Portside

The European debt crisis has little to do with poor budgeting and everything to do with crony capitalism.

Five years in the ACA still primarily serves as a huge government marketing campaign for private insurance companies, funneling millions of new customers with few if any restrictions on ever-escalating prices. The ACA built upon the flaws of our market-based system and, quite predictably, is failing to contain costs and provide broad access to affordable, quality health care. Corporate interests still trump the common good in U.S.

As part of a clear national strategy, an array of anti-choice legislation is being rolled out in state houses around the country, putting women's health at risk. Already, 57 percent of American women of reproductive age live in states that are considered 'hostile' or 'extremely hostile' to abortion rights. That percentage could go up if recent proposals are enacted into law, and U.S. women’s constitutional rights may well differ depending on where they live.

The extent and complexity of China’s myriad transformations barely filter into the American media. Stories in the U.S. tend to emphasize the country’s “shrinking” economy, or its role as a military “threat” to Washington and the world. The U.S. media has a China fever, which results in typically feverish reports that don’t take the pulse of the country or its leaders. In the process, so much is missed, including the vast scope of China’s plans for the future.

The number of homes under construction in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank rose last year by 40 percent, the Israeli anti-settlement group Peace Now said Monday. Peace Now said the construction of 3,100 “residential units” began last year in illegal West Bank settlements, while 4,485 tenders for construction there and in annexed East Jerusalem settlement districts were launched in 2014 — “a record high for at least a decade.”

Revolutionary changes are taking place in the global labor process. Observers predict that within the next decade, one in every three labor transactions will be done online, carried out by “taskers” with no job security, low and fluctuating incomes, perpetual uncertainty, and no control over time. British social scientist Guy Standing describes the role of these taskers, who are expanding the ranks of the “precariat” in the so-called “sharing” economy.

Fearing the federal government’s new recommendations against added sugars will embolden cities to adopt soda taxes, Big Soda is using tobacco industry tactics to stop cities like Seattle from regulating their products. Seattle was one of six cities awarded a grant from the American Beverage Association (ABA) and the U.S. Conference of Mayors to fight childhood obesity, which is like getting a grant from the tobacco industry to fight cancer.

Year after year, newsroom embarrassments like O'Reilly's undermine Fox's credibility to the point where it seems more and more journalists today start with a working assumption that Fox is not a legitimate news operation. That represents a major shift from President Obama's first year in office and it's a key reason why O'Reilly's fabrications matter.

Senator Bernie Sanders proposes raising the percentage of income subject to the payroll tax. “You can start at $250,000,” he says, “and what the Social Security Administration has told us, their actuary has told us, is that if you do that, you’re going to make Social Security solvent for the next 40 years on top of the 18 years it’s solvent. “

Our country’s bloody history of lynching, slavery and racism cannot be tackled from the top-down. Change has to be initiated organically - from the people.