Living in the USA

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Amazon is a radically new kind of monopoly that seeks to control all of online commerce. Stacy Mitchell says it’s time for anti-trust action to separate the Amazon Marketplace from Amazon’s own retail operations.
Also: Why have wages stagnated since the seventies? Bryce Covert says one reason is the mandatory noncompete and no-poaching agreements that prevent low-wage workers from taking better-paying jobs. California has made them unenforceable; the rest of the states should do the same.  3/1/2018

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Senator Elizabeth Warren wants to make the fight against monopoly power in America a key part of the Democrats’ agenda; George Zornick reports.
Also, Warren Buffett’s secret: “The sage of Omaha” is America’s favorite tycoon. He supported Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for president; he’s in favor of taxing the rich. But David Dayen says Warren Buffett’s wealth–through his firm Berkshire Hathaway–has actually been built on monopoly power. 2/21/18

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Here comes the next financial crisis: maybe not this week, but eventually—and Republican deregulation, undermining the institutions designed to protect us, will make it much worse. Nomi Prins explains.
Plus: Remember when Trump said we should get fewer immigrants from “shithole countries,” and more from places like Norway? Ann Jones lived in Norway for four years; she explains what Norwegians might bring to the US if they did come: a commitment to equality in health care, education, and a dozen other necessities.  2/14/18

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Gary Younge traveled from Maine to Mississippi interviewing Trump’s white working-class supporters. He found anxiety, pain, and a loss of hope. For many, he concludes, “Whiteness is all they’ve got.”
Plus, Amy Wilentz talks about Ivana Trump’s new memoir, ‘Raising Trump’—stories about Don Jr., Ivanka, and little Eric, and their mom and dad. It’s like a reality show about “Real Housewives of Trump Tower.”

Trump’s not on the ballot this year, but that’s not stopping Democratic women from running against him in races across the country. John Nichols reports on recent Democratic victories where female candidates in special elections in state races flipped formerly Republican seats—they show how to do it in the mid-term elections in November.
Also: Fortress America is crumbling—the rise of China started long before Trump, but he’s alienated allies and abandoned alliances in a way that may now make the process irreversible. Alfred McCoy explains.
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Since Trump took office a year ago, Katha Pollitt says, women have been unleashing decades of pent-up anger: starting with the Women’s March, then in some amazing political victories, and in the #MeToo movement. But Trump has also shown how terrible the loss of the White House has been.
Also: David Bromwich says there are no surprises with Trump: he’s been the same for decades, a “wounded monster” with a history of racism and a contempt for people he considers “losers.” But defeating him requires more than an issue—it has to be a cause.
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Trump has targeted California, the biggest blue state, with his tax and immigration policies, but the state has been resisting—and some vulnerable Republican House members have been withdrawing from their reelection races. Harold Meyerson of The American Prospect comments.
Plus: Father Greg Boyle of Los Angeles talks about his amazing work with former gang members—he’s the founder and head of Homeboy Industries, the biggest and best job training and reentry program in America for previously incarcerated men and women. His new book is Barking to the Choir.
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Historian Linda Gordon talks about the KKK of the 1920s, and the arrest of Fred Trump, father of the president, at a Klan march in New York City in 1927. her new book is “The Second Coming of the KKK.”
Also, historian Nancy MacLean talks about the roots of the right’s stealth plan for America, a bringing together of libertarian economic theory and segregationist opposition to civil rights. Her new book is “Democracy in Chains” – it was named the “most valuable political book of 2017” on The Nation’s progressive honor roll.
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Our year-in-review show opens with Katha Pollitt on #MeToo in 2017. The year began with the resignation of Bill O’Reilly and ended with the resignation of Al Franken. Along the way we had Harvey Weinstein and Roy Moore. But what about sexual harassment by men who aren’t in high profile media or politics positions?
Plus: the state with the most remarkable political year was Alabama: starting with the appointment of Senator Jeff Sessions as Attorney General and ending with Doug Jones winning the election for Sessions’s seat, the first Democrat to win an Alabama senate seat in 27 years. Legendary Alabama journalist Howell Raines reviews the many surprises along the way and assesses their significance.

For our year-in-review show, we turn to John Nichols, The Nation magazine’s National Affairs Correspondent, who highlights the Resistance in 2017. His Progressive Honor Roll for the year appears at TheNation.com.
At the top of the list: Senator Elizabeth Warren.
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