Greatest Hits

Stopping Fascism
Chris Hedges
One dictionary defines fascism as, “A system of government that exercises a dictatorship of the extreme right, typically through the merging of state and business leadership, together with belligerent nationalism.” The first fascist party was founded by Mussolini in Italy in 1915. Its etymology is traced to the Latin word meaning a bundle of rods […]
Captain Ahab & U.S. Empire
Chris Hedges
The demonic Captain Ahab in Melville’s epic novel Moby Dick represents a quest for power and domination that is a death wish. Hubris will doom Ahab and his Pequod crew, all perish except for Ishmael. Is there a larger lesson to be learned? Is the United States much different? The U.S. with its obsessive drive […]
Capitalism Hits the Fan
Richard Wolff
Like that well known substance, Capitalism has hit the fan. The statistics are numbing and do not convey the suffering and trauma citizens are enduring. Gone up in smoke are their savings, pensions, homes and jobs. Poverty is at record levels. For too many, dreams and hopes are shattered. And like the Howard Beale character […]
Wall Street or the Common Good
David Korten
The Occupy Wall Street movement is growing. Mumia Abu-Jamal from his jail cell writes: “In Lower Manhattan’s Zucotti Park, renamed ‘Liberty Square’ by the demonstrators, the cast of thousands swell in rebellion against the betrayals by the banks, Wall Street’s relentless greed, the plague of joblessness and the craven servility of the political class, both […]
Systemic Crisis of Capitalism
Richard Wolff
Today’s economic crisis is the most severe since the Great Depression. What are its root causes? The conventional explanations put the blame on greedy bankers who pawned off credit default swaps, sub-prime mortgages, and a smorgasbord of derivatives, on a hapless and helpless public. To make matters worse there was little or no regulation. So […]
Origins of Radical Right-Wing Power
Nancy MacLean
The history of the anti-government and anti-democratic politics that have transformed the U.S. in recent years is largely obscured from view. The radical right’s agenda includes: suppression of voting rights, privatization of everything from schools to Medicare to Social Security to public lands, elimination of unions and limiting majority rule. Core beliefs also include: there […]
Corporate Coup d’Etat
Chris Hedges
Corporations constitute the most powerful force in society. Their influence has seeped into our classrooms, our newsrooms, our entertainment systems, our consciousness and crucially into our politics. Big money buys access to lawmakers. For sheer arrogance perhaps Goldman Sachs, the Wall Street investment giant, takes the cake. Its CEO Lloyd Blankfein, blithely advises citizens they […]
We The People
Paul Cienfuegos
Corporate rights are at the core of almost every environmental and social justice problem that we face. Corporate power grew immensely toward the end of the 19th century with the dismantling of legal restraints and the redefinition of corporations as persons with free speech rights. Today, the level of corporate power over the political system […]
Dark Ages in the U.S.
Morris Berman
From the boarded up storefronts to foreclosed homes to the homeless and unemployed, the signs of decay in the U.S. are all too apparent. The political class pretending to care about the 99% have little to offer beyond boilerplate rhetoric. We hear about the virtues of hard work. If only there was work to be […]
Beyond Vietnam
Martin Luther King
Martin Luther King Jr.’s charismatic “I Have a Dream” speech is emblazoned in our historical memories. But another address to a much smaller audience on April 4, 1967 at Riverside Church in New York is no less significant. There King demonstrated his deep understanding of how the system works. He moved beyond a simple race […]
Fracking and Public Health
Sandra Steingraber
Fracking doesn’t sound like something the earth, or any community, or any language would wish upon itself. What is it exactly? Fracking is a technique that involves the injection of enormous volumes of water and chemicals underground at very high pressure in order to create fractures in underlying shale rock formations in order to extract […]
Kicking People When They’re Down
Barbara Ehrenreich
The rise in New York’s poverty rate as a result of the ongoing recession has pushed nearly half of the city’s population into the ranks of the poor or near-poor. Ironically, the nation’s largest city is run by a multi-billionaire. Almost on the same day, another report came out saying “Hedge Fund Titans Get Lavish […]

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