Blog
Richard Trumka took the hard road from working in the coal mines to heading the United Mine Workers and becoming president of the AFL-CIO. He was the voice of organized and unorganized labor all over the country. A constant reader of labor history and social justice books, he knew full well about the burgeoning damage…
By Ralph Nader July 30, 2021 As the size and severity of the corporate crime wave surges, Congress is asleep at the switch. The mostly captive Capitol Hill Gang has sat on an antiquated federal criminal code, starved the budget of regulatory health, safety, and consumer/labor protection agencies, and let corporate crooks routinely get away…
By Ralph Nader July 23, 2021 Jeff Bezos touched down after his 10 minutes, 10 second vertical 66 mile zoom above Earth. He felt so on top of the Earth that he agreed to one-on-one interviews with a gaggle of salivating reporters. Looking over a list of their names, he spotted journalist Greg Galaxy and…
By Ralph Nader July 16, 2021 Kicking life-saving solutions endlessly down the road is the mark of the brutish power of the corporations over the innocents. Fifty years ago, medical research warned about the overuse of antibiotics creating mutations of resistant bacterium, making these drugs less effective. Dr. Sidney Wolfe warned about this criminal negligence…
By Ralph Nader July 9, 2021 The First Amendment to our Constitution declares that Congress cannot abridge the right of the people “…to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” Unfortunately, this vital tool of our democracy is easily circumvented by Congress simply not responding whatsoever to “petitions” by the citizenry. This government undermining…
By Ralph Nader July 2, 2021 1. Honor Thy Label: Dr. Bronner’s Unconventional Journey to a Clean, Green, and Ethical Supply Chain by Gero Leson. Dr. Leson, Bronner’s vice president, tells the inside story of pioneering efforts for “building and scaling” ethical production, cooperating with suppliers in Sri Lanka, Ghana, India, Palestine, and beyond, and…
Ralph Nader June 25, 2021 Open letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Leader Senator Chuck Schumer: Readers of the Washington Post this past Sunday, many of whom work at least a 40-hour week with short vacations, were informed by reporter Paul Kane about the large number of recess days the Senate and the House are…
By Ralph Nader June 18, 2021 Back in the mid-nineteen-fifties, the prolific, progressive political economist, Harvard’s John Kenneth Galbraith, developed his “theory of countervailing powers.” He asserted as big business got bigger, its overreach would be constrained by strong labor unions, regulators, and antitrust enforcement. Inside the realm of large companies, big retail chains could…
By Ralph Nader June 11, 2021 Connecting the civic community with the mainstream media is no minor endeavor. Historically, this connection has been essential to a functioning democracy. The citizenry is the taproot of democracy and a key source for journalists’ declared function of informing the people. My efforts on this front have been threefold.…
By Ralph Nader June 4, 2021 Who hasn’t had difficulty just getting through the multi-layered, often automated call center of your telephone company? Never mind getting a solution to your problem in due time. I’d like to share with you our experience with Verizon. We have a simple residential landline with no bells and whistles.…