Skip to main content

America’s Dairy Farmers are Struggling and Unsupported

Debbie Weingarten In These Times
Today, she says, roadsides are dotted with “for sale” signs. Farms sit vacant, their owners having relocated to urban areas in search of work.Once-pristine barns have become dilapidated after years of low prices left farmers without money for repairs

The Immigrants Fueling the Gig Economy

Lauren Markham The Atlantic
man driving car
The short-term promise of easy cash can trap individuals in bad long-term conditions. This article is the third in a series about how the gig economy is shaping the future of labor and what that means for workers.

An MSG Convert Visits the High Church of Umami

Helen Rosner The New Yorker
Ajinomoto produces umami at its panda-themed headquarters
Monosodium glutamate is a compound molecule in which glutamate is the amino acid responsible for the mysterious deepening of flavor. Its once-vilified reputation has been ascribed to illogic, superstition and even racism.

The Pact for Mexico after Five Years: How Has It Fared?

Mark Weisbrot, Lara Merling, Rebecca Watts, and Jake Johnston Center for Economic and Policy Research
Five years after "Pact for Mexico", Mexico's economy is mired in a trap of low investment and low growth and imperiled by liberalization of financial markets making it vulnerable to rate increases by the US Fed and global financial turbulence.