This past summer, we stayed at Oakland House Seaside Resort, in Brooksville, Maine, along the Eggemoggin Reach in Penobscot Bay. The property is large and consists of several business entities. We lodged in the hostel,…
These Homes Were Made (and Paid for) by…
When we lived in Pittsburgh in the 1990s, my mother came to visit for a few days. She always wanted to see the Henry Clay Frick mansion, so we drove to Wilkinsburg, just outside the Pittsburgh…
Elko, Nevada: Ranches, Mines, and Mountains
We first heard about Elko, Nevada from a couple we met on a trail in Zion National Park. While trading travel stories, they said that the Ruby Mountains outside Elko were spectacular. We were…
A Nation in Decline?: Part 3: An Unhealthy…
We were in Torrey, Utah hiking in Capitol Reef National Park. We got a room for a week at the Affordable Inn for a reasonable rate, which surprised us, since it was near the beginning…
A Nation in Decline?: Part 2: Signs of…
The impact of the U.S. economic crisis has been geographically uneven (see map). You can’t miss it in Las Vegas, where there are half-constructed homes, ubiquitous "For Sale" signs, abandoned shopping plazas, and homeless and half-crazed…
Lock 'Em Up
[This first appeared in counterpunch on August 17, 2010. This version includes hyperlinks.]. Sometimes events conspire to make you think that things are worse than you imagined. On August 3, Marilyn Buck died. Marilyn was…
GROWTH! GROWTH! GROWTH!
The motor force of capitalist economies is the accumulation of capital—the drive by businesses to make as much profit as possible and use as much of this profit as they can to expand their operations.…
Mining
[Note: We have been staying in hostels, and internet connections are poor. So I can’t upload pictures. You can see some on my facebook page, which is public] The earth in the western United States…
Radical Economics: A Clearer Look at Things, Part…
The State Today there are many social scientists who believe that capitalism is gradually transcending the government, meaning that governments can no longer regulate and control capital accumulation. This view is incorrect. Capitalist economies developed…