Bail Reform: What’s at Stake
On any given day in 2020, roughly 630,000 people were locked up in local jails. The majority of them had not been convicted of a crime. After an arrest—wrongful or not—a person’s ability to leave…
Economy
Taking Media Out of the Market
By Victor Pickard It’s been a particularly brutal stretch for American journalism. Even for an industry that’s become synonymous with precarity and crisis, the recent job losses have been jolting. The Los Angeles Times announced…
It’s Time to Tax the Rich… and Their Foundations
Commentary by Lynn Murphy and Alhoor Ladha We are wrapping up yet another tumultuous year in which wars and disasters have ravaged communities across the world. These misfortunes have added to the misery of those…
Massachusetts ‘Tax the Rich’ Law Raises $1.5 Billion
For Free School Lunch and More By Julia Conley A new “millionaire’s tax” in Massachusetts was expected to generate $1 billion in revenue last year to help pay for public education, infrastructure, and early childcare…
$8.5 Trillion in Untaxed Assets
Data Shows Why We Need a Billionaire Tax By Jake Johnson An analysis released in early January shows that in 2022, the wealthiest people in the United States collectively held a “staggering” $8.5 trillion in…
The Double Objective of Democratic Ecosocialism
By Jason Hickel We face a double crisis as the twenty-first century unfolds. On the one hand, it is an ecological crisis: climate change and several other Earth System pressures are exceeding planetary boundaries to…
When a For-Profit Company Takes Over the ER
Commentary by Clayton Dalton Earlier this year, I stood outside the hospital in New Mexico where I worked as an emergency physician. I was, for the first time, picketing. The next day I would be…
Medicare Advantage Plans Disadvantage Many Elderly and Disabled People
By Eleanor J. Bader When retired veterinarian Richard Timmins went on a Medicare Advantage plan in 2016, he admits that he knew very little about Traditional Medicare (also called Original Medicare) or the more than…
Medicare Needs Modernization and Expansion—
Not Privatization By Jamila Headley & Nicole Jorwic For 58 years, Medicare and Medicaid have provided lifesaving and life-sustaining care for millions of Americans, but they are rapidly being weakened by politicians who insist on…
We Need a Public Option for Pharmaceuticals
Commentary by William Haseltine America is currently facing dual public health crises of record drug shortages and skyrocketing prices. Several critical medicines are in short supply, including at least 14 essential generic cancer drugs, ADHD…