|
Written by Nikhil Kothegal
|
|
Monday, 12 July 2010 |
 For over a year, President Obama and Congressional Democrats have been threatening to “terrorize” the financial sector by creating new stipulations that would redefine how it operates. However, despite the Democrats’ attempts to claim otherwise, the finance reform bill passed by the Senate on May 20th leaves a number of loopholes open for Wall Street Banks to continue their shady lending behaviors and speculative schemes – the same kind of speculation that led to the financial meltdown in the first place. |
|
|
Written by Tom Trottier
|
|
Wednesday, 07 July 2010 |
 New York Governor Patterson was trying to get the state work force to accept a one-day-per-week furlough. This would have meant a 20% cut in pay! The unions went to court and the furlough plan was stopped. Now, Patterson threatens 10,000 state workers with lay-offs on January 1, 2011. This is on top of many education and service cuts. The Metropolitan Transit Authority is laying off 475 station agents and plans to lay-off 500 subway conductors and bus drivers. Many local governments in NY State are also making deep cuts. |
|
|
Written by Socialist Appeal
|
|
Tuesday, 06 July 2010 |
|
A recent Pew Research Center poll, arguably by the most respected polling company in the country, asked over 1,500 randomly selected Americans to describe their reactions to terms such as “capitalism” and “socialism.” Pew summarized the results of the poll with the title: “Socialism not so negative; capitalism not so positive.” |
|
|
Written by Socialist Appeal
|
|
Wednesday, 09 June 2010 |
 This document was drafted in the Spring of 2010, and discussed, amended, and approved at the May 2010 National Congress of the WIL. If you agree with these perspectives, or would like to discuss them further, please contact us to learn more about joining the WIL, and consider making a donation to our Fighting Fund to help us bring these ideas more widely into the Labor Movement. |
|
|
Written by Joshua Purcell
|
|
Wednesday, 05 May 2010 |
|
In March, the Texas State Board of Education (TSBE) passed decisions that could adversely impact the quality of education not only in the state of Texas, but across the country. One of the more controversial decisions approved in the March meeting was the removal of mention of the late Archbishop of San Salvador, Oscar Romero, from textbooks used in the state...Less understandable is the partial removal of one of the Founding Fathers of the U.S., Thomas Jefferson, who was removed from a section on world history focusing on figures who inspired revolution. In order to understand why this action was taken, the TSBE’s political perspective and hypocrisy needs to be identified and understood. |
|
|
Written by Socialist Appeal
|
|
Monday, 03 May 2010 |
 A recent New York Times/CBS Poll presents interesting findings for those interested in the demographics and opinions represented by the so-called “Tea Partiers.” The poll finds support for the Tea Party at just 18%, much lower than the 27% reported in earlier polls. They also added a second and far more relevant category, “Tea Party activist,” for those who have actively done something to “build the movement.” They found that just 4% have actually attended rallies, donated money, etc., which is hardly the “grass roots rising tide” that has been presented in the media. |
|
|
Written by Michael Perez Hureaux
|
|
Tuesday, 06 April 2010 |
|
 United States Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has openly declared that the massive trauma, dislocation and death suffered by thousands of people in the City of New Orleans, when that city was stricken by Hurricane Katrina five years ago, was “the best thing to happen to the education system in New Orleans.” The devastating event “woke up the community and helped it discover that it had to do better.”
...For many working people, it will be difficult to accept that the man placed in oversight of national public education policy by President Barack Obama has so openly displayed such an insensitive philosophy. But Arne Duncan has a long track record of callous behavior. |
|
|
Written by Greater Pittsburgh Branch of the WIL
|
|
Tuesday, 06 April 2010 |
 On the rainy afternoon of Sunday, March 28, between 15 and 20 workers and students piled into a small meeting room just off the University of Pittsburgh's main campus to hear the Workers International League put forth its perspective on why workers in the U.S. need a mass party of Labor based on the trade unions, and why such a party needs to be based on a socialist program. With three short introductions to the topic and a very detailed question and answer session, the attendees we spoke to said they got a lot out of the event, and many expressed enthusiasm in the Pittsburgh Branch's next public meeting. |
|
|
Written by Karl Belin
|
|
Monday, 29 March 2010 |
|
Braddock, PA, a tiny suburb of Pittsburgh. A rotting mausoleum for the region’s once-great industrial splendor. Now a struggling town without one of its most important lifelines – the hospital which served the community for over 100 years. |
|
|
Written by Mark Rahman
|
|
Tuesday, 23 March 2010 |
 A record number of Americans are without health coverage of any kind, and yet, the five biggest health insurance companies officially marked their highest ever profits in 2009. United Health Group Inc., Well Point Inc., Aetna Inc., Humana Inc., and Cigna Corp., have managed to squeeze $12.2 billion in profits out of their customers, up $4.4 billion from 2008, making 2009 the most profitable year ever for big insurance. |
|
|
National 
