Truthout, October 26, 2012. A solid majority of Americans has long told pollsters that the wealthy few and their giant corporations and financial institutions exercise too much power in “the world’s most celebrated democracy”[1] the United States. The sentiment is understandable given the nation’s dollar-soaked political system, usefully described by left critics as “the best democracy [...]

By Paul Steet. First published on ZNet on October 9, 2012. Listening to Mitt Romney and Barack Obama wonk back and forth on how to spark economic growth (a doctrinally sacred goal of American presidential candidates) during their first televised debate last week, I was reminded of a handmade poster held by a young woman protesting [...]

By Paul Street. First published on ZNet (September 23, 2012) and at Truthout (September  24,2012) Sunday, September 23, 2012 The Narcissism of the Few  Liberals and others have given Mr. 01 Percent Mitt Romney a well-deserved spanking for his vicious comments on “the 47 percent” at an elite fundraiser earlier this year. I am referring, of [...]

  By Paul Street and Alex Doherty Interview originally published at New Left Project on September 19, 2012 Paul Street is an activist and author whose works include Empire and Inequality: America and the World Since 9/11, The Empire’s New Clothes: Barack Obama in the Real World of Power, and Crashing the Tea Party: Mass Media and the [...]

Originally publlished on ZNet on September 17, 2012. There seems to be a bipartisan consensus in Washington that the poor just don’t matter, President Obama is part of that…. We cannot abide another campaign for the White House where the issue of poverty isn’t raised higher on the American agenda - PBS Talk Show Host [...]

Originally published on ZNet (September 14, 2012) and Truthout (September 17, 2012). The strike currently being waged by the teachers’ union in Rahm Emmanuel’s Chicago is quite remarkable. A critical underlying issue is how teachers’ performance is appraised. Under a new assessment system that strongly ties teacher evaluations to student test scores, the city is threatening [...]

We must make our choice. We may have democracy in this country, or we may have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we cannot have both. - Louis Brandeis, U.S. Supreme Court Justice, 1941  “That’s Not Good”  First published on ZNet on September 12, 2012. According to Yahoo News last Tuesday, 100 [...]

Originally published on ZNet on September 7, 2012. The ruling class, the billionaires who profit from human suffering, care only about expending their wealth…I threw families onto the street in Iraq only to come home and find families thrown onto the street in this country and this tragic, tragic and unnecessary foreclosure crisis. We need [...]

For most of us, design is invisible. Until it fails. - Bruce Mau, 2003[1]  Co-Author: Janet Razbadouski, First published on ZNet on August 12, 2012. Never underestimate the propensity of sharp progressive minds to dissociate from the leading issue of “our or any time”[2] – the ecological crisis. Look, for example, at liberal economist Josh [...]

First published on ZNet on September 3, 2012. Amidst the standard nauseating surfeit of arch-plutocratic and white-nationalist nonsense displayed during last week’s Republican National Convention (RNC), one particularly ugly moment came with the speech U.S. Senator Marc Rubio (R-Florida) gave by way of introducing Mitt Romney.  Theater of Reactionary Falsehood To se sure, there’s a [...]