Portside

We should be very concerned for the people of China. They have gone from a “zero COVID” policy to a “let it rip” policy. It is possible that a variant of concern will arise from their disaster. But the U.S. already has a problem of its own.

Beef, chicken and dairy made from cultured cells could offer a smaller footprint than conventional farms. Companies are working on scaling up and bringing prices down.

The year has been characterized by incredible solidarity, as Starbucks and Amazon workers challenged our conceptions of political possibility and galvanized a resurgent labor movement. It was a year of taking power to task, from the fearless Warrior Met strike to the militance of worker-led, independent union drives at Amazon, Trader Joe's and Chipotle.

Entering the year’s end, Georgia poet Alice Friman suggests how much, how little, time carries as life goes on.

Before the holiday travel nightmare, attorneys general begged the Transportation Secretary and Congress to crack down. "The Department of Transportation has yet to fine any airline a single dollar!"

California’s hospitals struggle once more to find beds for desperate patients. In Los Angeles County, the average number of available hospital beds slipped to its lowest level since the pandemic began.

The 117th Congress has finished its work, with little to offer American children. Lawmakers were unable to muster a deal to combine an extension of last year’s expanded child tax credit with tax breaks for businesses.

Republicans may not have enjoyed big victories like many expected in the 2022 midterm elections, but the predicted "red wave" did materialize in at least one critical arena: Southern state legislatures.

Reader Comments: Trump Ethics; Labor and Medicare Privatization; Franco Harris and the Anti-Vietnam War Movement; 9 to 5 and Organizing Woman Workers; GOP's "Santos Clause"; 2023 AFL-CIO Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Civil and Human Rights Conference

Most middle and lower wage older workers are not able to retire and must work to avoid poverty and maintain living standards. For work to be a bulwark against old age poverty, work must be decent, and work and retirement policy must be compatible.