Fresh audio product
Just added to my radio archive (click on date for link): October 7, 2021 Nancy MacLean, author of this paper, on how Milton Friedman’s war on public education fit nicely with Southern massive resistance to desegregation • Klaus Jacob, a geophysicist, on how we can live with rising seas and heavier rains
Fresh audio product
Just added to my radio archive (click on date for link): June 25, 2020 Nikhil Pal Singh on race, class, policing, protest • Michael Kinnucan of Brooklyn DSA’s electoral committee on left victories in the NYC primary elections
Fresh audio product
Just added to my radio archive (click on date for link): January 18, 2018 Sandra Cuffe on Honduras after a stolen election and waves of official violence • Alexander Main on U.S. policy towards Latin America under Trump • Janet Capron, author of Blue Money, on drugs and prostitution (without regret) in 1970s NYC
Fresh audio product
Just added to my radio archive (click on date for link): January 11, 2018 Kaveh Ehsani on the reasons behind the protests in Iran • Franklin Zimring, author of The City That Became Safe, on the reasons behind the record-breaking decline in crime in NYC
Fitchian reflections on today’s news
This is my introduction for Ruthie Gilmore, who gave the third Robert Fitch memorial lecture at LaGuardia Community College in Queens on May 6, 2014. Many thanks to Karen Miller and her colleagues at LaGuardia for organizing the series. It’s always refreshing to visit LaGuardia College, where the buildings are named after letters. I went to a college where the buildings are named after slavers, financiers, and reactionary politicians. I’m very glad to be introducing the Third Robert Fitch Memorial Lecture. When I gave the first two years ago, I was worried… Read More
Bill de Blasio’s continuing evolution
I’ve been a little distracted the last few days so I’m only catching up with the news that Bill de Blasio named Anthony Shorris as first deputy mayor. The Daily News described him as “a seasoned city government hand and veteran troubleshooter,” which is certainly one angle. Another would be this: he worked in a couple of finance posts for Ed Koch, for Joel Klein at Bloomberg’s Board of Ed, and is now Vice Dean, Senior Vice President and Chief of Staff of the NYU Langone Medical Center and board member of… Read More
Fresh audio product
Just added to my radio archives: August 22, 2013 Darius Charney of the Center for Constitutional Rights on the NYPD’s odious stop & frisk strategy • Philip Mirowski, author of Never Let A Serious Crisis Go To Waste, on the durable ideology of neoliberalism
Explaining what goes on in the world: in memory of Bob Fitch
[This is the text of a talk I gave at LaGuardia College, Long Island City, Queens, in memory of Bob Fitch, who died on March 4, 2011, from complications of a fall he suffered when returning home from teaching at LaGuardia. My short remembrance, written for The Nation, is here. Thanks to Jane LaTour for the two photos of Bob reproduced here. Video by Prudence Katze and Will Lehman is here.] I want to start by saying how honored I am to be giving this, the first Bob Fitch memorial lecture. I dearly hope there will… Read More
Austerity & bankers’ coups: the NYC precedent
With the displacement of Greece’s elected government by Eurocrats acting in the interest of the country’s creditors, I thought this would be a good time to reprise the section of my 1997 book Wall Street that covers the New York City fiscal crisis of 1975, which was something of a dress rehearsal for the neoliberal austerity agenda that would go global in the 1980s. Certain celebrity academics are constantly cited for making this argument, but I was there first. You can download Wall Street for free by clicking here: Wall Street. This chapter, and this book, has… Read More
NYC: more unequal than Brazil
The New York City Independent Budget Office is just out with an analysis (pdf )of income distribution in the city. It’s no surprise that it’s very unequal. The surprise is that it’s far more unequal than Brazil’s. Full details are available in the letter—which was in response to a request from City Council member James Oddo—but here are some highlights: The poorest tenth (decile) of the city’s population has an average income of $988, and claim 0.1% of the city’s total income. Since the source of this data is tax returns, the very… Read More
Sucky demo in NYC
This morning, New York City joined many other localities around the USA in mounting demonstrations in support of the Wisconsin workers. It was nothing like Madison, let me tell you. As I noted in one of my reports from Madison last week: A New Yorker couldn’t help but be struck by how there was no effort to keep people out of the Capitol—no metal detectors, no police lines, in fact only a handful of cops inside the building. Indeed, in New York City you can’t even get near City Hall any longer,… Read More
No money?
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), which runs the transit operations in and around New York City, is facing a budget shortfall of around $400 million. There are likely to be deep cuts to subway and bus service in New York City. There is, of course, “no money” to deal with the problem. Actually, that depends on what your definition of “no” is. The mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg, who also happens to be the city’s richest resident, could comfortably write a check to solve the problem. Forbes estimates his net worth at… Read More
LBO News from Doug Henwood 