Crumbling American Dreams
Robert Putnam is an important sociologist. He was born in 1941, which makes him a bit too old to be a Baby Boomer, whereas I, born in 1946, am on the leading edge.This past weekend he had a powerful...
View ArticleThe American Dream that Was
All the bloggers and writers of op-ed pieces in newspapers these days are saying what everyone else is saying (and already knows)....high and long-term unemployment for the past 5 years, crappy jobs,...
View ArticleGrading Colleges on Access to the American Dream
To expand access to the American Dream, President Obama announced last week that he intends to grade colleges, just as colleges grade students. The U.S. Department of Education will evaluate the...
View ArticleWho will tell the children?
Who will tell the children that we have allowed the water they need to live to be poisoned by fracking?Who will tell the children that the beaches on which we used to loll and get sun-tanned were wiped...
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Bill Maher Gives His Take On Why So Much Hate (VIDEO)
Bill Maher is onto something. Then again, this something most sociologists know. When people are hurting they either takes it out on their own communities or it manifests itself against some...
View ArticleThe Agitation Cycle: A Letter to DREAMers
How does a washing machine get the dirt and grime out? Agitation. And if things are going to change in this country, if we are going to make this a better place to live, we need to never stop agitating.
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Growing the Pie is good for Everyone -- even Immigrants
Ever go to a Pizza Party, only to find there are not enough "slices" to go around? If only the hosts had order "extra large" Pies, instead of those mediums, then everyone might have gotten a...
View ArticleAlright, my 60-second Elevator Speech ...
I believe that people are basically good, and it's corporations that must be constrained to be.I believe that workers deserve rights, and it's employers who must be encouraged to honor these. I...
View ArticleIt's NOT ... But it can be.
If you haven't seen the HBO Series The Newsroom, you should, in my media-critic opinion.Here's one great reason why -- it's brutal honesty. As shockingly displayed in the Series' very first...
View ArticleExplaining Inequality: The American Dream in Crisis
As an issue, income inequality has largely disappeared from the policy spotlight in recent months. Though once widely discussed, thanks largely to the Occupy Wall Street movement, few Americans are now...
View ArticleWall Street’s worst Nightmare: an Elizabeth Warren stoking our Populist anger
Senator Elizabeth Warren speaks to people in a way that few have in recent years. Senator Warren speaks with conviction and common sense. Senator Warren speaks for our common working class interests,...
View ArticleTwo Americas, Alive and Not So Well, in the Land of Stolen Opportunity
I remember growing up in the Land of Opportunity. All a person had to do was "apply themselves, and then work like hell, to build a better future ..."I haven't felt that way in a long, long time ......
View Article"We waged wars on poverty, not on poor people" -- Back when we WERE...
If you haven't seen the acclaimed HBO Series The Newsroom, you should. It shows how the Corporate Media does occasionally strive for facts, and even on rarer occasions, the truth.Take the idea of...
View Article"The Exquisitely Reengineered Frankenstein Housing Monster," by Wolf Richter
[Note: Wolf Richter has provided written authorization to the diarist to reproduce his posts in their entirety for the benefit of the Daily Kos community.](h/t to Yves at Naked Capitalism)The...
View ArticleFDR's Economic Bill of Rights could be our Democratic Platform every American...
Jessica Levenson's UpWorthy links us to this YouTube video of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt describing his proposed "Second Bill of Rights, aka an Economic Bill of Rights in 1944, just after his...
View ArticleWhat Dubya Did, Frank Bruni Won't Notice, and Dems Should Do
Frank Bruni's column in today's New York Times laments the death of the American Dream -- that this generation will hand off a better world filled with greater opportunity to the next generation. As so...
View ArticleODS, BDS, and letting the real Culprits Escape Unscathed
There's been this 'unifying' theme kicking around in my noggin churning, lately: Obama Derangement Syndrome (ODS).Somehow it is the key to unraveling the political minefield that lies before us, I...
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Dear GOP: Stop Bashing The President (It's For Your Own Good)
Hello, Republican National Committee. My name is Chris L. Robinson and today, as Part 2 of our three-part series on how you can win over the black community (that I know you won’t heed), I want to...
View ArticleSaving the American Dream by Destroying Home Value
The Great Recession plunged untold numbers of former homeowners back into the ranks of those who rent. And as housing prices skyrocket, wages remain largely stagnant, and "lost" good jobs continue to...
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Issues Under Fire: The Great American Rat Race Sponsored by Capitalism
America's Rat Race Sponsored by CapitalismIn what seems to be a never ending quest for the American Dream, we may have overlooked another obvious path many take regularly. Right out of college and...
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