Tag Archives: capitalism

Wealth tax: How else correct the plunge to oligarchy?

A recent New York Times story on Senator Warren’s proposed tax on the very wealthy notes that polls show it to be a popular idea among those it is intended to benefit. But some economists worry that a 2% tax on family wealth over $50 million(or 3% over $100 million) will remove incentives for growth. […]

October 12, 2019 – 11:30 am | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Crazy poor Americans

Can we talk about “Crazy Rich Asians”? We crazy, poor Americans are turning out in crazy numbers to see this movie, whose exotic opulence transcends its cliched romantic comedy plot. The movie seems fresh, not just in its all-Asian cast, but in widening our continent-locked, monolinguistic diversity horizon. The plot takes us to Singapore, where […]

September 13, 2018 – 10:52 am | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Roger Goodell signs on for another five years at $40 million a year.

Can someone explain why the NFL needs to pay him all that money? It’s not as if he were a worldclass athlete indispensable to fan pleasure. He doesn’t even seem to have been doing such a terrific job of presiding over the inherent contradictions of this inherently violent sport (let alone Inflategate). But even if […]

December 7, 2017 – 10:54 am | By Brent | Posted in Posts | Tagged , | Comments (0)

The importance of distinguishing between two kinds of work

Were any glasses raised on Labor Day to toast workers or work? It seems to me that the holiday is about work in name only and mostly about the end of summer. Robert Frost wrote a poem about two different sorts of labor: labor to make money vs. labor of love. It depicts the poet […]

October 16, 2017 – 12:40 pm | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Trump as capitalist-in-chief

Opponents often see what they consider Trump’s ill fit for the presidency in terms of psychological sickness. Some imagine that, suffering from such dire-sounding conditions as “narcissistic personality disorder” or “attention deficit disorder” or maybe a version of Asbergers, (and what about those symptoms of dictator envy), he may not last long in the job. […]

July 4, 2017 – 3:22 pm | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Capitalism: burning down the house to roast a pig.

Inequality, one of capitalism’s chief products, has become in recent years the elephant in the room. But capitalism is the room itself and tends to be invisible. Largely thanks to Bernie Sanders and the undemonizing of “democratic socialism,” that may be changing. Capitalism reminds me of Charles Lamb’s apocryphal story about the discovery of roast […]

November 11, 2016 – 12:28 pm | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged | Comments (0)

JUNKING JUNK MAIL?

In a world with so many big and possibly insoluble problems (cancer, climate, income inequality, religion), this seems a little thing. But it has the advantage of seeming doable, and probably has a connection to the big things. I hereby nominate junk mail reform for my short list of no-brainer improvements in the quality of […]

February 2, 2015 – 2:25 pm | By Brent | Posted in Posts | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

The Christmas revolution

It’s the best of times, it’s the worst of times. That paraphrase from that other Dickens novel pretty much sums up Christmastime. Christmas is full of contradictions, contrasts, conflict: some of the most dismal weather of the year vs. the demand to be jolly. The darkest month, the holiday lights. Death of the year but […]

December 24, 2014 – 2:48 pm | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Black Friday eating the Thanksgiving turkey

Forget about “The dingo ate your baby.” Black Friday is eating your Thanksgiving turkey. Thanksgiving has always had an unhealthy (and lord knows unsustainable) emphasis on consumption. But there has always been, along with the gobbling, a shot at some creative ritual, an element of mindfulness, rising to the occasion with heartfelt toasts. Sure, the […]

November 29, 2014 – 9:03 am | By Brent | Posted in Posts | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Ken Burns’ America: is there another one?

I assume a lot of us spent a lot of the evenings of last week watching Ken Burns’ latest American saga, “The Roosevelts.” By linking Teddy Roosevelt with his relatives Eleanor and FDR, “The Roosevelts” tells a story of our country covering more than a century— a lot more, if you think of us as […]

September 25, 2014 – 2:33 pm | By Brent | Posted in Posts | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)