Author Archives: Robert Reich

Trump’s rush to reopen America is causing a COVID resurgence

Donald Trump said that June’s jobs report, which showed an uptick, proves the economy is “roaring back.” Continue reading

Corporate hypocrisy on racism

Wall Street banks and corporate executives have wasted no time trying to establish themselves as allies of the Black Lives Matter movement, professing support for the historic protests against police killings of Black people. Continue reading

Beware the 21st century robber barons

This great shift in bargaining power from workers to corporate shareholders has created an increasingly angry working class vulnerable to demagogues peddling authoritarianism, racism, and xenophobia.

Why do big corporations continue to win while workers get shafted? It all comes down to power: who has it, and who doesn’t. Continue reading

Trump rushed to reopen America, now COVID is closing in on him

Donald Trump said last Thursday’s jobs report, which showed an uptick in June, proves the economy is “roaring back”. Continue reading

Trump’s 2020 election strategy in 25 steps

Trump will do anything to be re-elected. His opponents are limited because they believe in democracy. Trump has no limits because he doesn’t. Continue reading

The deadly Fox News-Trump syndicate

As the coronavirus crisis rages on, Fox News is contributing almost as much to the deaths and disease as is Trump’s White House. Continue reading

Trump’s presidency is over

You’d be forgiven if you hadn’t noticed. His verbal bombshells are louder than ever, but Donald J. Trump is no longer president of the United States. Continue reading

A tale of two pandemics

No description of the coronavirus is more misleading than calling it ‘the great equalizer.’

The horrific truth is that Native Americans, Latinos, and African-Americans are dying at much higher rates than white people – and we don’t know the half of it because the CDC hasn’t released any racial data about the virus; we don’t know if they’re even collecting it. Continue reading

The privileged and powerful in the pandemic

As America reopens for business, you might expect Jeff Bezos, the richest man in America, and his Amazon corporation, one of the most profitable corporations in America, to set the corporate standard for how to protect the health of American workers. Continue reading

The real reason Trump wants to reopen the economy

Donald Trump is getting nervous. Internal polls show him losing in November unless the economy comes roaring back. Continue reading

The deathly tragedy of American exceptionalism

No other nation has endured as much death from COVID-19 nor nearly as high a death rate as has the United States. Continue reading

Trump’s 4-step plan for reopening the economy will be lethal

Donald Trump is getting nervous. Internal polls show him losing in November unless the economy comes roaring back. Continue reading

Corporations will not save us: The sham of corporate social responsibility

Last August, the Business Roundtable—an association of CEOs of America’s biggest corporations—announced with great fanfare a “fundamental commitment to all of our stakeholders” and not just their shareholders. Continue reading

From Ukraine to coronavirus: Trump’s abuse of power continues

Donald Trump has spent a lifetime exploiting chaos for personal gain and blaming others for his losses. The pure madness in America’s response to the coronavirus pandemic—shortages of equipment to protect hospital workers, dwindling supplies of ventilators and critical medications, jaw-dropping confusion over how $2.2 trillion of aid in the recent coronavirus law will be distributed—has given him the perfect cover to hoard power and boost his chances of reelection. Continue reading

The COVID-19 class divide

The pandemic is putting America’s deepening class divide into stark relief. Four classes are emerging. Continue reading

Coronavirus and the height of corporate welfare

With the coronavirus pandemic wreaking havoc on the global economy, here’s how massive corporations are shafting the rest of us in order to secure billions of dollars of taxpayer-funded bailouts. Continue reading

Trump’s failed coronavirus response

The Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic has been a deliberate disaster from the beginning. But don’t take my word for it—just look at the facts. Continue reading

How CEOs are ruining America

Today, America’s wealthiest business moguls—like Jamie Dimon, head of JPMorgan Chase—claim that they are “patriots before CEOs” because they employ large numbers of workers or engage in corporate philanthropy. Continue reading

Trump’s COVID-19 power grab

The utter chaos in America’s response to the pandemic—shortages of equipment to protect hospital workers, dwindling supplies of ventilators and critical medications, and jaw-dropping confusion over how the $2.2 trillion of aid in the recent coronavirus law will be distributed—was perhaps predictable in a nation that prides itself on competitive individualism and hates centralized power. Continue reading

How to prepare for the Trump recession

The global coronavirus pandemic has put our economy in free-fall. Continue reading

Public health first

Dick Kovacevich, former CEO of Wells Fargo bank, thinks most Americans should return to work in April, urging that we “gradually bring those people back and see what happens.” Continue reading

What’s missing from the coronavirus bill

The public health and economic crises we’re experiencing are closely related. They reveal in stark terms the dangerous mythology of trickle-down self-sufficiency and the need for policies that respond to the real needs of people who are or will soon be affected. Continue reading

America doesn’t have a public health system

Dr. Anthony S Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and just about the only official in the Trump administration trusted to tell the truth about the coronavirus, said last Thursday: “The system does not, is not really geared to what we need right now … It is a failing, let’s admit it.” Continue reading

How to respond to the national emergency

CEOs of the major Wall Street banks have been summoned to the White House to discuss the coronavirus its economic fallout. I’m told Trump administration is considering more corporate tax cuts, tax cuts targeted to the airlines and hospitality industries, and a temporary payroll tax cut. Continue reading

Bernie vs. Biden

As the Democratic Party’s “moderate” (or shall we say “establishment”) wing coalesces around Joe Biden to stop Bernie, the primary contest is starting to look a lot like 2016, when the same wing rallied around Hillary Clinton. Continue reading

Bernie or Biden?

As the Democratic Party’s “moderate” (or shall we say “establishment”) wing coalesces around Joe Biden to stop Bernie, the primary contest is starting to look a lot like 2016, when the same wing rallied around Hillary Clinton. Continue reading

The Democratic establishment is freaking out about Bernie. It should calm down.

The day after Bernie Sanders’s big win in Nevada, Joe Lockhart, Bill Clinton’s former press secretary, expressed the fear gripping the Democratic establishment: “I don’t believe the country is prepared to support a Democratic socialist, and I agree with the theory that Sanders would lose in a matchup against Trump.” Continue reading

The real State of the Union

I wasn’t going to comment on Trump’s lie-filled State of the Union message but the whoppers were so big—especially on the economy—that I feel compelled. Continue reading

Abuses of power in Trumpworld and Davos

As the Senate debates Donald Trump’s future, chief executives, financiers and politicians have assembled in Davos, Switzerland, for their annual self-congratulatory defense of global capitalism. Continue reading

Four reasons why millennials don’t have any money

The same forces that are driving massive inequality between the top 1 percent and the rest of us are creating a vast generational wealth gap between baby boomers—my generation—and millennials. Continue reading

The sham of corporate social responsibility

Boeing recently fired CEO Dennis Muilenburg in order “to restore confidence in the Company moving forward as it works to repair relationships with regulators, customers, and all other stakeholders.” Continue reading

Who is worse: Donald Trump or Mitch McConnell?

He’s maybe the most dangerous politician of my lifetime. He’s helped transform the Republican Party into a cult, worshiping at the altar of authoritarianism. He’s damaged our country in ways that may take a generation to undo. The politician I’m talking about, of course, is Mitch McConnell. Continue reading