Thomas Haines, Biochemist Who Founded the CUNY Medical School, Dies at 90

He overcame a childhood in an orphanage and personal tragedies to found an innovative medical school to affordably educate minority and other disadvantaged students. In 2020, he was recognized for his achievement by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. . . . → Read More: Thomas Haines, Biochemist Who Founded the CUNY Medical School, Dies at 90

True Affirmative Action: Give Those Without Privilege a Fighting Chance to Get Privilege

Among successful people who start from nothing, some take all the credit themselves and despise those left behind. Witness that member of the Horatio Alger Club, Justice Clarence Thomas. Others acknowledge the help they received and devote themselves to giving back. Witness investigative journalist Greg Palast, scourge of vote-suppressing politicians. Witness also my husband, Thomas Haines. . . . → Read More: True Affirmative Action: Give Those Without Privilege a Fighting Chance to Get Privilege

Debt Relief for Whom? Part II

Christopher Leonard explains how Federal Reserve bailouts “went to large corporations that used borrowed money to buy out their competitors; it went to the very richest of Americans who owned the majority of assets; it went to the riskiest of financial speculators on Wall Street, who use borrowed money to build fragile positions in global markets;and it went to the very largest of U.S. banks, whose bigness and inability to fail was now an article of faith.” . . . → Read More: Debt Relief for Whom? Part II

Debt Relief for Whom? Part I

The student debt burden has grown from about $481 billion in 2006 to $1,476 billion in 2022. Just wiping it all out would be unfair, because more than half is owed to relatively-high income professionals. Richard Vague proposes that the federal government should expand an existing program, to allow such students “work off” their debt in public service such as providing health care in under-served areas. READ MORE about Vague’s Debt Jubilee proposals for student debt, medical debt, mortgages that exceed home values, bankruptcy reform, and more on Dollars & Sense. . . . → Read More: Debt Relief for Whom? Part I

The Last Tour Guide to Leave Cuba

Mike in hand, our tour guide stands at the front of the bus. “This will be my last tour,” she announces. “I am not the same person I was six years ago. Then I was hopeful. There was so much work I didn’t have time for a break. Now it’s different. My generation, we feel betrayed. Ten years ago they promised reforms. But nothing changes.” . . . → Read More: The Last Tour Guide to Leave Cuba

Survival of the Richest Turfholders, Not the Fittest Individuals

In any species, occupants of superior habitats enjoy extra food, or better shelter, or better mating opportunities. This reduces survival pressure,allowing many varieties to thrive despite apparently “unfit” features. Only recently have ecologists recognized the impact of inherited wealth in animal societies. . . . → Read More: Survival of the Richest Turfholders, Not the Fittest Individuals

Henry George: Prophet of the Gilded Age

In 1873, Mark Twain published his satirical novel, The Gilded Age, an era magnificently recreated in all its greed, ruthlessness and ostentation in the new HBO series of the same name. Railroads were the hot investment of the day, fueling a frenzy of land speculation. In September of that year, a big New York City bank suddenly went bankrupt. Bank runs began across the country, railroads failed, businesses cut wages and laid off workers. The police beat up unemployed protesters. A young San Francisco journalist, Henry George, struggled to keep his newspaper going and his family fed. Appalled by the suffering he witnessed, he sat down to write a book that would change the world: Progress and Poverty (1879). . . . → Read More: Henry George: Prophet of the Gilded Age

Tom Haines Jay Walks Again

I have reluctantly placed Tom at 305 West End Assisted Living on the locked 6th floor. . . . → Read More: Tom Haines Jay Walks Again

Review of: These Walls Between Us: A Memoir of Friendship Across Race and Class, by Wendy Sanford

I picked up the new book of my college classmate, Wendy Sanford, and immediately found myself plunged into some of the contradictions of my own life. Like me, Wendy came from a wealthy family totally, obliviously, dependent on the “help.” Like me, she grew from taking that arrangement for granted, to a cringing awareness and a confused determination to break the pattern. . . . → Read More: Review of: These Walls Between Us: A Memoir of Friendship Across Race and Class, by Wendy Sanford

The Black-White Wage Gap: How Inequality and Monopoly Amplify Racial Discrimination

Black men’s wages as a percent of White increased rapidly after World War II, only to level off at a bit over 55% after the 1970s. That’s a paradox: If racism causes the Black-White wage gap, how come the gap closed dramatically while Jim Crow laws remained in effect, and then stagnated even as Black education improved and overt racism declined? . . . → Read More: The Black-White Wage Gap: How Inequality and Monopoly Amplify Racial Discrimination