Sam Bankman-Fried of FTX at a House hearing in 2021.
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‘Effective Altruism’ Isn’t As Newfangled As It Seems

Times have changed since the days of Carnegie and Rockefeller, but much in philanthropy has remained the same.
President Bill Clinton speaks about the North American Free Trade Agreement at a town hall meeting in 1993.

The Logic of Capitalist Accumulation Explains Neoliberalism

Gary Gerstle’s new book tackles important questions of the last century about democracy, economy, and war. But it fails to answer a basic question.
Man under the starry sky.

Thoreau and the Business of Distraction

Thoreau-themed goods, designed for mindfulness, are the marketplace’s remedies for a problem which, according to Thoreau, was created by the marketplace itself.
Helen Hall (R, front), chair of the Consumers’ National Federation, with a committee at the White House making demands for a "new deal" for consumers, 1938.

“Ethical Consumption” Used to Mean Something More Than Feeling Smug About Your Purchases

A century ago, it was once motivated by the goal of economic reorganization.
Graph of tax rates on top marginal earned income vs. long term capital gains, 1918-2020.

Why Is Wealth White?

In the 20th century, a moral economy of “whites-only” wealth animated federal policies and programs that created the propertied white middle class.
Painting of soldiers on the front.

How They Paid for the War

In World War II, the US had a planned economy. Its principles were similar to MMT.
Men in suits with briefcases walking.

The Myth of the Socially Conscious Corporation

The argument that corporations have historically been a force for good—and can be again—is wishful thinking.
Fall/Winter 1957 Sears catalog page spread of men's work clothes.

Before Folding 30 Years Ago, the Sears Catalog Sold Some Surprising Products

The retail giant’s mail-order business reigned supreme for more than a century, offering everything from quack cures to ready-to-build homes.
Survival of the Richest: Escape Fantasies of the Tech Billionaires

Escape Therapy

Hyperindividualism has infiltrated our economic, social, and political landscape.
Illustrated faces and hands handling birth control pills, money, and a fetus.

The Abortion Pill’s Secret Money Men

The untold story of the private equity investors behind Mifeprex—and their escalating legal battle to cash in post-Dobbs.
Oxford University.

Elite Universities Gave Us Effective Altruism, the Dumbest Idea of the Century

The result has been reactionary, often racist intellectual defenses of inequality.
A plantation worker harvests palm oil fruits in Riau, Indonesia.

The Story of Palm Oil Is a Story About Capitalism

Palm oil is in everything, but it is also enmeshed in global supply chains that rely on brutal working conditions and the destruction of the planet.
An illustration of a family tree that is filled with money.

The Getty Family’s Trust Issues

Heirs to an iconic fortune sought out a wealth manager who would assuage their progressive consciences. Now their dispute is exposing dynastic secrets.
Lillian Gilbreth lecturing at Purdue University.

Recognizing the Humanity of the Worker

Lillian Gilbreth, who died just over fifty years ago, saw that the worker could not be understood as a cog in the machine.
Detail from a Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers graphic, 1877.

America’s Oldest Railway Union Must Break With Its Right-Wing Past

Why does the government have the power to break massive union strikes? Part of the story is a history of conciliatory railway unionism.
Pierce Butler

The Irish Signatory to the US Constitution Who was Also a Slave-Owner

Other emigrants such as Wolfe Tone did not compromise their principles in unfamiliar environments.
The historic campus of the College of William & Mary, drawn ca. 1740 by John Bartram.

William & Mary's Nottoway Quarter: The Political Economy of Institutional Slavery and Settler Colonialism

The school was funded by colonial taxation of tobacco grown by forced labor on colonized Indian lands.
Comedic illustration of wide-eyed Pinkerton execs drinking coffee, as they "never sleep."

The Secret History of The Pinkertons

The hidden story of a 180-year-old union-busting spy agency.
Corporate executives sitting on musicians

Ticketmaster’s Dark History

A 40-year saga of kickbacks, threats, political maneuvering, and the humiliation of Pearl Jam.
1877 political cartoon of a skeleton descending on a railroad, reading "the rioters' railroad to ruin."

Strikers, Octopi, and Visible Hands: The Railroad and American Capitalism

The railroad company remains a site for Americans to grapple with key questions about the nature of American capitalism.
Industrial Workers of the World Labor Day Picnic, Oakland, California, 1939.

Lessons from the Wobblies for Labor Activism Today

Despite their failure to achieve their ultimate goal, the IWW and its resilient members can be examples for the resurgent unions of today.
Farmers working in an orchard.
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The Unlikely Supporters of a Bill That Would Increase Guest Workers

The history of guest worker programs should give pause to supporters of the Farm Workforce Modernization Act.
Adam Smith.

The Contradictions of Adam Smith

Smith's influence on American politics, and the misunderstanding at the heart of our idea of the "champion of capitalism."
People cleaning up an oil spill on coastal rocks.
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Unprepared: Lessons From Two Massive Oil Spills

A disastrous oil spill in Alaska and massive rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico revealed a pattern of unsettled standards and inconsistent oversight.
Illustration depicting workmen and firemen dragging a fireman and engineer from a Baltimore freight train during the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad strike.

The Railway Labor Act Allowed Congress to Break the Rail Strike. We Should Get Rid of It.

Congress was able to break the rail strike last week because of a century-old law designed to weaken the disruptive power of unions.
Firestone Library at night

How Firestone Exploited Liberia — and Made Princeton as We Know It

Firestone’s racist system of forced labor made Princeton one of the world’s foremost research universities.
Statue of Liberty's torch.

Why the Philosophers Libertarians Love Always Come Out Worse for Wear

Adam Smith and Friedrich Hayek have been through the wringer.
Ripped American flag.

The Greatest Threat to the Unity of the Country Is the Class Divide

How many rich moderates would join the MAGA far right if redistribution policies threatened their wealth?
Engraving of an attempt to start a freight train, under a guard of U.S. marshals during the great railway strike of 1886.

Historians' Letter to President Biden About Looming Railroad Strike

More than 500 historians signed onto this letter of support for the demands of railway workers.
Welder-trainee Josie Lucille Owens plies her trade on the SS George Washington Carver at the Kaiser Shipyards in Richmond, CA, 1943.

Toxic Legacies of WWII: Pollution and Segregation

Wartime production led to environmental and social injustices, polluting land and bodies in ways that continue to shape public policy and race relations.