Category / Public Affairs

It’s apparent that the near-universal wearing of masks on trains and buses will be key to continuing to suppress the virus so people can return to work and children to school. Wouldn’t it be great if the wealthy owners of our local sports teams would step up to the plate? What if team-branded face masks, now widely available on team websites but apparently seen by those owners as a revenue stream, were handed out for free on buses and in …

It’s fair for Scot Lehigh (Elizabeth Warren’s health care pipe dream) and Joan Vennochi (The sad truth in SNL’s Warren skit) to question the candidate’s tactics in sticking with her single payer plan, but some of their criticism is dishonest, disingenuous and destructive. Lehigh describes it as “government run healthcare” and “hugely expensive” when in fact it is neither. It would simply unite payment under a government-run system (in that way, like Medicare), which will make it the only proposal …

Michael Cohen, in Greenland—to buy or not to buy, points out that our Developer-in-Chief’s offer was rebuffed by a surprised Danish Prime Minister, but as everyone knows, real estate deals take time. I have a suggestion for reviving the deal: make her an offer she can’t refuse.

A trade—for New England. The US would get Greenland, with all its cool (literally) natural resources, complete with potential golf courses, and would rid itself of all those pesky eggheads and snobs …

The great mystery of our time, for me, is why a third to nearly a half of Americans continue to support our president, regardless of his statements or actions. It has become more and more obvious that the sneering, belittling persona he projects at his rallies is central to his appeal, as his core supporters experience joy and validation by cheering him on. How can this be?

I have come to understand that the mystery of the Nazi’s rise to …

The Federal Reserve Bank, among others, has been made much of the anticipated inflation as the unemployment rate has fallen. It hasn’t happened, and speculation as to why has focused on a variety of possible factors, including whether our way of calculating unemployment—by only considering those actively seeking employment as unemployed and leaving off “discouraged workers”—gives an overly rosy picture. Perhaps those potential workers are discouraged by their poor prospects for decent pay? The demise of labor unions, especially in …

As a seventy-year-old who was inspired by the civil rights freedom riders and protested against the war in Vietnam, I am greatly heartened by today’s teenage activists. They seem to understand what many commentators do not: that the movement they are engaged in must be sustained over many years. Political commentators have similarly derided the Occupy Wallstreet movement for it’s lack of leadership and clear goals, but both represent a heartening groundswell of activism among younger Americans.

One thing we’ve …

In Shopping the Two Americas, Alex Beam describes the proliferation of dollar stores at the expense of the malls that cater to a shrinking middle class and quotes the CEO of Dollar General about soaring income inequality. Last night when we saw a local production of 9-5 The Musical (based on the 1980 movie) and found it dated, my wife Dolores figured out why: who today would dare complain about a salaried 40 hour per week job with benefits? …

For those states that, unlike Massachusetts, are unable to pass a ban on semi-automatic weapons, there is a possible compromise. Why not ban private ownership of those weapons, but license gun ranges to provide them for use on their premises? It’s hard to imagine another safe place to use them anyway, and aficionados could still blast away. Some sort of ban on these weapons is the only way to put a dent into mass-shooter events. Because there are far too …

The economy is healthy and growing, and unemployment is relatively low. Even wages are beginning to rise. Great.

But our infrastructure, from roads and bridges and public transportation to power distribution, air traffic control and communications systems is badly in need of overhaul; an aging population has thrown our retirement and healthcare systems into crisis; the basic and applied scientific research funding needed to maintain our leadership position internationally has been tailing off, and a reliance on private funding has …

The Globe has done a fine job covering Bernie Sanders’ introduction of a single payer plan and its practical and political implications, with one exception. By all accounts, current insurance providers are doing just fine under the Affordable Care Act, but they have done little to ensure its survival by increasingly focusing their services on the more profitable regions while threatening to pull out of rural and low-income areas. Given the possibility of a Democratic party takeover of both houses …