Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

Taking stock of the political, economic and social fabric as we kick off 2024

American flag
Chalermpon Poungpeth/EyeEm/Getty Images

Corbin is professor emeritus of marketing at the University of Northern Iowa.

Before we get too far into the new year, let’s review the immediate past, present and future of America’s political, economic and social fabric.

Despite predictions of a recession in 2023, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told the Wall Street Journal: 1) Federal Reserve actions brought inflation down from 9.1 percent in 2022 to 3.1 percent, 2) 2023 annualized growth averaged around 3 percent, 3) new business startups came at a record pace, 4) the unemployment rate fell below 4 percent and 5) the typical middle-income households had higher earnings, more wealth and more purchasing power than before the pandemic.


Research reveals four economic measures paid off handsomely for Americans: the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, the $1.75 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the $1.2 trillion Inflation Reduction Act and the $280 billion CHIPS and Science Act. The economic reward includes the American economy producing more goods and services (up 2.6 percent); wage gains outpaced inflation and will be even more significant in 2024.

Last year also witnessed: a declining crime rate, U.S. carbon emissions falling below 2007 numbers and all three major stock indexes soared dramatically, boosting the retirement savings of more than 150 million Americans. For the first time in decades, people could earn around 5 percent from their savings and money market accounts, which increased the financial well-being of tens of millions of people. (Wall Street Journal, Dec. 30-31, 2023)

We’re witnessing a boom in cleaner energy, and the cost of metals used to make batteries will continue to remain low in 2024. Additionally, strong oil production growth in North America and increasing global refining capacity will keep gasoline prices down in 2024.

While the U.S. debt ceiling was raised by Congress on June 3, 2023, the GOP-controlled House of Representatives has only passed seven of the 12 appropriation bills they promised to approve in the fall. National debt remains a critical problem; it grew $8.2 trillion (40.43 percent increase) during Donald Trump’s presidency and $1.8 trillion (6.33 percent) since Joe Biden has been in the White House.

CRINK is the new acronym patriotic and democracy-loving Americans should remember: China, Russia, Iran and North Korea. CRINK shows no signs of easing up on cyberattacks or inundating Americans with disinformation, misinformation, social media propaganda, artificial intelligence interference and fake political ads in 2024, similar to the 2016 presidential election. CRINK’s implicit and explicit war against Ukraine, Taiwan, Israel and the United States – to name a few targets – will continue. A strong president who opposes CRINK dictators versus honoring their autocratic leaders is paramount.

As the Supreme Court goes back into session, 5, all Americans hope the justices will decide: 1) what presidential immunity means, 2) what defines interfering with the counting of electoral votes, 3) whether states control the election process, 4) if a president is an “official” of the government (Section 3 of the 14th Amendment), 5) whether Trump engaged in reelection activities or presidential duties when he did nothing for 187 minutes during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and 6) if the Jan. 6 attack was a normal tourist visit or an insurrection.

While the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, Pew Research Center polling shows 62 percent of Americans support pro-choice rights. Along with women’s right to reproductive health decisions, immigration reform will also – implicitly – be on the Nov. 5 ballot.

Bipartisan deals on immigration have eluded lawmakers and presidents for three decades. Knowing Congress is so divided and the asylum law is complicated, politicians will most likely kick the can down the road and claim the 300,000/month migrant issue will be settled on Nov. 5. Common sense tells us otherwise. For the record: Trump only had 517 immigration judges on the bench in 2020 and Biden increased that total by 42 percent (734 judges).

There are 8.75 million indigenous Native Americans and Alaska Natives in the United. Since the remaining 98 percent of Americans are descendants of an immigrant family, it is ironic – and a sad state of affairs – when the benefits of immigration are questioned and our elected delegates can’t resolve the issue.

Finally, after Nov. 5, Americans will know whether they remain in a democracy or have reverted to living in a populist authoritarian dictatorship.

Issues to be resolved – a multitude were not identified in this op-ed -- are plentiful. Ready or not, 2024, here we are.

Read More

The Politics of Compromise and Conviction

"Scott Turner is a brilliant case study for how ambition causes politicians to accept feeble attempts to reason away their beliefs or ethics..." writes Luke Harris.

Getty Images, Kent Nishimura

The Politics of Compromise and Conviction

Scott Turner was a Texas House Representative, now serving in the Trump Administration as the Secretary of U.S. Housing & Urban Development (HUD). In the Texas House, he talked about “being the best we can,” and espoused high standards for himself and his colleagues; however, in his current position, he has voiced no complaints or objections against the administration or the Republican Party. Perhaps for less cynical reasons than power itself, but to pursue his policies on housing and healthcare. Turner is a brilliant case study for how ambition causes politicians to accept feeble attempts to reason away their beliefs or ethics, always for something greater, something they can achieve with one more step. That “one more step” toward completely surrendering their integrity, confounding their ethical clarity, and adopting whatever means meet their ends.

During a keynote address in 2014, he spoke of the duty to break the status quo, Democrat or Republican, he said, “We need servant leaders…. People who live by conviction and principle, not by the waves of the sea of what’s popular today.” He shared his experience growing up in a poor home, and his father working two jobs. At his confirmation, he talked empathetically about the homelessness crisis and how his family took in his uncle, providing him with the services he needed. Trump has made comments expressing disdain for the homeless; he said these people were hurting the “prestige” of major cities, and many homeless people might prefer their situation.

Keep ReadingShow less
Ghislaine Maxwell’s DOJ Meetings Spark New Scrutiny Over Epstein Files

Ghislaine Maxwell, September 20, 2013

(Photo by Paul Zimmerman/WireImage)

Ghislaine Maxwell’s DOJ Meetings Spark New Scrutiny Over Epstein Files

Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted accomplice of Jeffrey Epstein, has met twice this week with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche—a move that’s raising eyebrows across Washington and reigniting public demands for transparency in the Epstein saga.

Maxwell, currently serving a 20-year sentence in a Florida federal prison, reportedly initiated the meetings herself. According to her attorney, David Oscar Markus, she answered “every single question” posed by DOJ officials over the course of nine hours of interviews. Sources indicate that she was granted limited immunity, which allowed her to speak freely without fear of self-incrimination.

Keep ReadingShow less
Trump Was Told He’s in Epstein Files

A billboard in Times Square calls for the release of the Epstein files on July 23, 2025 in New York City.

(Photo by Adam Gray/Getty Images)

Trump Was Told He’s in Epstein Files

In May 2025, Attorney General Pam Bondi reportedly informed President Donald Trump that his name appeared multiple times in the government’s files related to Jeffrey Epstein, the late financier convicted of sex trafficking. The revelation, confirmed by sources cited in The Wall Street Journal and CNN, has reignited public scrutiny over the administration’s handling of the Epstein case and its broader implications for democratic transparency.

The new reports contradict an account given earlier this month by the president, who responded "no, no" when asked by a reporter whether Bondi had told him that his name appeared in the files.

Keep ReadingShow less
Is the U.S. Heading to a Police State? Trump Executive Orders and Project 2025 Raise Alarms
Protesters confront California National Guard soldiers and police outside of a federal building as protests continue in Los Angeles following three days of clashes with police after a series of immigration raids on June 09, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.
Getty Images, David McNew

Is the U.S. Heading to a Police State? Trump Executive Orders and Project 2025 Raise Alarms

Anyone who attended high school probably remembers their world history teacher talking about countries that militarized their law enforcement to make what is referred to as a police state. Examples taught should have included SS members of Nazi Germany (1925-1945), the secret police—NKVD—of the Soviet Union (1934-1946), the military regime of Chilean Dictator Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990), and the apartheid-era (1948-1994) of South Africa.

On April 28, President Donald Trump issued an 879-page executive order (EO) commanding Pam Bondi and Pete Hegseth to work with Kristi Noem and other agencies to “increase the provision of excess military and national security assets in local jurisdictions to assist State and local law enforcement.”

Keep ReadingShow less