Reviewed: Land of Promise: An Economic History of The United States, by Michael Lind (Harper, 592 pp., $29.99). America is fickle. Or at least our economic history is. According to Michael Lind, author of Land of Promise, we can’t make up our minds about the role of the federal government in the economy, and the result […]

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The minimum wage was ushered into existence by a Republican Supreme Court Justice switching sides on 
a constitutional test before the Court, much as the Affordable Care Act has been. Justice Owen Roberts was 
a solid vote on Republican Supreme Court that in 1932–34 had dismantled most of FDR’s New Deal legislation. In response, Roosevelt […]

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“Where are the Democrats on the minimum wage? Where’s Pelosi? Where’s George Miller? Where’s Trumka?” Ralph Nader asked me. It was a rhetorical question, another reminder from Nader that Democrats have gone missing on issues the party once owned. As have the institutions that extend the party’s reach; AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka isn’t exactly leading on […]

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Occupy Wall Street is gone from Zuccotti Park and most public spaces, yet the protest movement that came to life last September is still alive, often working in small, focused groups. In May, I contacted Cathy O’Neil, who facilitates one of two OWS Alternative Banking groups that meet weekly in New York. “We just submitted an […]

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Suicide bombings have dominated recent news reports from Iraq, but reporters have paid less attention to explosive political and sectarian forces that threaten to tear the country apart. Since the last U.S. combat troops left Iraq in December, rival members of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s governing coalition have been maneuvering to replace him. Removing a […]

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