George Carlin, the late, great comedian, said that his motto had become: “Fuck hope!” I agree. Hope is overrated. If you stand around waiting for hope, you’ll be standing in that position for a long, long time. Instead, just do what’s right. Bruce E. Levine has an interesting […]
When the Soviet Union was dismantled (it did not collapse) in 1991, over the expressed opposition of 76% of voters, its unfortunate population was plunged into a unique and distressing historical experiment: they got to compare communism and capitalism up close and personal. Such clear and well-defined experiments […]
The tentacles of imperialism reach everywhere. And it comes as no surprise that academics willingly aid this imperial outreach. James Petras, himself an academic long involved with Latin American leftist social movements, describes how this happens. A common practice is “de-briefing”: Academics meet and discuss their field-work, data […]
A while back I wrote about the effect of capitalist decline on the schoolchildren of Detroit (Wonders of Capitalism – Homeless Schoolchildren). Capitalist austerity is everywhere, of course. In Chicago, cutbacks and outsourcing have also led to filthy schools. Because of cutbacks in the number (and the pay) […]
No chance to pee. Amazon, the online retail giant, prides itself on rapid delivery of orders—no one can match it. To achieve this remarkable speed, Amazon applies intense pressure to its warehouse workers, who report that they must pick and pack two products per minute. Warehouses are large, […]
As Robert Hunziker points out in a series of disturbing articles, there is now good evidence that insect populations are dropping sharply all over the earth. Scientists everywhere, from Western Europe to Australia, are noticing this. One recent study concluded that total insect biomass has declined by 75% […]
The trucking industry is one of the largest employers in the country, with 3.5 million drivers and as many other support personnel. Truck drivers have significantly worse health than average. They often work long hours; long-haul drivers in particular may have to be away from home for days […]
