Category: Columns
New economics for the people
by Wade Rathke March 2, 2022 Pearl River Traditional economics is under assault from all corners. The pandemic has forced some reevaluations of neoliberal scripture on everything from climate change to just-in-time supply chains to…
Ottawans weren’t passive pushing back on the blockade
by Wade Rathke February 23, 2022 Marble Falls When you read the New York Times about the Ottawa blockade you have to distill quite a lot of high-powered spin to search for the truth….
Apps for the poor
by Wade Rathke February 3, 2022 New Orleans Decades ago, ACORN embarked on a pilot to increase the enrollment for families in San Antonio, New Orleans, and Miami in the Earned Tax Credit and Child…
Lessons in Starbucks rising
by Wade Rathke January 14, 2022 Marble Falls You have to keep these things in perspective of course. Winning union elections in two of Starbucks 9000 stores is not exactly an example of…
Is the military the last stronghold of US institutional values?
by Wade Rathke January 02, 2022 New Orleans We have an extended family WhatsApp group, as many families have. These things are a hodgepodge of advice and, usually, good will, attempts at humor, sports talk,…
Could direct action stop climate change?
by Wade Rathke December 20, 2021 Little Rock Sometimes you stumble over something so obvious, you shake your head wondering why your thinking was so patterned that it was in danger of becoming more habitual…
Global climate disasters – This is not the new normal
Spotlight on Climate by Stefan Sommer Saturday, December 18, 2021 2021 was yet again one of the hottest years on record. This past summer was the hottest summer on record for North America. Is this the…
All-cash companies. Too good to be true?
Even if these companies are not intrinsically predatory, their play for the most part seems to be using their databases to get around the exorbitant real estate agent, appraisal, and closing fees, and I suspect collect…
The pro-choice paths not taken
by Wade Rathke December 6, 2021 New Orleans There was a depressing op-ed in the New York Times entitled “Losing the Fight Over Abortion” by Amy Littlefield, a correspondent for The Nation. Sadly, this may…
All politics are local. All issues are national?
by Wade Rathke December 4, 2021 Little Rock Tip O’Neil, the iconic old Boston pol, and former Speaker of the US House of Representatives, once famously expressed the dicta, “all politics are local.” Even as…
All Americans need to worry about the Roe vs. Wade case
by Wade Rathke December 3, 2021 Little Rock All of the pundits and the smart money are saying that the Supreme Court, in arguments made currently on the Mississippi challenge to the 50-year-old decision, are…
Suspicious of fixes for affordable housing and health care
by Wade Rathke November 19, 2021 New Orleans A headline that promises to offer a “fix” for those of us who want affordable housing and healthcare has to rate as a “must read” in my…
Generation What?
by Wade Rathke October 28, 2021 New Orleans Guilty as charged! I have found myself whining from time to time recently about the circuitous path that young people in the so-called Generation Z were taking…
Emergency broadband now
by Wade Rathke October 23, 2021 New Orleans One of the pandemic programs that may be cruising below the radar, but which could be a critical step on lowering the digital divide, is the FCC’s…
Our long neoliberal nightmare: Congress should not begrudge $3.5 trillion reconciliation package for the people
To set themselves apart from Republicans, Democrats must demonstrate the political will to choose the common good over allegiance to corporate wealth. by Michele Swenson Thursday, October 14, 2021 A half century of neoliberal economic policy…
Mean-tested versus entitlements
by Wade Rathke October 10, 2021 Pearl River I hate being one of those “I told you so” people, but anyone listening knows we predicted the “deal” on the social services infrastructure package would come…
This isn’t a labor shortage—It’s a strike by workers kicked in the face by low wages for too long
A lot of those now out of work simply don’t want to return to backbreaking, low-wage shit jobs. Why should they? by Robert Reich October 10, 2021 The U.S. added just 194,000 jobs in September, down…
Turnabout and fair play on Project Veritas
by Wade Rathke October 8, 2021 New Orleans, What’s the old saying? An enemy of my enemy is my friend. Something like that, I think. All of which made reading some parts of a…
Progressives made a power play
by Wade Rathke October 5, 2021 New Orleans It may be high-low bargaining, but at least progressives played their hands powerfully in order to get to try to get to the maximum number on Biden’s…
So-called ‘centrists’ are really incredibly dangerous extremists
Their supposed “seriousness” poses a serious threat to everyone but the small group of elites whose short-term interests they actually represent. by Peter Bloom Tuesday, October 5, 2021 After a half decade of progressive political gains,…
Homeownership gap widens
by Wade Rathke September 28, 2021 New Orleans When I wrote Citizen Wealth, published in 2009, I proudly recorded the role that ACORN played in increasing the homeownership rate of Black and Hispanic Americans…
Environmental money scams
by Wade Rathke September 27, 2021 Pearl River No question. Climate change is a big deal. For every hurricane alert, storm warning, and sudden street flooding, environmental consciousness is rising as quickly as the wind…
Democrats need to stand up to corporate extremists in their own party
Wall Street Democrats are not just resisting progress but putting freedom and democracy in jeopardy. by Peter Bloom September 27, 2021 The progressive optimism that the Biden presidency might lead to real change is quickly fading…
The fight for rent control is global
by Wade Rathke September 25, 2021 Pearl River Talking to Sydnee Blum, ACORN’s head organizer in eastern Canada on Wade’s World, she told a shocking story of a member in one of the neighborhoods who…
