Category Archives: globalization

Regarding Coca-Cola (corporate America’s rotgut)

Posted on February 12, 2014 by oddmanout215

I recently discussed with my friend Swamp Rabbit the sappy Coca-Cola commercial that features, as Guardian UK put it, “a multi-lingual rendition of ‘America the Beautiful’ sung by children and illustrated with a diversity of New Americana scenes…” The usual … Continue reading →

Posted in arts, campaign finance reform, Congress, down and out, globalization, humor, mainstream media, movies, Occupy Wall Street, plutocracy, The New Depression, world-wide economy | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Beware the polar Gore-Tex… or is it cortex?

Posted on January 8, 2014 by oddmanout215

It seemed I might be able to change my socks two days in a row, but then Arctic air crept in on big bear claws and pushed the swamp back into the deep freeze. Swamp Rabbit, flipping out from cabin … Continue reading →

Posted in apocalypse, climate change, down and out, fiction, globalization, humor | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

The ill logic of the lower classes

Posted on December 29, 2013 by oddmanout215

It’s the Eighth Day After the Solstice, and I’m back at the shack after checking up on my old house, which stopped feeling homey after a tree fell on it last year. Some of my old neighbors are doing OK, … Continue reading →

Posted in Congress, down and out, economic collapse, fiction, globalization, humor, life in the big city, mainstream media, unemployment, Wall Street | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Karl Marx gets a makeover

Posted on December 23, 2013 by oddmanout215

Just for a laugh, I read aloud from a Guardian UK article in which David Simon expressed qualified approval of some Marxist ideas. Sure enough, my friend Swamp Rabbit called me a commie before I was halfway through the piece. … Continue reading →

Posted in down and out, economic collapse, globalization, history, mainstream media, The New Depression, unemployment, world-wide economy | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The curious case of the two Barack Obamas

Posted on December 10, 2013 by oddmanout215

My friend Swamp Rabbit laughed all week at the speech in which the president, in typically stirring style, called for better treatment of low-wage workers: Barack Obama warned that a “relentless, decades-long trend” of growing inequality and social immobility posed … Continue reading →

Posted in campaign finance reform, globalization, mainstream media, Obama, The New Depression, unemployment, world-wide economy | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Where were you when poverty became acceptable?

Posted on November 25, 2013 by oddmanout215

I’ve been thinking of JFK and of those hard-luck cases who work at places like McDonald’s and Walmart. (There but for the grace of God and the wearing of a clown uniform go I.) Those who are old enough can … Continue reading →

Posted in down and out, economic collapse, globalization, Occupy Wall Street, The New Depression, unemployment | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Guess who pays for Walmart’s greed

Posted on November 19, 2013 by oddmanout215

Maybe you saw the news item about the Walmart near Canton, Ohio that’s holding an in-house canned food drive “so associates in need can enjoy Thanksgiving dinner.” It seems retail employees at the monster store are so badly paid, many … Continue reading →

Posted in down and out, economic collapse, food, globalization, humor, The New Depression | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Walter White, working-class hero

Posted on August 26, 2013 by oddmanout215

Last week the Philadelphia Daily News ran a story about unemployment with a photo of a middle-aged man in a business suit — a former office worker out of luck and money — begging for a job on a streetcorner … Continue reading →

Posted in economic collapse, globalization, Goldman Sachs, Great Recession, humor, mainstream media, Philadelphia, unemployment | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Tom Friedman’s brave new fantasy world

Posted on August 2, 2013 by oddmanout215

Richard Eskow’s insights regarding Thomas Friedman will make perfect sense to anyone who has read Friedman’s gung-ho dispatches about globalization and entrepreneurship in the digital age, or his advice to the discouraged — “But you know what they say to … Continue reading →

Posted in economic collapse, globalization, Great Recession, Iraq war, mainstream media, New York Times, unemployment | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Dems-in-name-only won’t help close income gap

Posted on July 29, 2013 by oddmanout215

Paul Krugman, commenting on one of the moral midgets who pushed through the House a new farm bill that would maintain generous government subsidies for agribusinesses while eliminating food stamps: Now, some enemies of food stamps don’t quote libertarian philosophy; … Continue reading →

Posted in Congress, economic collapse, globalization, Great Recession, mainstream media, Obama, The New Depression, unemployment, Wall Street | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment