One cooperative is bigger than the city I live in — Housing is tough. In economic terms, it’s the perfect private good. It’s extremely subtractable, meaning that if one person gets an apartment, that takes away the chance for someone else to get that same apartment. It’s also highly excludable, meaning that not only is it really easy to keep other…

Peace will come — I was watching philosopher Slavoj Zizek’s statement on the recent crisis in Israel-Palestine, when I was somehow reminded of one of his old jokes. This river here is the official geographical limit between the Balkans and Mitteleuropa. So, beware! On the other side: Horror, oriental despotism, women get beaten, get…

Looking into the motivations behind Hamas’ recent invasion It is hard to know what Hamas leaders’ endgame is in an attack on Israel deadlier than any in decades. It would be inconceivable for them not to expect a major Israeli response, one that could further destroy Gaza, exact a terrible…

Kids are not property — Political divides aren’t just a product of what we believe, but the issues we pay attention to. For the right, a fundamental through-line of concern has been the material and spiritual structure of the family. According to a certain line of thinking, this isn’t just a matter of sentimentality, but…

Sorry, We’re Not Responsible For Everything — I just got done publishing an article that argues that the United States, through its foreign policy decisions since the end of World War 2, has created the conditions for violent jihadist organizations like ISIS to proliferate and even dominate regions throughout the world. …

We made ISIS possible — In 1945, the United States found itself at the tail end of a titanic struggle against two of the most evil regimes in human history. After inflicting awesome devastation upon Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, what was left capitulated, and the United States held the fate of Western Germany and…

Politics is a balancing act — Imagine living in the future. Everybody rides in self-driving cars; no humans are actually controlling the flow of traffic on the road anymore. Instead, a centralized computer, something like Google Maps, calculates and arranges everyone’s route to make it as efficient and as pleasant as possible for its users. Given…

Here’s what we can learn from Japan, Switzerland, and Singapore — In my experience, working class people in the United States exist within a strange paradox. They do not like cops, often finding themselves the targets of their unfair and discriminatory harassment. …

Nobody knows what’s going to happen — After months of rising tensions, Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin accused the Russian military of killing his mercenaries in an air strike and vowed to punish Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and other military top brass for mishandling the war in Ukraine. With barely any opposition and even possible complicity from…