Essays Archive - Page 96 of 131

There’s No “Trade-Off” Between Saving Lives and Saving the Economy

A humane society doesn’t trade some lives for others

March 28, 2020 • by Peter Dreier

Nonsense. In February, when he had a chance to take decisive action to get ahead of the virus, Trump told his advisors not to “do or say anything that would further spook the markets.” Trump’s weeks of downplaying the crisis, and his failure to prepare for the looming pandemic, deepened the problem. But having finally acknowledged the ...

There’s No “Trade-Off” Between Saving Lives and Saving the Economy

Democracy

Over 900 U.S. Political Scientists are Worried about Democratic Elections in November

Here’s Why

March 25, 2020 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac and William Kindred Winecoff

In the spirit of reflexive inquiry, we offer the following hypotheses: The current COVID pandemic is a global health crisis and an economic crisis of unprecedented proportions, and such crises always place stress on democracy. Political scientists understand that such crises can place extraordinary strain on even the most functional and legitimate ...

Over 900 U.S. Political Scientists are Worried about Democratic Elections in November

Kinships

Fragments of Memoir and Other Manuscripts

An excerpt from Honor Moore, “Our Revolution: A Mother and Daughter at Midcentury”

March 24, 2020 • by Honor Moore

“This is my oldest daughter.” I look at him and smile. “How do you do -- ” “You’ve got a great mom!” I would have said “a great mother.” I don’t like it when people use “mom” as a noun like that, and what does he know anyway, about this woman. He turns and ...

Fragments of Memoir and Other Manuscripts

Finance

Pandemics and Your Retirement Accounts

What You Should and Should Not Do

March 24, 2020 • by Teresa Ghilarducci

First, pause with gratitude if you have a retirement account. Only 41 percent of older workers have any type of retirement plan at work, whether it is a traditional pension or a 401(k) TIAA- type plan. The rate of non-coverage is even higher for younger workers. And the rate of ...

Public Health

It’s Time to Rethink Healthcare as a Human Right

COVID-19 has put an urgent campaign agenda at the top of the policy list

March 24, 2020 • by Katie Scofield

Former Vice President Joe Biden focused on what a president could do here and now to control the outbreak. Sen Bernie Sanders called to systematically rethink American healthcare. Sanders rightly pointed out that the outcomes and effects of COVID-19 will be exacerbated by existing problems in the healthcare industry. If people ...

It’s Time to Rethink Healthcare as a Human Right

History

Yes, COVID-19 Is an Emergency: It’s Also a Paradigm Shift

This new challenge must include a demand for justice

March 24, 2020 • by Ian Zuckerman

I believe the answer is yes, in the immediate sense of what must be done. But it’s too early to tell, in the longer sense of whether our aim must be to return to the status quo ante, or undergo more permanent transformations. Either way, the legitimate, temporary suspension of ...

Yes, COVID-19 Is an Emergency: It’s Also a Paradigm Shift

Europe & Central Asia

Labor Rights in the Time of Pandemic

Hungary’s return to the 19th Century in response to Covid 19

March 23, 2020 • by Laszlo Bruszt

This step is unprecedented in the post-second World War continental law that uses Labor Codes to provide guaranteed rights to employees. It also deviates from the more recent treatment of labor relations during the pandemic in the OECD countries. This move back to absolute ‘freedom of contract’ is reminiscent of ...

Philosophy

A Plea for Good Manners

By imitating virtue, we become virtuous

March 23, 2020 • by Robert Mass

Is politeness a virtue? Comte-Sponville, drawing on a long philosophic tradition, understands human virtue as “our way of being and acting humanly, in other words . . our power to act well. . . . It is what we also call the moral virtues, those qualities that make one man seem more human ...

Uncategorized

A Joint Emotional World

An Interview With Edwidge Danticat

March 20, 2020 • by Edwidge Danticat and Heran Abate

The following interview with Edwidge Danticat, the 2020 award winner in fiction, is part of a series of NBCC interviews conducted by New School creative writing students. Edwidge Danticat’s Everything Inside is a finalist for the NBCC Award for Fiction. This short story collection takes us into the intimate depths of ...

North America

For the Love of Humanity, We Should Never Stop Talking About “Bernie Bros”

A response to Jesse Singal

March 19, 2020 • by Anne Taylor

In the 2016 election cycle, I worked for Senator Bernie Sanders’s presidential campaign. Those months are a blur. In October 2015 I was an eager volunteer in a student group at the University of Colorado Boulder; within two months the campaign hired me as their first field organizer in the ...

For the Love of Humanity, We Should Never Stop Talking About “Bernie Bros”

Past Present

Quarantines

Past Present Podcast, Episode 220

March 17, 2020 • by Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, Nicole Hemmer and Neil J. Young

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: As the coronavirus pandemic spreads, quarantining is becoming a fact of life. Natalia referred to Anne Helen Petersen’s essay on selflessness and social isolation and recommended historian Howard Markel’s New York Times opinion piece. In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History: Natalia discussed the Netflix show, Love ...

Activism

Life and Protest in Hong Kong Amid COVID-19

An Interview with Jeffrey Wasserstrom, Author of Vigil: Hong Kong On The Brink

March 17, 2020 • by Jeffrey Wasserstrom and Mark Frazier

Mark W. Frazier [MF]: Your book was released on February 11, in the midst of a public health crisis in mainland China that has meant massive disruptions to life and work in Hong Kong, the cancellation of a major international arts festival, and the cessation (for now at least) of ...

Essays

There’s No “Trade-Off” Between Saving Lives and Saving the Economy

A humane society doesn’t trade some lives for others

Over 900 U.S. Political Scientists are Worried about Democratic Elections in November

Here’s Why

Fragments of Memoir and Other Manuscripts

An excerpt from Honor Moore, “Our Revolution: A Mother and Daughter at Midcentury”

Pandemics and Your Retirement Accounts

What You Should and Should Not Do

It’s Time to Rethink Healthcare as a Human Right

COVID-19 has put an urgent campaign agenda at the top of the policy list

Yes, COVID-19 Is an Emergency: It’s Also a Paradigm Shift

This new challenge must include a demand for justice

Labor Rights in the Time of Pandemic

Hungary’s return to the 19th Century in response to Covid 19

A Plea for Good Manners

By imitating virtue, we become virtuous

A Joint Emotional World

An Interview With Edwidge Danticat

For the Love of Humanity, We Should Never Stop Talking About “Bernie Bros”

A response to Jesse Singal

Quarantines

Past Present Podcast, Episode 220

Life and Protest in Hong Kong Amid COVID-19

An Interview with Jeffrey Wasserstrom, Author of Vigil: Hong Kong On The Brink

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