America’s poverty tax
Author Gary Rivlin on the invention of the payday loan, rent-to-own, and a long list of diabolically clever ideas that entrepreneurs have devised to get hundreds-of-millions-of-dollars rich off those with thin wallets.
5 Comments
It’s time for the U.S. to ratify the Law of the Sea
The Law of Sea treaty will enable the U.S. to assert global leadership and navigate an increasingly complex international security environment without relying on its military, writes Joshua Foust.
The uneven playing field of unpaid internships
Joshua Foust asks what it says about our society when access to government jobs is increasingly limited to those applicants who can afford to work for free.
On thought crimes and terror trials
Thought crimes and double standards should not define our fight against jihadist terrorism – sound principles and the rule of law should, writes contributor Joshua Foust.
Memo to NATO: Stay out of Syrian conflict
NATO may talk a big game when it comes to global security, but its ability to affect war and peace outside of Europe is limited, writes contributor Joshua Foust.
Will SCOTUS be found wanting in the court of public opinion?
We can hope that in determining the Affordable Care Act outcome, justices with life tenure will be guided by their proper constitutional role, writes Princeton’s Leslie Gerwin.
A hollow victory: The slow unraveling of Libya
There’s been a months-long string of horrifying stories coming out of Libya that seems to merit mostly shrugs. Joshua Foust asks: What is going on?
When intervention fails
For contributor Joshua Foust, humanitarian interventions are often advocated for and executed with little thought about what the international community will do once they’re over and the messy work of reconciliation and rebuilding begins.
The precarious jobs recovery
Jobs are coming back fast enough to blunt Republican attacks against Obama on the economy, but jobs aren’t coming back fast enough to significantly reduce the nation’s backlog of 10 million jobs, writes Robert Reich.
With Putin’s win, a new chance for reset with Russia
Vladimir Putin’s victory in the Russian presidential election may be disappointing, Joshua Foust writes, but it represents a chance for the U.S. and Russia to start anew.
Stop starving public universities and shrinking the middle class
Most Americans still believe in the ideal of equal opportunity. And most harbor the patriotic notion that we have responsibilities to one another as members of the same society. The two principles lead to an obvious conclusion: America’s richest citizens have a duty to pay more taxes so kids from middle and lower-income families have chance to make it, writes Robert Reich.
The Stratfor files: Much ado about nothing
Much like Cablegate, WikiLeak’s latest data dump will go a long way toward making both the government and the corporations that work with government agencies more secretive and less transparent, writes contributor Joshua Foust.
Lost in space? Cuts to NASA threaten innovation, diplomacy
Cuts to NASA threaten innovation and diplomacy, writes Princeton University’s Janet Vertesi.
Why human rights are not paramount
Contributor Joshua Foust argues that European and U.S. leaders don’t have many options left in their policy arsenal these days when it comes to Central Asia, which explains why human rights don’t and probably shouldn’t take a front seat in foreign policy decision making when it comes to that region.
IT research and the U.S. economy: A long view
As taxpayers consider government spending in the midst of a vitriolic presidential election campaign season, Princeton University’s Margaret Martonosi cautions against reducing investment in science and technology research, which she argues, would hamper our nation’s long-term competitiveness and economic prosperity.
Athens is burning
With a new austerity program that a growing number of economists and technocrats don’t believe will work and a democracy that has been indefinitely suspended, Greece now feels like a labyrinth with all the exits blocked, writes The Nation’s Maria Margaronis.
Need to Know
Follow us
Opinion
