Skip to main content

2014: Wage Stagnation Puts Squeeze on Working Families

David Lazarus Los Angeles Times
Wage stagnation is putting the squeeze on working families even as corporate profits are at record levels. And 2014 continued the trend of suppressed wages while profits and the compensation of senior corporate managers skyrocket, with many CEOs making 350 times the average worker. The expanding wealth gap in this country is proof of a system that grossly favor the rich over ordinary working families, even when the economy is improving.

A Radical Proposal: Cities Should Buy Teams Not Stadiums

Neil Demause VICE
The author makes a radical case for cities to buy sports teams and not sports stadiums. Last month Washington D.C. approved the largest public subsidy ever for a Major League Soccer franchise, $183 million for D.C. United's stadium. And soccer stadiums have never been known to revitalize anything. Millionaire owners will resist any attempt to erode their monopoly power over team ownership, but cities need to explore radical alternatives to sports extortion.

After 13 Years U.S. Leaves Afghanistan A Dangerous Place

Deepak Tripathi CounterPunch
At the end of 2014, President Obama announced the "responsible conclusion" of the longest war in U.S. history, leaving behind an Afghanistan that everyone acknowledges is still a very "dangerous place." Despite more than 130,000 U.S. and NATO troops, the effort to eliminate the Taliban has ended in total failure. Year 2014 was the worst of America’s 13-year war, and a weak, divided, and vulnerable government in Kabul faces severe challenges in 2015.

U.S. and Cuban Relations: More Realism to Come?

Immanuel Wallerstein iwallerstein.com
After 53 years the United States and Cuba have restored diplomatic relations, with the U.S. formally ending its unsuccessful attempts to isolate the socialist island republic. One commentator termed President Obama's decision to restore diplomatic relations his most positive foreign policy decision. Another said the accord proves "dignity wins battles." Many hope the Cuba decision will augur more realistic U.S. approaches to countries such as Iran and Venezuela.

Why 2014 Will Be Remembered as the Year the Sports World Turned Upside Down

Dave Zirin The Nation
The game has changed, and the bosses are operating on outdated software. They are losing in a contest where they barely seem to grasp the rules. Meanwhile players, fans and political activists have been able to take the carefully scripted narrative of corporate sports and engineer a series of dramatic rewrites.

Friday Nite Videos -- January 2, 2015

Portside
Michael Franti - Same As It Ever Was. Neil deGrasse Tyson on 'Interstellar.' Top 10 Surprising People Who Advocated Socialism. Movie: The Imitation Game. What's Really Weird About Placebos.

Tidbits - January 1, 2015 - New Year's edition

Portside
Reader Comments- Selma - the movie; Labor, Racism, PBA's Patrick Lynch, Police Police Unions; Sports, Athletes, Equality and Anti-Racism; the 1914 Christmas Truce; It's a Wonderful Life, Comrade; Prosecute those responsible for Torture; Okinawa rejects "Pivot to Asia"; Fighting Anti-Semitism and Jim Crow; Announcements- Invisible Lives, Targeted Bodies - Impacts of Economic Injustice on Vulnerable LGBTQ Communities; Symposium: Dynamics of Possible Nuclear Extinction