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By Ralph NaderStudents of California, arise, you have nothing to lose but a crushing debt!The corporate state of California, ever ready to seize its ideological and commercial hour during a recession, has a chokehold on California’s public universities. With its tax-coddled plutocracy and a nod to further corporatization, the state government has taken the lid…
1. America Beyond Capitalism by Gar Alperovitz (Democracy Collaborative Press and Dollars and Sense, 2011). If you want to see how community economies are spreading to displace the sales and influence of companies such as Bank of America, ExxonMobil, Aetna, ADM and McDonalds, this is your book. Democratic credit unions, local renewable and efficient energy,…
Dear Mr. CEO, Most airlines treat unused non-refundable tickets with the fine print dictate of monetary confiscation after one year of issuance. That is, if a passenger buys a non-refundable ticket to somewhere and for some reason does not use that ticket to fly on the prescheduled date, she/he has one year to use it,…
Paraphrasing Shakespeare, something is rotten in the state of Capitol Hill. A majority of Congress is just about to put the finishing touches on an amendment to the military budget authorization legislation that will finish off some critical American rights under our Constitution. Here is how two retired 4 star marine generals, Charles C. Krulak…
Our two representatives at the annual Cisco shareholders’ meeting (December 7, 2011) at San Jose, California filed with this report: CEO John Chambers declined to announce any increase in dividends or special dividends. He conditioned any consideration of dividend increases on the Congress and the President approving a tax holiday for the repatriation of Cisco…
The battered national consensus behind a national universal postal service–conceived by Benjamin Franklin–is heading for a free fall due to bad management, corporate barracudas and a bevy of editors and reporters enamored with the supremacy of the Internet which makes up their world. Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe is pursuing a strategy of cutting or delaying…
“Here, look at this handsome L.L. Bean catalog and tell me what you want for Christmas,” said a relative over Thanksgiving weekend. I started leafing through the 88 page cornucopia with hundreds of clothing and household products, garnished by free gift cards and guaranteed free shipping. I wasn’t perusing it for any suggested gifts; instead,…
From New York City to Oakland, and several cities in between, the police, on orders from city officials, have smashed the Occupy encampments and evicted the protesters from public parks and spaces. More politicians from Congress to the state and local level want the Occupy people OUT! Well, why don’t they start letting them into the places…
As the November 23rd deadline approaches for the “super committee” to find $1.2 trillion in deficit cuts over the next 10 years, I am writing to urge the members of the committee to consider options to cut government spending and raise revenue that extend beyond those typically discussed on Capitol Hill and in the media.…
From Oakland, California to New York City, the police, ordered by politicians, have smashed through Occupy encampments. Noted for their rigorous non-violence and orderly arrangements – tents with medical assistance, legal aid, libraries, media relations and sanitation controls – the Occupy protestors are being shoved out of their public places all over the country. The…