Portside

The Paris-based Organization of Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) reports the long-term unemployed in the world's major economies has increased by 85% since the financial crash of 2008, and the "structural reforms" and austerity measures imposed in its wake. The OECD, which supported many of these measures, now warns cyclical unemployment has become structural, and any further cuts in wages or jobs would be "counterproductive" and threaten social cohesion.

On September 10th advocates for "net neutrality" will launch a global day of protest, the Battle for the Net's Internet Slowdown, simulating what the world wide web may soon look like without concerted action. The action is part of the campaign to prevent the Federal Communications Commission from bowing to the giant cable companies' demand for a two-tier internet system, with arbitrary fees and slow and fast lanes for internet traffic.