Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

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

Opinion

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 Roots of America’s Violence:
White Supremacy, Power, and the Struggle for Dignity
Ragiv:Charlie Kirk in Tampa July 2025 (cropped).jpg - Vükiped

The Roots of America’s Violence: White Supremacy, Power, and the Struggle for Dignity

In September 2025, activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated while speaking at a Utah campus event. His death was shocking — not only for its brutality, but because it showed that political violence is not just a relic of the past or a threat on the horizon. It is part of our national identity. Today’s surge in violence follows patterns we’ve seen before. Let’s take a look at that history.

When Pope Alexander VI issued the Doctrine of Discovery in 1493, he gave theological and legal cover for European conquest of lands already inhabited by indigenous people. These papal bulls declared non-Christian peoples “less than” and their lands open for seizure. This was more than a geopolitical maneuver — it embedded into the Western imagination a belief in the inherent supremacy of some over others.

Keep ReadingShow less
The Noosphere Is Here–and the Struggle for Its Soul Now Runs Through Musk, Putin, and Trump

The noosphere is here—and it’s under siege. This essay explores how Musk, Trump, and Putin are shaping the global mind through Starlink, X, and cognitive warfare.

Getty Images, Yuichiro Chino

The Noosphere Is Here–and the Struggle for Its Soul Now Runs Through Musk, Putin, and Trump

In the early 20th century, two thinkers—Russian geochemist Vladimir Vernadsky and French Jesuit philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin—imagined a moment when humanity’s collective consciousness would crystallize into a new planetary layer: the noosphere, from the Greek nous, meaning “mind.” A web of thought enveloping the globe, driven by shared knowledge, science, and a spiritual awakening.

Today, the noosphere is no longer speculation. It is orbiting above us, pulsing through the algorithms of our digital platforms. And it is being weaponized in real time. Its arrival has not ushered in global unity but cognitive warfare. Its architecture is not governed by democracies or international institutions but by a handful of unaccountable actors.

Keep ReadingShow less
2025 Democracy Awards Ceremony Celebrates Bipartisan Excellence in Public Service

The Democracy Awards Ceremony hosted by the Congressional Management Foundation (CMF) on Thursday, September 18, 2025

Credit: CMF

2025 Democracy Awards Ceremony Celebrates Bipartisan Excellence in Public Service

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Congressional Management Foundation (CMF) hosted its annual Democracy Awards Ceremony on Thursday, September 18, recognizing exceptional Members of Congress and staff who exemplify outstanding public service, operational excellence, and innovation in their work on Capitol Hill.

In the stately House Ways & Means Committee Hearing Room, the 8th annual Democracy Awards ceremony unfolded as a heartfelt tribute to the congressional offices honored earlier this summer. The event marked more than just a formal recognition—it was a celebration of integrity, dedication, and the enduring spirit of public service.

Keep ReadingShow less
What Makes Trump’s Power Grab Different?

Workers hang a large photo of President Donald Trump next to a U.S. flag on the facade of the Department of Labor headquarters building in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 27, 2025.

Drew Angerer/AFP/Getty Images/TNS

What Makes Trump’s Power Grab Different?

For many, the evidence is in: Donald Trump wants to be an autocrat. If you haven’t read an op-ed or heard a radio, TV or podcast commentator make that case, it’s probably because you’ve tried hard to avoid doing so. It would require virtually never watching cable news, including pro-Trump outlets, because there are few things Fox News and its imitators love more than running clips of MSNBC hosts and other “resistance” types, not to mention Democratic politicians, melting down over Trump’s “war on democracy,” “authoritarian power-grabs,” etc.

Move further to the right, and you’ll find populists who want Trump to be an autocrat. They use terms like “Red Caesarism,” or “neomonarchism,” while others pine for an American Pinochet or Francisco Franco or compare Trump to biblical figures like the Persian King Cyrus or ancient Israel’s King David. I can’t really blame anyone for taking these pathetic Bonapartists at their word.

Keep ReadingShow less