https://znetwork.org/category/topic/economy/ Independent Left News, Analysis, Vision and Strategy Fri, 27 Feb 2026 15:12:13 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://znetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/cropped-Z_logo_512-32x32.png https://znetwork.org/category/topic/economy/ 32 32 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/factory-occupation-in-italy-laid-off-workers-organise-as-a-cooperative-and-want-to-set-up-their-own-business/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/factory-occupation-in-italy-laid-off-workers-organise-as-a-cooperative-and-want-to-set-up-their-own-business/#respond Fri, 27 Feb 2026 16:56:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1295267 In the summer of 2021, the GKN auto parts factory near the Italian city of Florence was closed, and over 400 workers lost their jobs. Since then, some of them have been occupying the building—for over four years now. Their goal is to manufacture solar panels and electric cargo bikes, thereby converting the factory into [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/factory-occupation-in-italy-laid-off-workers-organise-as-a-cooperative-and-want-to-set-up-their-own-business/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/zvideo/why-trump-will-win-the-tariff-war/ https://znetwork.org/zvideo/why-trump-will-win-the-tariff-war/#respond Thu, 26 Feb 2026 16:50:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=video&p=1294923 In this episode of The Econoclasts, Yanis Varoufakis and Wolfgang Munchau pull back the curtain to reveal the shifting tectonic plates of the global economy, arguing that the world’s fixation on Donald Trump’s tariffs and Supreme Court rulings is a dangerous distraction from a much more profound transformation – namely a new form of power [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/zvideo/why-trump-will-win-the-tariff-war/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/anatomy-of-a-general-strike-how-workers-in-the-indian-state-of-karnataka-shut-down-production/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/anatomy-of-a-general-strike-how-workers-in-the-indian-state-of-karnataka-shut-down-production/#respond Thu, 26 Feb 2026 16:49:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1295205 On February 12, as part of the All-India General Strike, 600,000 workers downed tools and almost 100,000 participated in street actions in South India’s largest state, Karnataka, whose government, ruled by the main bourgeois opposition in the center, is rushing to implement anti-labor laws legislated by the BJP. Mass detentions, motorcycle rallies, protest marches and [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/anatomy-of-a-general-strike-how-workers-in-the-indian-state-of-karnataka-shut-down-production/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/trumps-2026-sotu-speech-economic-obfuscation-political-theatre/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/trumps-2026-sotu-speech-economic-obfuscation-political-theatre/#respond Wed, 25 Feb 2026 17:58:52 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1295158 Trump’s 2026 State of the Union speech was historic—but only in the sense of the longest ever at 1 hour and 47 minutes. Apart from that, the speech was one third misrepresentations about the state of the American economy followed by more than an hour of pure political theater which has come to increasingly feature [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/trumps-2026-sotu-speech-economic-obfuscation-political-theatre/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/cuba-under-siege-battles-u-s-oil-blockade/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/cuba-under-siege-battles-u-s-oil-blockade/#respond Wed, 25 Feb 2026 17:55:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1295162 President Donald Trump on January 29 imposed import tariffs on any country providing Cuba with oil. The false claim that Cuba threatened terrorism against the United States served as pretext.  The U.S. Supreme Court on February 20 ruled that President Trump lacked constitutional authority for imposing tariffs. Now tariffs continue under different legal authorization. The oil [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/cuba-under-siege-battles-u-s-oil-blockade/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/zvideo/the-suicidal-folly-of-a-war-with-iran/ https://znetwork.org/zvideo/the-suicidal-folly-of-a-war-with-iran/#comments Wed, 25 Feb 2026 17:54:01 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=video&p=1295173 The Laurel and Hardy negotiating team of Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, coupled with Trump’s appalling ignorance of world affairs and megalomania, seem set to push the U.S. into yet another debacle in the Middle East, one the Congress has not approved, and the public does not want. The demands imposed on Iran by the [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/zvideo/the-suicidal-folly-of-a-war-with-iran/feed/ 1 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/tax-the-rich-rally-in-albany-where-was-mayor-mamdani/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/tax-the-rich-rally-in-albany-where-was-mayor-mamdani/#respond Wed, 25 Feb 2026 17:42:46 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1295156 Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani’s election as mayor of the “capital of capitalism” was a tremendous accomplishment and a blow to Zionists, Wall Street and Democratic Party higher-ups. Even The New York Times described his victory as a “surge of anti-establishment discontent.” Just a few of Mamdani’s frequent pre-election critical comments on capitalism include: Do I [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/tax-the-rich-rally-in-albany-where-was-mayor-mamdani/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/workers-need-more-paths-to-join-the-labor-movement/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/workers-need-more-paths-to-join-the-labor-movement/#respond Wed, 25 Feb 2026 17:41:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1295178 [This article is part of a Labor Notes roundtable series: How Can Unions Defend Worker Power Against Trump 2.0? We will be publishing more contributions here and in our magazine in the months ahead. Click here to read the rest of the series.] It shouldn’t be so hard for workers to join a union. Nearly [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/workers-need-more-paths-to-join-the-labor-movement/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/trumped-on-tariffs/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/trumped-on-tariffs/#respond Tue, 24 Feb 2026 17:01:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1295133 Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” just got squashed. The Supreme Court on February 20 denied, by a 6-3 decision, the Trump administration’s power to impose tariffs under the 1977 International Economic Emergency Powers Act (IEEPA). The ruling invalidates tariffs for around one quarter of all imports to the US—those from about 20 countries plus the EU. [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/trumped-on-tariffs/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-union-members-pay-it-forward/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-union-members-pay-it-forward/#respond Tue, 24 Feb 2026 17:01:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1295135 Anna Bueker went to work at the BFGoodrich plant in Fort Wayne, Indiana, in her early 20s and began building a good life with the wages and benefits provided by her United Steelworkers (USW) contract. But over the next several years, as she navigated divorce and life as a single mom, that contract took on [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-union-members-pay-it-forward/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/shopping-isnt-a-strategy/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/shopping-isnt-a-strategy/#respond Tue, 24 Feb 2026 17:00:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1295137 An Instagram post of mine about ICE’s top corporate collaborators went viral a few weeks ago. The fact that it got over four million views and over 35,000 shares suggests that people are starting to grasp the central role private businesses play in enabling Trump’s paramilitary thugs. But I was puzzled and a bit frustrated by most people’s reactions. [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/shopping-isnt-a-strategy/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/zvideo/lessons-from-minneapolis-mass-social-strikes-webinar/ https://znetwork.org/zvideo/lessons-from-minneapolis-mass-social-strikes-webinar/#respond Mon, 23 Feb 2026 22:01:04 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=video&p=1295112 Organizers across the USA convened on February 16, 2026 to discuss the potential of social strikes in combatting Trump’s authoritarian juggernaut. Join us to learn about the history of social strike resistance to tyranny around the world; the lessons of the Minneapolis “Day of Truth and Freedom”; the role of organized labor; and how to [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/zvideo/lessons-from-minneapolis-mass-social-strikes-webinar/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/should-billionaires-have-it-all/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/should-billionaires-have-it-all/#respond Mon, 23 Feb 2026 21:19:07 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1295092 California politics is currently being shaken up thanks to a drive, led by the Service Employees International Union, to enact a one-time wealth tax on the state’s billionaires to offset federal cuts to healthcare and support public education and food assistance programs. Campaigning for the measure, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders told an enthusiastic crowd that [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/should-billionaires-have-it-all/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/basis-of-class-struggle-must-be-recognized-by-working-people/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/basis-of-class-struggle-must-be-recognized-by-working-people/#respond Mon, 23 Feb 2026 21:03:07 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1295088 Distractions Currently working people are inveterately distracted with attacks on the Constitution by MAGA gangsters, thugs, and reprobates.  Another distraction is the heinous protection of the international cabal of rich men guilty of exploiting young girls in the Epstein criminal network. A third distraction is indoctrinating working people into supporting a glutted military budget while [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/basis-of-class-struggle-must-be-recognized-by-working-people/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/europe-mutilation-insult-and-war/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/europe-mutilation-insult-and-war/#respond Mon, 23 Feb 2026 20:58:39 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1295085 Mutilation It all happened so quickly that few people noticed. In fifteen years, Europe went from being a large continent to a small subcontinent. In 2010, the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) was approved, the construction of which began with the Bologna Process (1999). It aimed to create a common system of easily readable and [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/europe-mutilation-insult-and-war/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/philanthropy-for-radicals/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/philanthropy-for-radicals/#respond Mon, 23 Feb 2026 20:54:55 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1295082 A review of The Radical Fund: How a Band of Visionaries and a Million Dollars Upended Americaby John Fabian WittSimon & Schuster, 2025, 736 pp. In 1922 the American Fund for Public Service received two requests for money from people who would become famous campaigners for labor rights and racial justice. One came from union [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/philanthropy-for-radicals/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/females-vs-citizens/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/females-vs-citizens/#respond Mon, 23 Feb 2026 20:28:52 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1295071 Around midsummer this year, my partner and I will welcome our first child into the world. I have thought long and hard about whether or not to say anything in this newsletter, committed as we are to our privacy. But, ultimately, it is becoming harder and harder to write every week without referencing our decision [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/females-vs-citizens/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-to-build-pro-worker-governance-in-cleveland/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-to-build-pro-worker-governance-in-cleveland/#respond Sun, 22 Feb 2026 14:07:57 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1295053 While Zohran Mamdani was trouncing his opponents in the New York City mayoral election, Tanmay Shah, a twenty-nine-year-old Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) member and South Asian immigrant, who ran on a platform of affordable housing, affordable groceries, and reliable city services, won the Ward 12 City Council seat in Cleveland, Ohio. It took three [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-to-build-pro-worker-governance-in-cleveland/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/ai-and-the-economy-a-losing-bet-for-working-people/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/ai-and-the-economy-a-losing-bet-for-working-people/#respond Sun, 22 Feb 2026 13:41:29 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1295046 ech billionaires and the Trump administration, with the apparent support of most of the capitalist class, are betting big on artificial intelligence (AI). In fact, AI investments have become the primary driver of US economic growth. But this is a losing bet for us. The AI boom is not sustainable. And because it is delivering [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/ai-and-the-economy-a-losing-bet-for-working-people/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/austerity-and-unrest-in-bolivia/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/austerity-and-unrest-in-bolivia/#respond Sat, 21 Feb 2026 13:10:13 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294997 One in three of the first 100 days of the new Bolivian government, headed up by Rodrigo Paz and his vice president, Edmand Lara, has passed in a climate of open conflict. Blockades escalated to the point of paralyzing the country, with mass demonstrations, primarily by mining unions and public school teachers, converging on La [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/austerity-and-unrest-in-bolivia/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/ice-tripled-its-reliance-on-microsoft-in-last-six-months-leaked-files-reveal/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/ice-tripled-its-reliance-on-microsoft-in-last-six-months-leaked-files-reveal/#respond Sat, 21 Feb 2026 12:59:49 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294994 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has relied extensively on Microsoft’s cloud storage and artificial intelligence products while escalating its campaign of mass arrests and deportations in recent months, files obtained by +972 Magazine, Local Call, and The Guardian reveal. ICE more than tripled the amount of data it holds on Microsoft servers between July [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/ice-tripled-its-reliance-on-microsoft-in-last-six-months-leaked-files-reveal/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/do-workers-in-germany-vote-neo-nazi/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/do-workers-in-germany-vote-neo-nazi/#respond Fri, 20 Feb 2026 17:31:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294968 In Germany’s recent election – held in February 2025 – the AfD managed to become the second-strongest political force, winning 21%. Four years earlier, the neo-fascist party’s share had been 10.4%. In East Germany, it even reached 32%. The AfD thus succeeded in doubling its share of the vote. Worse, this is not because fewer [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/do-workers-in-germany-vote-neo-nazi/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/bernie-sanders-billionaire-tax-now/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/bernie-sanders-billionaire-tax-now/#respond Fri, 20 Feb 2026 17:30:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294985 California’s 2026 election isn’t just another policy fight — it’s a stress test for whether democracy can still regulate concentrated wealth. As Silicon Valley’s billionaire class pours unprecedented money into the governor’s race, ballot initiatives, and down‑ballot contests, the state has become the proving ground for what Politico calls “the big tech flex.” The Guardian [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/bernie-sanders-billionaire-tax-now/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/fighting-autocracy-and-corruption/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/fighting-autocracy-and-corruption/#respond Thu, 19 Feb 2026 16:50:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294926 Backroom Bargaining: Racketeering and Rebellion in New York City’s Labor Unions By: Jane Latour University of Illinois Press, 2026 My first contact with labor reformers in New York City was nearly 50 years ago. Like many rank-and-file dissidents, before and since, these critics of union corruption were prophets without honor in their own local. Teamsters [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/fighting-autocracy-and-corruption/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/labor-movement-attack/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/labor-movement-attack/#respond Thu, 19 Feb 2026 16:47:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294939 Union density—the percentage of American workers who are union members—is the single most important measurement of labor’s power in its omnipresent war against capital. Every year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases an annual measurement of union density. It is a hard, numerical gut check of where the labor movement stands. This year’s report, out [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/labor-movement-attack/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-did-normie-liberals-become-the-vanguard-of-the-anti-trump-revolution/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-did-normie-liberals-become-the-vanguard-of-the-anti-trump-revolution/#respond Thu, 19 Feb 2026 16:46:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294941 Why have so many liberals radicalized over the past year? And what does this mean for building an effective majoritarian movement — electorally and in the streets — against Trumpism? I went on The Dig to discuss this last December with Indivisible’s co–executive director Leah Greenberg and progressive political strategist Waleed Shahid. I’m publishing the [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-did-normie-liberals-become-the-vanguard-of-the-anti-trump-revolution/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-close-is-the-next-financial-crisis/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-close-is-the-next-financial-crisis/#respond Wed, 18 Feb 2026 17:50:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294868 During the past fourteen months since Trump took office, financial asset market bubbles accelerated to record levels in 2025—i.e. S&P 500 and Nasdaq stock markets, bitcoin cryptocurrency market, and gold and silver markets. In early February 2026 these markets abruptly contracted, briefly recovered some, but then resumed decline once again. The key question debated today [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-close-is-the-next-financial-crisis/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/activists-are-racking-up-wins-against-a-false-climate-solution/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/activists-are-racking-up-wins-against-a-false-climate-solution/#respond Wed, 18 Feb 2026 17:48:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294867 Last June, California climate and environmental justice groups celebrated a victory a long time in the making. After an opposition campaign that built alliances across movements, turned out supporters to hearings and generated 50,000 public comments, a company gave up plans that threatened to wreak havoc on the state’s forests. The corporation behind the defeated [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/activists-are-racking-up-wins-against-a-false-climate-solution/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/power-pushback-brooklyn-navy-yard-evicts-drone-maker-amid-pressure-campaign/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/power-pushback-brooklyn-navy-yard-evicts-drone-maker-amid-pressure-campaign/#respond Wed, 18 Feb 2026 17:43:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294870 The Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation (BNY) will not renew its lease with Easy Aerial, a drone manufacturer that supplies weapons to Israel. Easy Aerial is headquartered in Brooklyn, but has offices in Gan HaShomron, Israel. It was founded by former IDF soldiers. The company’s Chief Product Officer told Truthout that their products found “an immediate need after [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/power-pushback-brooklyn-navy-yard-evicts-drone-maker-amid-pressure-campaign/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/algorithms-and-ai-have-turned-gaza-into-a-laboratory-of-death/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/algorithms-and-ai-have-turned-gaza-into-a-laboratory-of-death/#respond Wed, 18 Feb 2026 17:42:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294866 The revelations by +972 Magazine and Local Call have exposed the darkest core of the contemporary war in Gaza, in which genocide is carried out not only by bombs and missiles, but by data, algorithms and global digital platforms. The Israeli artificial intelligence system known as Lavender has confirmed what the Palestinian resistance, Lebanon, and [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/algorithms-and-ai-have-turned-gaza-into-a-laboratory-of-death/feed/ 0