Category Archives: John Russo

Class, Empathy, and the Green New Deal

Posted on May 6, 2019 by

The recent debate over the Green New Deal got me thinking about a lecture I gave in 2018 at the Columbia University Seminar on Energy Ethics. The faculty who attended were mostly environmental lawyers and scientists. I am neither. But … Continue reading →

Posted in Contributors, Issues, John Russo, Labor and Community Activism, The Working Class and the Economy | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Blaming Workers Again

Posted on January 7, 2019 by

Working-class people often get blamed for their troubles. They should have planned better, been less demanding, or just been smarter. Those are just some of the judgments that surfaced again in the weeks after General Motors’ announcement late in November … Continue reading →

Posted in Class and the Media, Contributors, Issues, John Russo, Labor and Community Activism, Sherry Linkon, The Working Class and the Economy | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Is the Fever Breaking? Ground Zero Youngstown

Posted on October 1, 2018 by

Two years ago, I described the Youngstown area as “crossover ground zero” for Donald Trump and the politics of resentment in working-class and rust belt communities. In local rallies during the 2016 campaign and since he took office, Trump has … Continue reading →

Posted in Contributors, Issues, John Russo, Working-Class Politics, Youngstown | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Have Ohio Democrats Learned Anything About the Working Class?

Posted on March 5, 2018 by

In presidential elections, Ohio has long been a swing state. Its voters supported Obama in 2008 and 2012, then swung right in 2016 to support Donald Trump. On the state level, however, Republicans have dominated for the past two decades. … Continue reading →

Posted in Contributors, Issues, John Russo, Working-Class Politics | Tagged , , | 46 Comments

Everybody Knows About Alabama

Posted on January 15, 2018 by

“You don’t have to live next to me Just give me my equality Everybody knows about Mississippi Everybody knows about Alabama Everybody knows about Mississippi goddam, that’s it”                                                    “Mississippi Goddamn” Nina Simone We saw the play with music, Nina … Continue reading →

Posted in Class and the Media, Class at the Intersections, Contributors, Issues, John Russo, Sherry Linkon, Working-Class Politics | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Economic Nationalism and the Half-Life of Deindustrialization

Posted on October 30, 2017 by

In a 60 Minutes interview in September, Steven Bannon touted his form of economic nationalism and suggested that Democrats like Senator Sherrod Brown and U.S Representative Tim Ryan understood his economic vision, even if they didn’t agree with him. It … Continue reading →

Posted in Contributors, Issues, John Russo, Sherry Linkon, The Working Class and the Economy, Work, Working-Class Politics | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

Universal Basic Income: A “Social Vaccine” for Technological Displacement?

Posted on April 17, 2017 by

John Kenneth Galbraith once said that the beginnings of wisdom were to never trust an economist. Those of us that spent most of our adult lives in deindustrialized communities understood his point. As the mills and factories closed in working-class … Continue reading →

Posted in Contributors, Issues, John Russo, The Working Class and the Economy | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments