Is the Egyption military behind the dropped charges against Mubarak? Maged Mandour, political analyst for Open Democracy, explains the political and economic power of the military in the Egyptian state.
From 1948 to 1973, hourly compensation grew instep with the productivity of the typical American worker. This means that, for about a generation’s time, economic prosperity amongst workers in the United States virtually reflected productivity. In the ensuing forty years, however, inequality exploded. The Washington Post has reported that income for the bottom 90 percent of American households has only nominally grown since 1973, when this group commanded nearly 70 percent of national income.
Over the past 30 years, wealth has grown exponentially and has become increasingly concentrated foremost in the upper .01%, then the .1%, followed by the 1% and the upper 10%-20%.
The large scale, long-term concentration of wealth has continued through booms and busts of the real economy, the financial and IT crises. Wealth grew despite long-term economic recessions and stagnation because the so-called recovery programs imposed austerity on 80% of the households while transferring public revenues to the rich.
Former labor organizer Bill Barry discusses the tenuous relationship between the working class and undocumented workers, and the forces that keep these groups at odds.
In the White City, all the days are beautiful days. The weather is temperate and mild. The parks are spacious and gleam with care. People stroll with elegant animals, talking on the latest devices, filling the cafes at all hours of the day. In the coffeehouses where the best coffee in the world is brewed cup-by-cup for them, they sit in parallel rows like they did as children in school, seeing no one else now, gazing intently into the white screens of their gleaming devices.
This deceptively lighthearted video shines a light on the corporate greed that has co-opted our democracy, monopolizing representation, wealth and opportunity. Dear Mr. 1% is an animated video from the perspective of an innocent child desperately trying to understand why some grown-ups don’t play fair and share. The video contrasts the inherent morality of a child with and the insatiable greed and unscrupulous behavior of the corporate elite.
The duplicitous machinations of the insane elitists who menacingly hover above and methodically trample upon the downtrodden masses careen carelessly down the ever widening scope of masochistic malfeasance, crushing everything within a thousand mile vicinity with hobnailed boots of black-hearted doom. Nowhere to turn. Nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide. Cornered. Like a rat. Starving for its piece of the cheese. Ready to violently strike out. Lips snarling. Fangs flashed. Blood on the teeth. Knife to the neck.
Soon after children start noticing differences between others and themselves, they’re old enough to believe they’re superior or entitled in some ways. These feelings come naturally, and are reinforced by adults as children learn social behaviors by comparing attributes and values so they can fit in with, or be seen apart from, certain others in society. This is all instinctual to some degree and a normal part of life. To make the case for instinct and superiority, think about what anyone would consider when choosing a partner for a serious or long-term relationship.
The police response to public protests in Ferguson, Missouri in the wake of the deadly August 9 shooting of Michael Brown, Jr., an unarmed eighteen-year-old black man killed by a white police officer, was a prime illustration of the hyper-aggressive nature of policing in America today. The residents of Ferguson fed up with hostile and abusive police behavior continue to flood the streets to demand justice for Mike Brown and other victims of police brutality. They have been joined in solidarity by people of conscience in other cities (e.g., Oakland, NYC).
