In 2008, an estimated 49 million Americans, or 16% of the total U.S. population, lived in a family household that contained at least two adult generations or a grandparent and at least one other generation. In 1980, this figure was just 28 million, or 12% of the population. This 33% increase since 1980 […]
Geography Archives: Americas
South America, Central America, United States & Canada
On China
Andrew Fischer: The Chinese oversaving, I think, is a false argument. If you say it’s because of Chinese oversaving, what you’re basically implying is that Chinese households save a lot of money because their consumption is being repressed because of industrial policies in China that take money away from households and direct it toward […]
Still Struggling, Still Protesting, Fifty Years after the Sharpeville Massacre
It is amazing that I am now at last again on South African soil, since my previous trip here was in December. I am at home in my soul in a way that is unique for my travels. I am breathing in the salty air from the Indian Ocean, feeling the hot rays of the […]
The Diffusion of Activities
One of the striking features of the recent period has been the diffusion of manufacturing and service activities from the countries of the core to the periphery. The logic of competitive striving for the export market among the many “labour reserve” economies in the periphery leads to the accumulation of ever-growing reserves and a constraint […]
Neo-Liberalism, Secularism, and the Future of the Left in India — A Day-long Conference
Neo-Liberalism, Secularism, and the Future of the Left in India A Day-long Conference Thursday, April 1, 2010, 10 am — 7:30 pm Heyman Center for the Humanities, Second Floor Common Room Keynote speaker: Sitaram Yechury Additional Speakers: Prabhat Patnaik Jayati Ghosh C.P. Chandrasekhar Javeed Alam Discussants: Sanjay Reddy Arjun Jayadev Anwar Shaikh Anush Kapadia […]
Iran-US Standoff
“What is it that they have against Iran? If you look at it, it’s only that Iran is rising as a competitor of Israel. There is no other basis for this animosity.” — Aijaz Ahmad Aijaz Ahmad: The US is running out of all options. You mentioned this possible agreement. Iran has actually agreed […]
Venezuela: Revolution in the Electrical Industry
Workers in the electrical sector are set to embark on nationwide consultation process to elaborate strategic and immediate solutions for the electricity crisis. Alongside proposals for improving the sector and energy-saving measures, discussions will focus on introducing workers’ participation in the management of the state-owned electricity company, Corpoelec. In February this year, Venezuelan President Hugo […]
PIIGS Countries, Being Led to the Slaughter, Should Rethink Euro
As the EU summit meeting convenes, Greece is dominating the agenda much more than Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel had wanted. This week she has thrown cold water on the idea that Germany and other EU countries would take responsibility for helping Greece to roll over some of its debt, handing that job off to the […]
On the Greek Crisis
Jayati Ghosh: What’s happening to Greece is in an interesting way what many developing countries have gone through. It’s really an inability to have independent monetary and fiscal policies, combined with a fact that during the boom it was chosen as a favorite destination, which creates a situation where you then become uncompetitive. Suddenly […]
From Iraq to Iran: Is London Again “Helping” Washington Pursue Regime Change in the Middle East?
There are two countries in the world which are routinely described by American politicians across the political spectrum as having a “special relationship” with the United States — Israel and the United Kingdom. We have all grown more familiar than we probably like to acknowledge with Israel using its channels to Capitol Hill and in […]
Food Crisis before Financial Crisis
What are the consequences of the implementation of neo-liberal economic philosophy for industrialization and development of poor countries? The answer: de-industrialization of many low-income countries; destruction of their food production (influenced also by protectionist agricultural policies of developed countries), thus their heavy dependence on food imports. The boom in commodity prices had improved the […]
The Most Probable Endgame for New Iran Sanctions
The all too predictable dynamics surrounding a potential new Iran sanctions resolution in the United Nations Security Council continue to play out just as we have anticipated. As some commentators are leaping on media stories that one of China’s diplomats took part in a P-5+1 conference call yesterday about a possible resolution, the Wall Street […]
One Massacre Too Many
“. . . a deliberately disproportionate attack designed to punish, humiliate and terrorize a civilian population, radically diminish its local economic capacity both to work and to provide for itself, and to force upon it an ever increasing sense of dependency and vulnerability.” — The Goldstone Report “I can promise you that throughout the war, […]
Israel’s Perspective on Iran: Insights from the AIPAC Conference
Yesterday, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) concluded its annual policy conference in Washington, DC. This year saw the largest-ever turnout for AIPAC’s annual conference, with 7,800 people in attendance, an important percentage of whom were not Jewish but evangelical Protestant Christians. At the climax of the conference, participants deployed to Capitol Hill to […]
Israel and Aid
On July 10, 1996, at a Joint Session of the United States Congress, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received a standing ovation for these words: “With America’s help, Israel has grown to be a powerful, modern state. . . . But I believe there can be no greater tribute to America’s long-standing economic aid to […]
PFLP Salutes Danish Comrades’ Challenge to “Anti-Terrorist” Listings
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine salutes the efforts of the Danish comrades in Opror (Rebellion) and Fighters + Lovers to challenge so-called “anti-terror” laws and defend the right to support national liberation movements. We salute Patrick Mac Manus and all those who struggle around the world in solidarity with the cause of […]
Lula Shouldn’t Buckle to U.S. Pressure on Iran
President Lula da Silva has come under fire from opponents lately for refusing to join the United States’ campaign for increased sanctions against Iran. Washington recently switched from a brief phase of “engagement” with Iran over its nuclear program to the more aggressive posture of threats and confrontation that had been the strategy of the […]
Lula Advocates Unity of Palestinian Groups to Achieve Peace in Middle East
Brasília — Since the beginning of his trip to the Middle East, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has said that the unity of two Palestinian groups Hamas and Fatah is essential to the achievement of peace in the region. Today (17 March 2010), after meeting with President of the Palestinian National Authority Mahmoud […]
Honduras: Students, Trade Unionists, and Teachers March amidst Crisis at UNAH
Tegucigalpa, Honduras — Scores of students, trade unionists, and teachers of the National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH) marched to the National Congress today in protest, due to the current crisis of this university, demanding that it be not closed. The march was composed of a student group from the University Revolutionary Front (FRU), […]
Immigration Update: The Fall of the Great Wall of Boeing
On March 16, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced that she was cutting millions of dollars from SBInet, a high-tech “virtual fence” that Boeing Co. has been developing for use along the U.S. border with Mexico. Her announcement came just two days before the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) was scheduled to issue a […]
