34justice

  • Friedrichs and Bain Explained

    California public school teachers working in traditional school districts are by default members of their local teachers associations, which may be affiliates of either the California Teachers Association (CTA), which is the state branch of the National Education Association (NEA), or the California Federation of Teachers (CFT), the state branch…

  • What’s Wrong with the Democratic Party

    Two things that happened this week illustrate much of what’s wrong with the Democratic party. First, Hillary Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon doubled down on Clinton’s commitment, voiced at the last Democratic debate, to avoid any tax increases at all on the “middle class.”  Second, the Service Employees International Union…

  • Hillary Clinton’s Less than Stellar Record on Trade

    In this post, Part 4 in a series on Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Emilio da Costa describes Clinton’s record on international trade and business issues. Emilio, who holds a master’s degree in City and Regional Planning from Berkeley and a bachelor’s degree in Urban Studies from Stanford, can be…

  • Digging Deeper Into Democratic Donors

    After I argued that labor unions should endorse Bernie Sanders about a month ago, a Hillary Clinton supporter complained on Twitter about this section of my article: The following meme, describing cumulative donations the candidates have received over the past thirty years, is illustrative: She voiced two criticisms of the…

  • The Truth About School Funding

    Dmitri Mehlhorn, co-founder of StudentsFirst, wrote an article a few weeks ago about school funding titled, “How Money is Spent Matters.”  That statement is obviously true; who could disagree with it? Unfortunately, the article’s actual argument – that “America’s schools are not underfunded” – is completely false.  This post corrects…

  • What It Means to be Tough on Wall Street

    I nearly spit out the hard apple cider I was drinking when I heard the following exchange during the first Democratic presidential debate: Anderson Cooper: Senator Sanders wants to break up the big Wall Street banks. You don’t. You say charge the banks more, continue to monitor them. Why is…

  • Obama, Hillary, and Imperialism: Drones, Coups, Arms Deals, and Human Rights

    In this post, Part 3 in a series on Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Emilio da Costa describes actions taken by President Barack Obama and Clinton (in her roles as Secretary of State and Senator) in the realms of civil liberties and foreign policy. Emilio, who holds a master’s degree…

  • Big Pharma: Don’t Hate the Player, Hate the Game

    Martin Shkreli is a man I admire in an odd sort of way. The recent controversy involving Mr. Shkreli and his price hike of the toxoplasmosis drug, Daraprim, seems to have caused misguided furor towards the 32-year-old CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals. He may epitomize a major problem with the pharmaceutical…

  • Organized Labor Should Endorse Bernie Sanders

    The National Education Association (the union to which I used to belong) is considering an early endorsement of Hillary Clinton.  This decision, like the American Federation of Teachers’ endorsement of Clinton on July 11, would be a huge mistake. One reason is that it would violate members’ trust.  As Peter…

  • Candidates Routinely Threaten Wall Street, Follow Through with Little More than a Stern Scolding

    In this post, Part 2 in a series on Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Emilio da Costa documents some of the actions that President Barack Obama has taken in the interests of the very wealthy. Emilio, who holds a master’s degree in City and Regional Planning from Berkeley and a…