Assessing the American Dream: The myth of mobility Since at least the days of Horatio Alger, a cornerstone of American thinking has been the hope of social mobility—the idea that, as Lawrence Samuel put it in a history of the American dream, anyone can, “through dedication and with a can-do spirit, climb the ladder of…
Worse than Wal-Mart: Amazon’s sick brutality and secret history of ruthlessly intimidating workers When I first did research on Walmart’s workplace practices in the early 2000s, I came away convinced that Walmart was the most egregiously ruthless corporation in America. However, ten years later, there is a strong challenger for this dubious distinction—Amazon Corporation. Amazon equals Walmart in the…
How ‘microtargeting’ works in political advertising What you watch, read, buy, and listen to online can tell political campaigns whether it’s worth their time and money to woo your vote. Gwen Ifill talks to Ken Goldstein of the University of San Francisco and Eitan Hersh of Yale University to learn more about how our digital…
The vampire squid strikes again: The mega banks’ most devious scam yet Call it the loophole that destroyed the world. It’s 1999, the tail end of the Clinton years. While the rest of America obsesses over Monica Lewinsky, Columbine, and Mark McGwire’s biceps, Congress is feverishly drafting what could yet prove to be one of…
How privatization perverts education Profit-seeking in the banking and health care industries has victimized Americans. Now it’s beginning to happen in education, with our children as the products. There are good reasons—powerful reasons—to stop the privatization efforts before the winner-take-all free market creates a new vehicle for inequality. At the very least, we need the good…
Congressional Republicans focus on calming their divided ranks After a tumultuous week of party infighting and leadership stumbles, congressional Republicans are focused on calming their divided ranks in the months ahead, mostly by touting proposals that have wide backing within the GOP and shelving any big-ticket legislation for the rest of the year. Comprehensive immigration reform,…
Last call for state parties? For many state parties, the party may soon be over. State party officials across the country say the explosion of money into super PACs, nonprofit groups, and presidential campaigns has made fundraising more difficult. And some of those outside groups are starting to take over the traditional local roles state parties…
Here’s why the richest nation in the world still can’t get health care right Even after the Affordable Care Act is more than a decade old, there will still be 31 million people who don’t have health insurance. That’s 25 million fewer uninsured than there would have been without the new law, but it’s still a lot of people….
The GOP’s immigration conundrum House Republicans’ latest revolt against immigration reform spells potential trouble for the party’s 2016 presidential candidates. The last thing the GOP needs in 2016 is another primary season marked by debate and dissension over the fraught issue. The party’s handling of immigration reform legislation since President Obama won reelection with 71 percent…
Elizabeth Warren vs. the neoliberals: The battle over Americans’ retirement security In the last year or two, something remarkable has happened in American politics. After decades in which future deficits, mostly caused by healthcare costs and conservative tax cuts, were invoked by those seeking to slash Social Security benefits for reasons of ideology or pecuniary…