AltWeeklies Wire
How Washington Could Shape the Future Coming Out of the Meltdownnew
Let's talk about reform, and your money, and what government should do now that there is a genuine, world-class financial crisis.
How McCain's Economic Advisor, and Bill Clinton's, Screwed the Economynew
What we're experiencing is not just one of those occasional stock market swoons or interest-rate tangos. What's going on now is a calamity of the sort not seen since the dark days of 1929.
Big Oil Dominates the GOP, Especially in Palin's Alaskanew
The longer we discuss Sarah Palin's uterus, the more likely it is that American politics will remain distracted from the central issue of this election: whether the lords of oil will continue to control the United States as surely as they control Alaska.
Artvoice |
Bruce Fisher |
09-15-2008 |
Commentary
The Republic of Oldistan: How Age, Depopulation and Local Politics Will Shape 2008new
Demography should be destiny -- but Oldistan has time and again voted against its own economic interests. Oldistan won't get a policy prescription that preserves communities unless Oldistan votes for it. But there is hope.
Artvoice |
Bruce Fisher |
09-08-2008 |
Commentary
Election '08: The Sour Politics of Declinenew
Fear worked for Reagan, Bush I and Bush II, and McCain is singing the same song. Hope worked for Clinton. Hope, plus good manners and a green version of economic nationalism, could be the formula for Obama to turn the Democrats that Jack Kemp and Ronald Reagan lured away back into Democrats.
Artvoice |
Bruce Fisher |
08-18-2008 |
Commentary
Read 'Bad Money' and Weepnew
After reading the new book by Kevin Phillips, a painful realization dawns: Not one of the people running for president is addressing how interconnected and serious America's economic, ecological, and security problems are. Worse, the bankers and hedge-fund speculators who created the credit crisis are financing the campaigns of Democrats -- the only politicians likely ever to rein them in.
Artvoice |
Bruce Fisher |
05-16-2008 |
Nonfiction
The Oil Crossroads: Gold for Highways, Pennies for Public Transportationnew
Growth will only come to a city near you if the federal government is led by somebody who connects the climate-change dots with the oil dots and the public-transportation dots.
Artvoice |
Bruce Fisher |
05-16-2008 |
Environment
Old Networks vs. New in the Democratic Primarynew
We used to call them Reagan Democrats. Nowadays the national media have taken to calling them the "white working class." In the South, they're called Bubba. In 2008, they are the key to victory.
Our Presidential Candidates Won't Talk About the Death of Cities -- Will Our Governors?new
Americans tend to believe that sprawl is a natural consequence of "free market" forces when, in fact, it is a consequence of governmental decision-making. Alas, the people who would lead our national government are not addressing sprawl. That means that the long-avoided discussions America ought to have on race, climate change, energy, highway construction, and agriculture will all continue to lack a certain element of reality.
Artvoice |
Bruce Fisher |
04-25-2008 |
Housing & Development
How Class Caricatures Could Blow it for the Democratsnew
Democrats have a problem explaining progressive economic policies when they've been successfully caricatured as cultural elitists and snobs who sneer at the tastes, faith, gender roles, and economic aspirations of working people. Thus the unfortunate vulnerability of Barack Obama.
Artvoice |
Bruce Fisher |
04-18-2008 |
Commentary
Election '08: Catholic Identity Politicsnew
Delegates don't matter. Money doesn't matter. Reverend Jeremiah Wright's statements about AIDS as a US government conspiracy to kill blacks, and about American perfidy at home and abroad, may have doomed Senator Barack Obama's candidacy for president -- because millions of traditional Democratic voters don't want to be blamed for old wrongs.
Artvoice |
Bruce Fisher |
03-28-2008 |
Commentary
Election '08: The Muddled Candidatesnew
Presidential candidates are very good at posturing bravely on race, religion and endorsements. There is a curious silence, however, on the issue of the financial future of the country.
Artvoice |
Bruce Fisher |
03-21-2008 |
Commentary
The Clock is Ticking on Great Lakes Cleanupnew
John Austin of the Brookings Institution says that if the government spends $26 billion cleaning up the Great Lakes, the economic benefit to America will be $80 to $100 billion. Will the next president step up?
Artvoice |
Bruce Fisher |
03-14-2008 |
Environment
McCain Goes North On Usnew
Trying to sound presidential and court that elusive Canadian voter, the Republican candidate scolds Obama on NAFTA.
Artvoice |
Bruce Fisher |
03-07-2008 |
Commentary
Election '08: He Said, She Said ... And Who Else Said?new
I doubt that the Clinton-Obama fight over footnotes will work as it did 20 years ago, when quotations-without-attribution turned into accusations of plagiarism and ended Joe Biden's presidential candidacy.
