Category Archives: American Politics
Power and History: Essential Readings for Tonight
If you have a free hour tonight, may I suggest two excellent articles? 1. “When the rich and powerful overplay their hand” – The Canadian writer James Laxer provides a brief but thought-provoking history of the French Revolution, and the parallels it might have for modern American politics. Before the revolution of 1789, Laxer explains […]
An Economic Pessimist’s Nod to Karl Marx
Watching the interview below with Nouriel Roubini is a worthwhile effort . Roubini is a mainstream economist from New York University’s business school, and well-known for his pessimism prior to the latest economic implosion. Much of his analysis is fairly mainstream, but he does emphasize the volatile role of commodities (especially oil and food) at […]
Upward mobility?
Part of the bedrock of “American exceptionalism” is the belief that America is the land of opportunity. Whether you’re pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps (and defying the laws of physics!) or picking yourself up from the ditch, you can accomplish anything you want in America. You’re only limited by your levels of effort […]
America’s Education Politics: A Crass and Explicit Example
As if we didn’t have enough examples of the highly politicized nature of American educational reform, along comes another illustration that reaches new lows for crassness and audacity. Jonah Edelman is a leader of Stand for Children, a well-known and influential educational reform movement based in Oregon. The “grassroots child advocacy organization” is said to […]
The Decline of the American Empire
A recurring media topic these days is the cultural, economic and political decline of the American Empire. It’s reflected in a large number of books, blogs and mainstream news stories. My former professor, Morris Berman, writes a popular blog, Dark Ages America, almost singularly devoted to the theme. Perhaps you’re skeptical? Well, if you […]
Tea Party Contradictions
One of the most fascinating examples of the absurdity of US politics has been the Tea Party movement. Populated largely by angry and frightened working class and middle class (white) Americans, the movement proves that contradictions are rarely a barrier to political action. At the core of the problem is a series of demands by […]
Sun Media Brings Fox News to Canada
This is almost hilarious. It must be the most absurd media promo I’ve ever seen – as if it’s a parody made by the people at The Colbert Report or The Onion. Unfortunately, these yahoos are serious. Posted by Colin Welch at 8:21 PM Edited on: Wednesday, April 20, 2011 5:20 PM
Ben Levin’s thoughts on education
The presentation below, by Ontario professor Ben Levin, makes some interesting points about modern education. The first point is that many of the elements that differentiate the education systems of Canada and the USA – and lead to better PISA results in Canada – are macro-factors outside the control of individual teachers. Levin points to […]
Buffett Tells ABC Rich Americans Should Be Paying “A Lot More in Taxes”
Billionaire Warren Buffett has come out and said the equivalent of 2+2=4. Or =666, if you’re a neo-liberal hell bent on even more tax cuts. In a recent interview, Buffett said, “I think that people at the high end — people like myself — should be paying a lot more in taxes. We have it […]
An analysis of the US economy by Robert Reich
I would encourage you to download this speech by Robert Reich. [Right-click on the link and choose “Save Link As” or “Save Target as”.] Reich’s key argument is that inequality is bad for business, and unless America can address this fundamental challenge, all of the secondary problems will be insoluble. The irony is that, in […]