Stream of Reading (Prepare to be Forwarded) – An Archive of What I'm Reading
One morning last August I visited Williams College in Massachusetts to teach a workshop on “building a life in the arts” with a group of racially, geographically, and economically diverse young people working at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. Later that night I attended a show at the theater, where I saw these idealistic apprentices taking…
Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more. Having slogged through several years of research on the many and complex causes of the financial crisis, I take it personally when people try to rewrite history and ignore what actually drove the events that led to the collapse. That is our charge today, in response…
Chris Hughes, the soon-to-be-former owner of The New Republic, recently purchased a West Village townhouse for $23.5 million (after unloading his old Soho loft for $8.5 million). According to the New York Post, Hughes’ new lair on West 12th Street boasts, among other amenities, a functional underground tunnel between its main building and a “carriage…
France has said goodbye to its infamous 75% income tax on individuals earning more than 1 million euros this past weekend, returning to a top marginal income tax rate of 45%. The change, effective February 1, is a blow to the French Socialist party’s signature redistribution measure, the same remedy supported by popular French economist Thomas Piketty…
What makes this year more special than any other? This is the year that the very worst class war rhetoric becomes the reality. Oxfam has gotten into the admirable habit of releasing a report about global inequality each year right when the Davos summit is happening, so that the people at Davos have something to…
FRESNO, Calif. — Harlan Elrich is a high school teacher in California, and that means he must pay about $970 a year to a labor union. He teaches math, and he said the system did not add up. “I get to choose what movie I want to go see,” Mr. Elrich said. “I get to…
American politicians constantly speak of the middle class. Democrats, Republicans and even many independents all insist their policies defend it. But what does it really mean? This question is rarely asked. What exactly is the middle class? A new study suggests that the U.S. hardly even has one. More than half of Americans — 56…
Today we are launching a national, coordinated campaign to win fair contracts with wage increases for the nearly 1,000 Guild-represented employees of Digital First Media. The campaign will build on the strength of our 13 bargaining units at DFM publications and online news sites across the United States, united by a central theme: News Matters….
Paul Graham is Still Asking to be Eaten An Obviously Critical Response to “Economic Inequality” by Paul Graham robotorgy.tumblr.com I’ve been asked by a bunch of people today to comment on this essay “Economic Inequality,”penned by self-described “essayist” Paul Graham, the subject of a poem I recently wrote entitled, “Paul Graham is Asking to be…
The Home Ownership Meme Can Be Very Powerful Most of us are familiar with the concept of the “internet meme.” Someone does something, say “planking” on a fast-food counter, and uploads a video of him- or herself doing this to a public or social media site. Other people see the video, emulate the activity, and…