I am lying in a meadow high in the Rocky Mountains. The sun is warm and comforting. I watch the clouds, puffy white in the blue sky, but soon pull a cap over my eyes…
"Support the Troops?" No!: A Review of The…
The United States is the most warlike nation on earth and has been for a very long time. It would take too much space simply to enumerate all of the places where the United States…
Rise and Shine and Shout for Glory
On a recent Friday, the morning opened with bright sun and blue sky. Boulder had had its wettest spring in one hundred years, and this had put a crimp in our hiking regimen. Tornadoes had…
The Disconnects in the Minds of Workers
Clarity of thought is rare in the United States. This is not surprising given the constant barrage of propaganda to which we are subjected during every waking hour. Nowhere are systematic falsehoods presented as truth…
Throw the Reactionary Rulers of Iran onto History's…
Nearly all of the world’s people, who are overwhelmingly wage laborers and peasants, endure oppression. Of course, societies vary considerably in both the degree and openness of this oppression. Sweden is no doubt a less…
Music, Music, Music, or How Amy Winehouse Made…
Playwright William Congreve said: "Music hath charms to soothe a savage breast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak." And so it does. Perhaps the Russian revolutionary Lenin had Congreve in mind when he…
Work is Hell
Economists never say much about work. They talk about the supply of and the demand for labor, but they have very little to say about the nature of the work we do. Like most commentators,…
Indianapolis Hotel Workers Rising Up
At the request of an organizer from the union, UNITE/HERE (see comment on last post), I am posting this interesting video. Hotel workers are notoriously overworked and underpaid. Karen and I have talked to many…
What if the United Auto Workers Owned a…
The troubles in the U.S. automobile industry have taken an interesting turn. In return for considerable concessions to Chrysler and General Motors, the United Auto Workers may become a majority shareholder in Chrysler and a…