Poli Psy: Non-Consumer Confidence
Published May 23, 2008
Marx believed that the edifice of capitalism was built upon misery, and misery would bring the edifice down. To increase productivity and profit, he reasoned, bosses assembled workers in factories. Once there, though, the workers would soon notice that they were all similarly miserable — and that they outnumbered the bosses. The workers would organize [...]
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Poli Psy: “The Right to Be Lazy”
Published August 16, 2007
As you read this, I am on vacation. That’s not something many can say in this country. Only 14 percent of American workers get a paid vacation of two weeks or more. One in three women (including me) and one in four men get no paid time at all. By contrast, every European country guarantees [...]
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Poli Psy: “Call of the Wild”
Published January 31, 2007
It’s thrilling to watch people pulling together against global warming. Fights and fissures lie ahead. But a green Christmas from St. Louis to St. Petersburg has, for this panicked moment, inspired some previously unimaginable alliances. Businesspeople are lying down with regulators, Democrats with Republicans, religious fundamentalists with scientists. Amateur porn stars with Amazon Indians. I [...]
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Poli Psy: “Don’t moderate, celebrate!”
Published December 20, 2006
I heard Reverend Billy preach the other night at Manhattan’s Cooper Union. His red-hot, red-robed Church of Stop Shopping Gospel Choir and Not Buying It Band rocked the Great Hall to its vaulted ceilings, mingling with the echoes of rabble-rousers past, from Fredrick Douglas to Emma Goldman to Hugo Chavez. The evening was entitled “Save [...]