Scott Walker’s Recall Hypocrisy Scott Walker’s Recall Hypocrisy
Two years ago, Scott Walker hailed recalls as ”an extraordinary thing” and said they were “about hope.” Now, he condemns citizens for using the power ...
May 29, 2012 / John Nichols
This Week in Poverty: Wage Theft in the City of Millionaires This Week in Poverty: Wage Theft in the City of Millionaires
The Houston economy is creating more millionaires than any other city in the US. It’s also stealing more than $753 million annually from low-wage workers.
May 25, 2012 / Greg Kaufmann
Scott Walker’s Southern Strategy Aligns Him With ‘Union Buster’ Nikki Haley Scott Walker’s Southern Strategy Aligns Him With ‘Union Buster’ Nikki Haley
The embattled Wisconsin governor brings in South Carolina governor, top proponent of right-to-work laws, and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, top proponent of corporate raidin...
May 24, 2012 / John Nichols
Do the Bain Hustle Do the Bain Hustle
President Obama is to be applauded for questioning Mitt Romney’s legacy, although his motives seem to be as opportunistic as those of Romney’s primary race opponents.
May 24, 2012 / Robert Scheer
Chicago Teachers Turn Up the Heat on Rahm Emanuel (VIDEO) Chicago Teachers Turn Up the Heat on Rahm Emanuel (VIDEO)
Don’t take your eyes of Chicago yet. The NATO protests may be over, but city politics are heating up.
May 23, 2012 / Laura Flanders
Can Suing for Equal Pay Really Close the Gender Wage Gap? Can Suing for Equal Pay Really Close the Gender Wage Gap?
Lawsuits alone won’t be enough for a real cultural shift.
May 23, 2012 / Bryce Covert
![Ai-jen Poo: Organizing Precarious Labor [VIDEO]](https://www.thenation.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/poo_hp.jpg)
Ai-jen Poo: Organizing Precarious Labor [VIDEO] Ai-jen Poo: Organizing Precarious Labor [VIDEO]
The swelling ranks of precarious workers—freelancers, independent contractors, interns—can learn much from domestic workers' efforts to gain legal rights.
May 22, 2012 / Francis Reynolds
This Week in Poverty: A Little Help for the Long-Term Unemployed? This Week in Poverty: A Little Help for the Long-Term Unemployed?
230,000 long-term unemployed workers lost their benefits on Sunday and the system is about to get a whole lot worse.
May 18, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Greg Kaufmann
A New Politics That Rejects Austerity and Wars of Whim A New Politics That Rejects Austerity and Wars of Whim
There’s something sick about a politics that tells children to give up their lunch money so that billionaire speculators can avoid paying taxes. And that sickness will only be cured by a new politics. That new politics begins this week in Chicago. When National Nurses United and the union’s allies rally on May 18 in Chicago on behalf of a Robin Hood Tax on Wall Street speculation, the lie of austerity will be exposed. The proponents of austerity—from Madison to Washington to Berlin to Athens—would have us believe that nations, states and communities must sacrifice public education, public services and healthcare in order to balance budgets. Yet the same politicians who preach that there is no money for vaccinations and school lunches can always find the money for corporate tax breaks, payouts to defense contractors and wars of whim. Politicians in both parties tell austerity lies. But the people are pushing back. There’s an uprising brewing, not just in Europe but in American states such as Wisconsin and Ohio. There’s a dawning recognition that it is neither morally nor fiscally prudent to sacrifice human needs in order to pay for wars—or to redistribute more of the wealth upward. We do not need “shared sacrifice” and the lie of austerity. We need new priorities. That’s the message behind the May 18 “Heal the World” rally in Chicago, where I’ll join National Nurses United executive director Rose Ann DeMoro, musician Tom Morello and others in advocating for a Robin Hood Tax on Wall Street speculation. NNU is rallying in Chicago because that’s where the G-8 Summit was supposed to be held, before the leaders of the planet’s wealthiest nations decided to avoid the “street heat” that was being generated in support of a financial transactions tax. Now, they’ll gather at Camp David—where security will be tighter. But the Robin Hood Tax, which takes a small chunk of change on each transaction by rich speculators and gives to programs that serve the great mass of people, will stll be mentioned at Camp David. Newly elected French President François Hollande is likely to bring it the increasingly popular proposal, as may German Chancellor Angela Merkel. In Chicago, the battle cry against austerity will be raised his weekend, along with criticisms of the broken priorities that have turned the North Atlantic Treaty Organization into a vehicle for maintaining the occupation of Afghanistan. Many of the activists who will rally with the NNU will also rally Sunday in protest of NATO policies. The causes are related, as they both address the question of budget priorities. Indeed, one of the key backers of the protests, Progressive Democrats of America, has mounted a “Health Care Not Warfare” campaign that brings the messages together. There is a new politics afoot in America, a politics that challenges the lie of austerity and the lie that says unlimited military spending is necessary. As Americans and their allies from around the world rally, march and vote to put human needs ahead of corporate greed and the military-industrial complex about which President Eisenhower warned, it is no surprise that activist unions such as NNU and their allies in groups such as PDA will be in the thick of it. These are groups that understand that the next politics requires an inside-outside strategy that challenges the lie of austerity and the lies that lead to wars of whim. Those challenges must play out inside existing political parties, and outside them; in the corridors of power and in the streets. That next politics will be on display in Chicago on May 18. But it won’t stop there. The uprising has begun, and it’s spreading.
May 18, 2012 / John Nichols
Where Are the Missing 5 Million Workers? Where Are the Missing 5 Million Workers?
The working-age population is growing. The offiical labor force is not. What's going on?
May 17, 2012 / Laura Flanders