Opinion Inequality - The Boston Globe

The national debt was $32 trillion when it was displayed on this bus shelter in Washington, D.C., in July.

Ideas

The deficit has doubled — to $2 trillion. This economist says worrying about it is silly.

Brown University’s Mark Blyth says worries about the national debt are ‘nonsensical.’ 5:03 p.m.

United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain, center left, stood for pictures with the Rev. Jesse Jackson, bottom center, after a rally for striking workers in Chicago on Oct. 7.

Ideas

It’s time for an expansive new labor movement

Redistributing wealth through higher wages — rather than government spending — is likely to appeal to people across the political spectrum. 3:00 a.m.

Yannick Garcia, 3, smiled as electric violinist John Randolph played at a baby shower for young single mothers in Foxborough on Nov. 1, 2022. The event was hosted by the Lawrence Guy Family Foundation at One Patriot Place.

OpEds

What do single mothers really need? Hint: It isn’t marriage.

What’s uncomfortable about the conversation on single parenting is insisting that marriage is the only way to raise healthy and well-adjusted children. 3:00 a.m.

A key stakeholder that seems to be constantly underutilized in the real estate industry: builders of color. Wendy Estrella, along with her husband and business partner, Jose Estrella, has developed and owns over 300 units of residential housing in Lawrence. The couple, both immigrants from the Dominican Republic, have been in business for three decades.

Columns

Massachusetts needs more builders of color

Nationally, "Black developers represent 0.40 percent of the industry, while Hispanic developers represent 0.16 percent of the industry." Those are not typos. 5:21 p.m.

Electronic ankle monitors are a well-known aspect of criminal probation. Less well known are the fees and other rules that can easily trip up probationers and send them to prison, as Vincent Schiraldi, a former corrections official, describes in "Mass Supervision: Probation, Parole, and the Illusion of Safety and Freedom."

Ideas

Probation is supposed to be an alternative to prison. It might be a trapdoor instead.

In theory, community supervision programs are more forgiving and rehabilitative. In practice, they can be trapdoors to prison. 1:39 p.m.

Ideas

Marriage is increasingly for the upper classes. That’s not a good sign.

The economic divide between one- and two-parent households is getting larger. 11:23 a.m.

Ideas

Identity politics is a game the left can’t win

Dividing up a coalition into an endless number of minority groups won't create the solidarity required for real change. 3:34 p.m.

You cannot have radical candor or psychological safety in an environment where you can lose your livelihood and health insurance from one day to the next.

OpEds

Work isn’t working for a lot of America

Many Americans are looking very closely at the fine print of their contracts and realizing they want something more. 3:00 a.m.