The Free Market That Isn’t

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Mar 9, 2013 “Since 1980, the US government has reduced its intervention in the U economy, which has become much more of a free market" True or false?. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

An Economic Alternative to Exploitative Free Market Capitalism

By Thomas Hedges, Center for Study of Responsive Law Feb 1, 2013 The commons movement protects large resources from privatization and allows collectives to regulate extraction. Exploitation is avoided because no one individual has more of a right to the source than any other. Dig deeper ( 5 Min. Read )

Slavoj Zizek: The Problem Is Capitalism

Staff / Truthdig Apr 25, 2012 The problem facing humanity today -- especially those taking to the streets in protest -- is an economic system that encourages and rewards greed, says the Slovenian philosopher and cultural critic. And leaders who tell us to look elsewhere are merely creating distractions. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Locking Down an American Workforce

By Steve Fraser and Joshua B. Freeman, TomDispatch Apr 20, 2012 Prisoners, whose ranks increasingly consist of those for whom the legitimate economy has found no use, make up a virtual brigade within the reserve army of the unemployed whose ranks have ballooned along with the U.S. incarceration rate. Dig deeper ( 15 Min. Read )

Gated Intellectuals, Fortress America, and the Politics of Occupy

By Henry A. Giroux, Truthout Mar 21, 2012 A group of right-wing extremists would have the American public believe it is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of a market society. Dig deeper ( 14 Min. Read )

‘NOVA’: Mind Over Money

Staff / Truthdig Mar 17, 2012 Groundbreaking research in behavioral economics may pose the greatest academic threat ever to free-market theory, suggesting that emotions linked to brain chemistry -- not rational self-interest -- play a deciding role in how we spend, save and invest.Groundbreaking research in behavioral economics suggests that emotions linked to brain chemistry—not rational self-interest—play a deciding role in how we spend, save and invest. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Youth in Revolt: The Plague of State-Sponsored Violence

By Henry Giroux, Truthout Mar 15, 2012 Young people the world over demonstrating against economic injustice are met with state-sanctioned violence and insults in the mainstream media, rather than informed dialogue, critical engagement and reformed policies. Dig deeper ( 16 Min. Read )

Thomas Frank on ‘Utopian Market Populism’

Staff / Truthdig Dec 29, 2011 “Pity the Billionaire,” the new book by Harper’s Magazine columnist Thomas Frank, surveys the politics of the last three years to determine why the American right survived and thrived after an economic crash caused by a 30-year love affair with the so-called free-market that it procured. Salon speaks to Frank by phone. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

A Peek at Henry A. Giroux’s ‘Education and the Crisis of Public Values’

Staff / Truthdig Oct 1, 2011 "We are more than a nation in decline; we are a nation moving toward the bittersweet simplisms, policies and values of a new form of authoritarianism," writes Henry Giroux, in an article adapted from his new book on America's shift away from democratic values toward a rigid, market-driven uniformity. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )

As Another Crisis Looms, a Case for the Euro and Collective Action

Staff / Truthdig Sep 21, 2011 In the discussion over how to solve Europe's financial crisis, opponents of the euro argue "that it is a monetary straitjacket and that the best reform now would be its breakup." Not so, says Will Hutton, author, columnist and former editor-in-chief of The Observer. (more) Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Nouriel Roubini: Capitalism Must Be Saved From Itself

Staff / Truthdig Aug 15, 2011 Economist and New York University professor Nouriel Roubini explains that globalization, reckless lending and borrowing, and the redirection of income and wealth from industries dependent upon human labor and well-being to those composed mainly of capital (more). Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Romney’s First Plan as President: Nix Obamacare

Staff / Truthdig May 12, 2011 Demonstrating that peculiar Republican penchant for believing that the free market solves all that ails our nation, GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney proclaimed in an Op-Ed on Wednesday that he'd do away with the current president's hard-won health care legislation (more). Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )