Bernie Sanders

In the fall of 1999, I interviewed Tony Blair, who was then the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, at 10 Downing Street. I asked Blair, a former barrister who had rebranded the vaguely socialist Labour Party as the explicitly pro-enterprise New Labour, if he believed socialism was dead. He hemmed and hawed. Eventually, he said that if I meant old-style socialism—extensive government controls, punitive tax rates on the very rich, and a pervasive suspicion of capitalism—then, yes, socialism was done.At the time, this…

How states plan to spend 'millionaire tax' revenueWhile the proposed taxes sound similar, there are differences in how each state plans to use the revenue. In Massachusetts, assuming voters pass the measure, the tax is expected to generate about $1.3 billion of revenue in 2023, according to a Tufts University analysis. The state aims to use the revenue to fund public education, roads, bridges and public transportation.California's tax is projected to bring in $3.5 billion to $5 billion annually should it pass, and the…

Photo: Dan Kitwood (Getty Images)As the United Kingdom prepares to welcome a new Prime Minister amidst dire economic headwinds, it seems necessary to point out that the guy they’ve elected to fix things is a certified Crypto Bro™️ who once requested that the Royal Mint issue an NFT.Rishi Sunak was voted into office Monday following the resignation of former Prime Minister Liz Truss, who only served a record-breaking 44 days before stepping down under a maelstrom of criticism over her failed fiscal policies. Truss had…

Amazon warehouses have been noted in reports to be high-stress workplaces, leading to major unionization efforts. Amazon, on the other hand, has actively worked to stifle any hint of organized labor.Photo: Michael M. Santiago (Getty Images)Another New York-based Amazon facility rejected calls for unionization Tuesday, showing just how hard it is for organized labor to make headway in today’s polarized environment, as well as how effective Amazon’s anti-union activities have become.During a vote that took place Tuesday…

Apple’s iPhones have stuck with the Lightning charging port even though the majority of other devices have switched to USB-C.Photo: Kaspars Grinvalds (Shutterstock)The European Union has officially demanded that all tech companies—but really we’re all still talking about Apple—add support for USB-C charging cables in a move that could make USB-C the dominant cable throughout the world.In a Tuesday press release, the EU announced it has adopted the new law with 602 voting members of the European Parliament voting “yes”…

Photo: Jack Taylor (Getty Images)The Brazilian government’s going to battle with Apple over its chargers, or more aptly, its lack of them. On Tuesday, Brazil’s Justice Ministry reportedly hit the smartphone giant for 12.275 million reais (or around $2.38 million) and ordered Apple to cease selling models that don’t ship with a charger. That sudden cancellation, according toReuters, would affect Apple’s iPhone 12 and 13 models. The iPhone 12 hasn’t shipped with a charger since 2020.Apple and other device makers claim the…

The legislation, which passed the Senate 51-50 on Sunday with a tiebreaking vote by Vice President Kamala Harris, offers tax incentives for reducing carbon emissions, seeks to allow Medicare to negotiate the price of some prescription drugs, allots roughly $80 billion to the Internal Revenue Service and extends subsidies for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. Along with a new 15% corporate minimum tax, it creates a 1% excise tax on companies’ stock…

Photo: Ruslan Lytvyn (Shutterstock)It’s hard to get the majority of the U.S. Senate to agree on anything, but apparently more than 60% of the upper house of Congress agree that the country could use some more computer chips, $52 billion worth of chip manufacturing, to be exact.The Senate passed the CHIPS+ bill 64 to 33 Wednesday afternoon, gathering enough bipartisan support to send it on its way to the House of Representatives where, if everything goes as planned for leading Democrats, it will find itself on President…

Photo: Tolga Akmen / AFPJ.K. Rowling found out that all’s fair in love and war the hard and awkward way on a Zoom call. The author of the Harry Potter series spoke to someone she thought was Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky. The person behind the call wasn’t the Ukrainian statesman at all, though,rather the Russian comedic duo Vovan and Lexus. The roughly 12-minute Zoom call, where Rowling can be seen on video while the fake Zelensky was audio-only, was uploaded to YouTube last week and spotted by the Hollywood…

It’s always a gamble leaving the house with your smartphone. Even as batteries get bigger, the threat of being out in the world with little time left on your device can create a panic akin to witnessing a natural disaster. And the worst part is when you go to someone to ask for a charging cord only to find that they don’t have your cable type!This week on Gadgettes, we’ll womansplain how Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) are working to eliminate this headache for…