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 Progressivefor 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
 |
Views Monday, March 29, 2021 Neoliberalism Is a Killer The presidents who control more than 90 percent of the world's nuclear arsenal had a bit of a spat the other day. Though the exchange ended indecisively it serve to highlight important moral issues in both foreign and domestic policy. In an interview with ABC 's George Stephanopoulos, President Joe... Read more |
 |
Views Monday, March 22, 2021 An Open Letter to Joe Manchin: Care About Workers, Not Inflation Dear Senator Manchin, Corporate media now portray you as on of the most powerful politicians in DC. Hard bargaining on the amount and length of unemployment insurance chopped 100 dollars a week off the compensation workers will receive. This compromise, which you defended on the grounds it would... Read more |
 |
Views Monday, March 08, 2021 Making the Covid Vaccine Less Accessible to Poorer Countries Is Dangerous for Everyone Our commercial media have followed the ups and downs of the vaccine roll out in the United States even as much less attention is devoted to the experience of poor nations. Pundits and TV anchors periodically acknowledge that lethal viruses don't respect borders but seldom discuss the political and... Read more |
 |
Views Monday, March 01, 2021 Opponents of a $15 Minimum Wage Are Dead Wrong Conservatives in both political parties want citizens to believe opposition to an increase in the minimum wage is a simple matter of supply and demand economics. If government regulators increase the price of hamburgers, consumers will buy less hamburger. Increase the price (wages) of labor and... Read more |
 |
Views Wednesday, February 10, 2021 GameStop Fiasco Proves We Need a Financial Transaction Tax It would be unfair to suggest that the titans of Wall Street are oblivious to poverty. One of their central themes is the role that financial literacy can play in teaching citizens how wealth is acquired and maintained. In their worldview saving and investing in the stock market from an early age... Read more |
 |
Views Monday, December 21, 2020 This Last-Minute Congress Stimulus Package Is Terrorism by Austerity 900 billion dollars is a big amount, Apparently one trillion is a whole order of magnitude greater. Or at least the number is so terrifying that politicians bend heaven and earth to avoid being connected with trillion dollar expenditures. And this allergic reaction is bipartisan. In the early... Read more |
 |
Views Wednesday, December 09, 2020 Where’s the Second Relief Act? The US Safety Net Is Working, but There Are Capitalists Who Don’t Want It To Why can’t our political leaders learn to live with success? In an era marked by cynicism about politics, both parties managed to enact an initial COVID-19 relief package that if anything exceeded expectations. Last June Jason DeParle , summarized academic research on this act by quoting Columbia... Read more |
 |
Views Wednesday, December 02, 2020 Why Do We Wage Decades-Long Futile Wars in the Middle East but Refuse to Declare War on the Looming Climate Crisis? The United States is engaged in forever hot wars. The war in Afghanistan now nears the end of its second decade. Why US history is so saturated—some would say polluted—by war has recently become an object of both academic and activist interest. University of Hawaii at Manoa International Relations... Read more |
 |
Views Monday, November 02, 2020 Whoever Wins the Election Will Face Severe Eviction Crisis, as 30 Million Brace for Homelessness Whoever wins Tuesday’s election is virtually certain to be confronted by a severe foreclosure and eviction crisis as state and local governments face acute budget shortfalls. These crises interact with each other and in ways that intensify the economic damage they inflict. The harm is also... Read more |
 |
Views Monday, October 12, 2020 Ask Amy Coney Barrett If Bosses Should Be Free to Fire Workers at Will What is at stake in the battle over the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett? For most commentators the immediate answer is women’s control over their reproductive health and maintenance of the affordable care act. That is surely true, but excessive focus on those issues can obscure consideration of... Read more |