The Federal Reserve released the 2016 version of the Survey of Consumer Finances today. I will be doing a lot of work with this data in the coming months. But for starters, here is a short post about overall wealth inequality.
Archive | 2017
Asking nothing in return
In only 39 years, the young man from the city of Rosario accomplished something not achieved by many who lived a century. He became part of the people’s history and remains so today.
Political power and dissent in post-revolutionary societies
Marx’s original definition concerned political power as the direct manifestation of class antagonism, coupled with its opposite: the abolition of political power properly so-called in a fully realized socialist society. But what happens in between? Is it possible to break entrenched political power without necessarily resorting to the exercise of a fully articulated system of […]
Our Che: 50 years after his execution
This is an updated, re-edited version of my 2007 essay written for a Celebration of Ernesto Che Guevara’s life held in New York City in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of his execution, attended by 300 people. —Ike Nahem Che Lives! Che died defending no other interest, no other cause than the cause of the […]
The Pentagon is preparing a new war in South-East Asia
You are probably aware that you are incompletely informed about what is brewing in Myanmar, and you probably haven’t heard about the military coalition that is preparing to attack that country. Don’t take sides before you read this article and digest the information.
How ‘white people’ were invented by a playwright in 1613
The Jacobean playwright Thomas Middleton invented the concept of ‘white people’ on 29 October 1613, the date that his play The Triumphs of Truth was first performed. The phrase was first uttered by the character of an African king who looks out upon an English audience and declares: ‘I see amazement set upon the faces/Of […]
The Marxism of C.L.R. James
Cyril Lionel Robert James (1901-1989) has begun to enjoy a revival among U.S. and European intellectuals which promises to spread his influence more widely in the present and future than was the case at any time during his life. He is best known for his magnificent history of the Haitian revolution, entitled Black Jacobins (first […]
FBI launches COINTELPRO 2.0, targeting ‘black identity extremists’
Raise your hand if you identify as a “black identity extremist.” Matter of fact, raise your hand if you’ve ever even heard of the term “black identity extremist.”
Venezuelan analysts warn against a new plan to overthrow Nicolás Maduro on October 13th
The constitutional and legitimate government of Nicolás Maduro is facing a brutal offensive by the internal and foreign right led by the United States.
Here’s how Breitbart and Milo smuggled nazi and white nationalist ideas into the mainstream
A cache of documents obtained by BuzzFeed News reveals the truth about Steve Bannon’s alt-right “killing machine.”
Promises, promises
They keep promising, ever since the recovery from the Great Recession started more than eight years ago, that workers’ wages will finally begin to increase. But they’re not.
The difficult art of being a feminist in an economist classroom
It’s high time that we replace the narrow rational economic man within our models with a more objective understanding of human nature by incorporating the ‘feminine’ characteristics of humanism, connectedness, and intuition.
The hackers who made possible a universal electoral register for the Catalan referendum
VilaWeb interviewed one of the IT experts who created, at breakneck speed, the program allowing voters to dodge Spanish repression.
No other choice but to unite: An interview with Victor Dreke
Victor Dreke is a former colonel of Cuba’s Revolutionary Armed Forces who fought alongside Che Guevara during the Cuban revolution’s decisive battle of Santa Clara.
The Mexican earthquakes in perspective
Mexico suffered two powerful earthquakes in September 2107. The first, with magnitude 8.2 took place on September 7. With its epicenter off the Pacific coast of southern Mexico, it caused damage mainly in the states of Chiapas and Oaxaca. The second took place on September 19 and had a magnitude of 7.1, with its epicenter […]
Bolivia begins tribute to Che on 50th anniversary of death
On Wednesday, the country came alive preparing for the numerous forums, debates, and artistic and musical exhibitions in memory of Che Guevara.
The world must stand with Catalonia
In the face of Spanish authoritarianism, Catalonia deserves our solidarity and support.
Wind of changes is blowing in Catalonia
Everyone could sense in the air that this Sunday was going to be a great day for the Catalan people and for the peoples of the world who fight for the right to self-determination.
Soft shell, hard core: on the 150th anniversary of the publication of Karl Marx’s Capital, Vol. 1
In bourgeois economic theory, competition, commodity production, profit seeking, and growth express something like the human essence. They are ahistorical constants, not the results of specifically capitalist relations that have historically emerged and can therefore be overcome. This is exactly what makes Marx’s critique of economics highly topical.
Animal liberation, human liberation
The Left must endeavor to make visible the political valence of meat, let alone other industrial uses of animals. This act of acute empathy reveals the extent of one’s political imagination.
