Roger Bybee, a frequent contributor to The Progressive, is a freelance labor journalist and labor-studies instructor based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and the former editor of the Racine Labor weekly.
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Roger Bybee
Tony Alter
The Insurance Industry’s War of Words Against Medicare-for-All
Why are we seeing all the hand-wringing about “losing” private insurance when so many people’s experiences with it are so negative? Read more
Ian Haney López: ‘Dividing Races is the Main Weapon of the Rich’
With Trump stretching the leash of dog-whistle politics, a powerful economic message with a frank recognition of race is key to winning in 2020, says leading author and law professor. Read more
Wikimedia Commons / SVG Silh / GoodFreePhotos
Donald Trump’s Not-So-Great Economy
Dig just a little below the surface and you’ll find that the much-discussed gains for working people are mostly illusionary. Read more
Paying for Jobs: Is Taxpayer Fury Making a Difference?
Are we witnessing a fundamental change in how the public views corporate incentive packages, and the craven submissiveness of elected officials who hand them out? Read more
Whitehouse.gov
Foxconn Promises Are Falling Apart Fast
The Taiwan-based giant is downsizing from promises of up to 13,000 new jobs, with 75 percent blue-collar production workers, to now admitting that production workers will compose only 10 percent of a much smaller “technology hub.” Read more
Alinghi3
Masters of Our Domain: Foxconn and State Minions Seize Land
Eminent domain is supposed to support projects for the public good. In Wisconsin, it’s been harnessed instead for private gain. Read more
MaxPixel
An Undemocratic GOP Enshrines Zombie Laws via Midwest Coups
What do the Michigan and Wisconsin power grab bills mean for the future? Read more
The Amazon “Deal” Encourages All the Wrong Trends
“If you’re a local retailer or small manufacturer or artist or writer or publisher, you’re watching as your city and state hands your tax dollars to your most ferocious antagonist.” Read more
frankieleon
Five Things Trump and Ryan Didn’t Tell You About Their Tax Plan
Contrary to Trump’s promises, the tax cuts for working people are “so small they could be erased by your rising health-insurance premiums. The same cannot be said for the rich- by 2027, the top 1 percent will be gobbling up 83 percent of tax cuts. Read more
PandaSmashTV
Trump, Foxconn Deal to Heat up Self-Defeating War Between States
Competition to woo businesses through incentive packages drain billions from public budgets and into corporate coffers each year. Read more
Gage Skidmore
Ryan’s Exit Bums Out GOP, Boosts Progressive Dems
The House Speaker’s decision to retire will remove one of America’s most pernicious political figures, whose mild manner belies the icy calculations of a man long driven by the doctrine of greed. Read more
The Truth About Tariffs
Don’t get distracted—there’s an elephant in the room, and offshoring is its name. Read more
Saving Paul Ryan’s Private Agenda as Trump’s Chief Enabler
How a nice Wisconsin Congressman became responsible for driving Trump’s heartless legislative agenda. Read more
George Hodan
Democracy Is at Stake in Supreme Court Cases on Partisan Redistricting
The stakes are not merely about the arcane and obscure slicing and dicing of district boundaries, but raise far more fundamental questions about the increasing threats to real democracy in the United States. Read more
Marinus van Reymerswaele
Did Trump University Graduates Design the Republican’s Shamefully Unequal Tax Plan?
Trump University—notorious for fleecing its students—is the perfect metaphor for the Donald Trump-Paul Ryan $1.5 trillion tax plan, heavily tilted toward corporations and the rich. Read more
Flickr
Will Wisconsin Get Foxconned?
This a splashy deal, a trophy for politicians. But the actual impact is another question. This deal comes with a very high price tag. Read more
Randy Bryce for Congress
In Kenosha Kickoff, Ironworker Randy Bryce Hammers On Paul Ryan’s Weakness
"I drive around my community and can point to things I've literally built, and I look at what Paul Ryan's done and see jobs leaving." Read more
YouTube
Trump’s Empty “American First” Promise
Trumpeting themes of “buy American, hire American” against a backdrop of red-white-and blue wrenches at Snap-On Tool in Kenosha, Wisconsin Donald Trump wanted everyone to know how much he is rewarding working-class supporters. Even if he isn't. Read more
Pixabay
How the AHCA’s Spectacular Defeat Could Open the Way for Single-Payer Healthcare
Pervasive problems, both for those with private insurance and the twenty-eight million Americans still lacking coverage even with the ACA’s help, explain the hunger for reform. Read more
Sarah Hopefl
Trump’s Ryancare Bet Backfires—Now What?
The current kerfuffle among Republicans trying to reverse the ACA’s gains reveals that many Americans actually like having health care. Read more
