Dawn Allen is a freelance writer and editor who is passionate about sustainability, political economy, gardening, traditional craftwork, and simple living. She and her husband are currently renovating a rural homestead in southeastern Michigan.
Like any other tool, debt can helpful or harmful to people and the society they live in. It all depends upon how it’s used. Unfortunately, it’s becoming a weapon of mass impoverishment for our youth and working class.
Intelligence is gathering lots of useful data. Wisdom is employing a firm that can keep it confidential. Last week’s GOP data breach by their contractor, Deep Root Analytics, shows both: a frighteningly intrusive data set containing highly personal information about the vast majority of registered American voters, combined with a shocking lack of responsibility on the part of the Party of Personal Responsibility.
Donald Trump’s son Eric made news recently by stating during an interview with Hannity that to him, the Democrats resisting his father’s agenda are not even people. In this divisive political climate, dehumanizing the Other is dangerous.
The march of progress seems inevitable, doesn’t it? Everybody knows that driverless cars are coming, and that we should prepare ourselves to accept and work with (or around) this eventuality. Companies are making investments in new technology, while politicians shift laws around to accommodate the industry. The question that few people seem to be asking is whether or not driverless cars are a good idea, and fewer still are questioning whether we really need them.
A few recent news stories have a commonality that may not be immediately apparent. What thread connects Obama’s fiduciary rule, workplace safety, and Donald Trump’s friend Thomas Barrack? They’re all examples of how the moral justification of capitalism has failed to live up to its promise.
Last week the House Committee on Natural Resources Subcommittee on Federal Lands heard testimony from four expert witnesses regarding ways that Congress could shape policy for our national forests. If you don’t watch Congressional subcommittee meetings on YouTube for fun, you’re missing out on seeing the sausage grinder of law formation in action.
United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a memo to all U.S. attorneys and heads of the Justice Department last week that effectively ends settlement donations to third parties.
Whole Foods Market is facing hard times. Once the darling of both sustainability advocates and Wall Street, Whole Foods is no longer the unstoppable force of years past. The beleaguered grocer was recently the target of an activist shareholder takeover, and also faces legal, social, and systemic hurdles.
Capitalism gave us all the toys we could want, for those with money. But it also gave us overwork, stress, and inequality. Is this what winning looks like?
Despite the increased demand for healthcare, the American educational system isn’t responding by producing many more doctors. The American Association of Medical Colleges expects that in 2025, we’ll be about 46,000 to 90,000 doctors short of where we need to be. That means we’ll have to look into how to make more doctors to fill the physician shortage, or, alternatively, how to need fewer doctors in the first place.