Ideas don’t just die. They have to be challenged with other ideas, and the forces sustaining them must be defeated. Take neoliberalism, ushered in by Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher 30 years ago. Neoliberalism promotes privatization, deregulation, trade and capital liberalization and the ideology of personal responsibility. These are just the means, however. The goal has always been to reverse New Deal-style redistribution by reconstituting upper-class power and wealth. read more »

In mid-July we visited the town of Barataria, located about an hour’s drive south of New Orleans. The community of fishermen is swimming in oil. Within minutes of arriving, our eyes start to burn and we begin to feel dizzy from airborne chemicals from the oil and dispersant. read more »

If it is true, as Karl Marx once observed, that the powers that be summon all their strength and violence just before their final agony of death, then the city of Toronto — indeed, all of Canada – was dying a month ago. read more »

The BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill has again focused the nation on southern Louisiana. For the second time in less than five years, we are on the front pages of U.S. newspapers. And again, this region is terribly misunderstood. read more »

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As BP’s deepwater well continues to discharge oil into the Gulf of Mexico, the economic and public health effects are already being felt across coastal communities. But it is likely this is only the beginning. read more »

When the end of the housing bubble sent Wall Street into a nosedive, it created a disastrous economic downturn that the rest of us are still struggling to survive. Two years later, Congress is trying — and failing — to pass a financial reform to stop the lending practices that led to the bubble and put the banking behemoths that speculated on it on a tight leash. read more »

The most important thing to know about the 1,500-page financial reform bill passed by the U.S. Senate on May 20 — now on the way to being reconciled with the House bill — is that it is regulatory. It does nothing to change the structure of Wall Street. read more »

If you’re reading this from outside Arizona, you may be wondering what the heck is going on here. The political process in the desert has gone completely haywire, resulting in the adoption of openly racist laws, dehumanizing police practices and legalized harassment of marginalized groups, all in the name of deterring undocumented immigration. read more »

Preventive medicine is widely considered a panacea for all that ails both the body and the healthcare system. But sometimes an ounce of alleged prevention can lead to a pound of real harm. read more »