Workplace Fragmentation Demands New Organizing Strategies
In recent decades, structural changes in the US economy have dispersed workers across workplaces and geographic areas. Labor’s decline can’t be reversed without addressing this new reality.
85 Articles by: Doug Henwood
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Doug Henwood edits Left Business Observer and is the host of Behind the News. His latest book is My Turn.
How the Ruling Class Became Vulgar
Old-money WASPs once ruled America with an air of clannish exclusivity. Then the economic crises of the 1970s upended their world, opening the corporate floodgates to new-money barbarians — and replacing elite social norms with wanton money lust.
Is the “Vibecession” Over?
Consumer confidence is up, and inflation is down. But will the economy improve enough by November to buoy Biden’s flagging reelection prospects?
How Private Equity Was Born
Private equity, now a major presence in the US economic landscape, has been booming since the 2008 financial crisis. Its roots lie in the rise of the corporation at the turn of the century and the shareholder revolution of the 1980s.
Despite Worker Militancy, Union Rates Are Still Down
Despite an apparent upsurge in labor militancy, unions made no gains in their share of the workforce last year. Something needs to change — and fast.
Bidenomics Puts Business, Not Workers, First
The Biden economy’s defenders claim it is delivering big gains to workers. But people are still feeling pain in their wallets and the rich are the ones benefiting the most.
Is Capitalism Terminally Ill?
A debate between Seth Ackerman and Aaron Benanav on the prognosis for capitalism: Is it experiencing the kind of long-run stagnation that many Marxists have long regarded as its destiny? And what does the answer mean for socialist political strategy today?
Way More College Students Struggle With Food Insecurity Than Go to the Ivy Leagues
The vast majority of college students don’t go to the elite universities that dominate media attention. Many struggle daily to make ends meet — and new figures show that one in four undergraduates suffer from food insecurity.
Anti-Trans Bills Are Sweeping the US Despite, Not Because of, Public Opinion
The coordinated attack on trans rights in state legislatures across the US is built on a foundation of hateful paranoia and right-wing lies. But however unpopular anti-trans bills are, the human costs are real: thousands are migrating from anti-trans states.
The West Is Ignoring the Nightmarish War in Ethiopia
The war in Ethiopia has largely been ignored by the outside world, and information has been hard to come by. But what we know about the conflict is horrific: at least 500,000 civilians have been killed, and 5 million have been displaced.
Ryan Grim: “Railworkers Feel Like They Have Very Little Left to Lose at This Point”
Railworkers’ recent labor battle exposed their increasingly brutal working conditions. We spoke with journalist Ryan Grim about the rank-and-file effort to rebuild power in rail unions — so workers can fight the railroad bosses even harder next time.
Inflation Is Hurting Average People Right Now
The standard left analysis of inflation says it’s a concern of elites and not the masses. This couldn’t be more wrong: working people are the ones suffering under inflation.
Yes, You Should Worry About Inflation
For a generation, the Left dismissed any concerns about inflation as elite fearmongering. But now inflation is here. And it’s hurting workers more than anyone.
Corporate America’s Tax Bill Is Miniscule. Corporations Are Still Whining.
The average corporate tax rate in the 1950s was 50 percent. Today, it’s below 20 percent. Yet the US business class is still whining about the modest tax increase on corporations in the Inflation Reduction Act.
Austerity Is Causing America to Rot
If it seems like nothing works anymore in the US, you’re not imagining things. Record-low public investment and declining private investment have given us a failing, decrepit infrastructure.
The CHIPS Act Is a Massive Giveaway to Tech Companies
President Biden signed the bipartisan CHIPS Act earlier this week. It’s a massive giveaway to the semiconductor industry, which has spent the last decade padding the pockets of CEOs and stockholders with billions upon billions of dollars in stock buybacks.
Fewer Americans Are Identifying as Middle-Class
According to Gallup polls, the number of Americans who self-identify as below middle-class, including those who identify as working-class, is on the rise — a rise especially pronounced among those age 18–34.
More Workers Are Quitting Their Jobs in Red States With Low Union Rates
Talk of the “Great Resignation“ is everywhere. But a close look at the numbers reveals something interesting: more workers are quitting their jobs in Trump-voting states with low unionization rates than in states with high unionization rates that rejected Trump.
The History Behind Putin’s War in Ukraine
Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine is a horrific, unconscionable act. NATO’s expansionist policy made such an invasion more likely. Both of these things are true.
Union Membership Is Still Declining
Unions raise wages and benefits and increase job security. So, the fact that unionization rates are still in decline, despite some recent bright spots in worker militancy, is very bad news.