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Why Inequality Matters and What Can Be Done About It

Joseph Stiglitz Next New Deal
We must be careful of how we measure our progress. If we use the wrong metrics, we will strive for the wrong things. Economic growth as measured by GDP is not enough—there is a growing global consensus that GDP does not provide a good measure of overall economic performance. What matters is whether growth is sustainable, and whether most citizens see their living standards rising year after year.

[Quantum Computing Don't Get No Respect]

Scott Aaronson Shtetl-Optimized
We have failed to make the honest case for quantum computing—the case based on basic science—because we’ve underestimated the public. We’ve falsely believed that people would never support us if we told them the truth: that while the potential applications are wonderful cherries on the sundae, they’re not and have never been the main reason to build a quantum computer. The main reason is that we want to make absolutely manifest what quantum mechanics says about reality

Pat Fitzgerald Urges Against Union

Adam Rittenberg ESPN
Northwestern players will vote April 25 whether to form a union after the regional director of Chicago's National Labor Relations Board office ruled last month that players are employees of the school and have the right to unionize. Coach Fitzgerald is prohibited from making promises to players about benefits they would receive if they vote against unionizing. He also cannot make any threats or interrogate players on how they will vote.

Freedom

Stuart Carlson GoComics

Deportations Hurt Workers

Liz Cattaneo Jobs with Justice
The tide is turning, but we need stronger executive action to end our country’s unjust deportation policy.

US Lawmakers Must End Efforts to Curb Free Speech on Palestine

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu Common Dreams
I remain forever hopeful that, like the nonviolent efforts that have preceded it, the BDS movement will ultimately become a catalyst for honest peace and reconciliation for all our brothers and sisters, both Palestinian and Israeli, in the Holy Land.

Today's Jobs Report and the Supreme Court's "McCutcheon" Debacle

Robert Reich RobertReich.org
The vast middle class and poor don't have enough purchasing power, as 95 percent of the economy's gains go to the top 1 percent. Some wealthy people and big corporations have a strangle-hold on our politics. "McCutcheon" makes that strangle-hold even tighter. Connect the dots and you see how the big-money takeover of our democracy has lead to an economy that's barely functioning for most Americans.

REWIND - A Week of Quotes and Cartoons

Portside
Jobs, Jobs, Jobs!; Progressive Budget, Ryan Budget and economic inequality; General Motors; Supreme Court McCutcheon decision; USAID, Twitter and Cuba; Ukraine

Graduate Students on Strike

Members of United Auto Workers Local 2865 Jacobin
UAW Local 2865 has called a strike. For many grad students, the very idea of a contract governing the limits and conditions of our labor is a source of skepticism and even derision. This system is not an alternative to the working world - it is the model every employer would eagerly adopt. Far from prefiguring an emancipated society, the university offers a foretaste of the total domination of workers by management.