John Buell
John Buell has a PhD in political science, taught for 10 years at College of the Atlantic, and was an Associate Editor of The Progressive for ten years. He lives in Southwest Harbor, Maine and writes on labor and environmental issues. His most recent book, published by Palgrave in August 2011, is "Politics, Religion, and Culture in an Anxious Age." He may be reached at jbuell@acadia.net
Articles by this author
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Views Monday, June 29, 2020 Amid Pandemic and BLM Protests, Why Minimum Wage Must be Defended and Expanded You can’t fault them for lack of effort. Having lost a series of political, legislative, and legal battles to defeat minimum wage increases in cities and states all across the nation, business lobbies are turning to an innovative strategy.. Covid-19 leaves businesses so burdened as to be unable to... Read more |
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Views Tuesday, May 26, 2020 Is Mitch McConnell Blocking State Aid to Enrich Vulture Funds and Bolster Corporate Control of the Economy? Has the Senate Majority Leader lost his faith in the wisdom and predictability of markets? Crude partisanship may underlie his reluctance to enact further Covid Depression relief assistance, but the reason given was extraordinary. The Senator professed a desire to wait for the effects of the first... Read more |
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Views Tuesday, May 12, 2020 The Trump Depression Could Be Worse Than the Great Depression Friday May 8 unemployment statistics were as dire as many had expected. The US Department of Labor released an unemployment rate for April of 14.7%, the worst since the Great Depression and far surpassing the worst days of the Great Recession. In light of these numbers it is not surprising that... Read more |
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Views Thursday, April 16, 2020 Ventilators: Even Equal Access Leaves Vital Questions As the bodies in New York City, the world’s media and financial capital, accumulate it is understandable that physicians, nurses, and medical technicians would strive to do all in their power to close the wound. Nonetheless these very pressures can lead healers to take dangerous risks and—worse yet... Read more |
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Views Monday, March 30, 2020 Corporate Media Ignores How Privatization of US Hospitals Explains Lack of Beds, Ventilators The escalating total Covid 19 deaths in New York City and the frantic quest to obtain life saving medical gear has rightly captured media attention. New York governor Andrew Cuomo’s impassioned plea for more federal assistance and a need-based system for allocating aid among the states was covered... Read more |
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Views Sunday, March 22, 2020 Why Americans Should Stop Talking About 'China Flu' and Learn From China There is an old saying that politics stops at the water's edge. Never really true, it is even less appropriate today. Domestic politics and international relations interact with each other, often in subtle or unseen ways to the detriment of us all. President Trump’s insistence on calling the virus... Read more |
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Views Wednesday, March 18, 2020 Disaster Capitalism and the Real Culprit in the Italian Covid-19 Catastrophe Canadian author and activist Naomi Klein worries that the Coronavirus pandemic will provide another opportunity for neoliberal elites to impose more of their right wing agenda on a citizenry scared and confused by this mysterious and dangerous disease. Klein of course is expanding on her award... Read more |
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Views Monday, March 09, 2020 Will the Establishment's Neoliberal Model of Drug Profiteering Finally Kill Us All? Why is there even a question as to whether any Cov19 vaccine or diagnostic test kit should be free? Vaccines and diagnostic tests are essential components of any public health program, not merely conveniences to an isolated individual. When symptomatic patients are tested for a disease,... Read more |
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Views Tuesday, February 25, 2020 Why the Nevada Culinary Workers Revolted Against Their Union Bosses to Support Sanders and Medicare for All In the days leading up to the Nevada Democratic caucus media frequently referred to the “powerful” 60,000 member Culinary Workers Union. In the last quarter century instances when the words powerful and union would be used in the same sentence are all too infrequent. Nonetheless, this union has... Read more |
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Views Wednesday, January 29, 2020 With Bernie Sanders Now a Frontrunner, Corporate Media Smears Him as Trump-ish The corporate media and the political establishment have always loathed Sanders, but this distaste has taken different forms. Sanders supporters would do well not only to scrutinize current opposition strategies but also to be alert to new and dangerous modes of attack. Distaste of Sanders has... Read more |