By Robert Reich – I spent several days in New York last week with students from around the country who were preparing to head into the heartland to help organize Walmart workers for better jobs and wages. (Full familial disclosure: My son Adam is one of the leaders.) Almost exactly fifty years ago a similar…
The Practical Choice: Not American Capitalism or ‘Welfare State Socialism’ but an Economy That’s Working for a Few or Many
By Robert Reich – For years Americans have assumed that our hard-charging capitalism is better than the soft-hearted version found in Canada and Europe. American capitalism might be a bit crueler but it generates faster growth and higher living standards overall. Canada’s and Europe’s “welfare-state socialism” is doomed. It was a questionable assumption to begin…
How to Educate Concerned Citizens to Actually Form a More Perfect Union
Competitive Capitalism is the Answer, Not Socialism – The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – If the film Reds is even close to an accurate historical portrayal of the relationship between Louise Bryant and Jack Reed, then there is a lesson here we can all use to plan the next phase of American democracy…
The Powell Memo Formed the Basis of A Call to Arms for Corporations
Should American Democracy Be Purely About Capitalism? Or Is There Room for Compassion? Editor’s Note – An informed reader and contributor recently reminded me of the Powell Memo or Manifesto, what some credit as the beginning of the hyper activity on the part of American corporations to change the debate in the United States to…