Christian Parenti is associate professor of economics at John Jay College, City University of New York. His most recent book is Tropic of Chaos: Climate Change and the New Geography of Violence (2011). His forthcoming book is Radical Hamilton: Economic Lessons from a Misunderstood Founder (Verso, Summer 2020).
Hailing from a working-class Pennsylvania background, Robert Eshelman-Håkansson led the life of a bohemian intellectual before rising to become chief aide to the president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. He leaves behind friends and admirers throughout the US and in half a dozen countries around the world.
After a decade-long, worldwide corporate debt binge, the bill has come due: huge swaths of the corporate world are now at risk of default, with only governments able to save them. This time, any bailouts must place corporate investment under public control.
For more than a decade, the US government has been taking over ever larger portions of the financial system to prop up shaky markets. It hasn’t worked. We need a real socialization of finance — for the majority, not the banks.
The impeachment proceedings are boring and will result in nothing — but they could have looked much different if the Democrats had pursued an impeachment focused on Trump’s flagrantly corrupt emoluments. The problem is, many House Democrats are incredibly rich themselves and don’t want to anger wealthy donors.
Humans are an environment-making species — and that’s okay. The real challenge of environmentalism and the Green New Deal is not to retreat and let the ecology be, but to change how we make environments.
While most of the world bakes, burns, and floods, the US East Coast, the cockpit of American capitalism, has largely avoided extreme weather events, lulling many into a false sense of security. Confronting the climate crisis requires thinking beyond our everyday experiences.
A Green New Deal will require trillions of dollars of investment. But the government doesn’t actually need to put up all the cash — we can make corporations pay.
The effects of climate change are already upon us. Here’s what the 2020s and 2030s will look like if we fail to change things.
Censorship used against our enemies will soon be used against us.
Donald Trump’s budget would make America even more authoritarian and militaristic than it already is.
What did millions of voters see in Trump? His speeches hold the answer.
Turns out Clinton’s ground game sucked.
Climate change will displace millions within decades. But where will they go and how will governments receive them?
The state has been used to discipline capital before. With climate change upon us, it’ll have to do so again.
How did we end up with millions behind bars and police armed like soldiers?
The Left has always favored Thomas Jefferson over Alexander Hamilton. But not only was Hamilton more progressive for his time, he has lessons for our response to climate change.
