Truthout
Capitalism
![A man protesting police brutality and systemic racism holds up his hands as they face police during a citywide curfew in New York City, on June 2, 2020.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2020/06/2020_0609-protest-police--400x300.jpg)
Racist Violence Can’t Be Separated From the Violence of Neoliberal Capitalism
Neoliberal society is built on the myth that economic prosperity is hermetically sealed from racial and social justice.
![Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis gives updates about the state's response to the coronavirus pandemic during a press conference on April 17, 2020, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2020/05/2020_0521-ron-desantis-florida-400x300.jpg)
Florida, Georgia and Trump Are Lying. COVID Is Far From Over.
We are “reopening” because in these United States, the people have always come a distant second to profit.
![President Trump participates in a tour of a Honeywell International plant that manufactures personal protective equipment in Phoenix, Arizona, on May 5, 2020.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2020/05/2020_0515-essential-workers-400x300.jpg)
Imagine a World Where All Workers Are “Essential,” But Not All Leaders Are
Given their greed, ineptitude and callousness, we should reconsider how essential CEOs and our “leaders” really are.
![](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2020/05/SEG2-Tech-Naomi-Split-1-400x300.jpg)
Companies Plan to Profit in High-Tech COVID Dystopia
The pandemic could transform our lives into a “permanent living laboratory for a highly profitable no-touch future."
![A man sits on a turned-over milk crate in front of shuttered businesses](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2020/05/2020_0506-unemployment-400x300.jpg)
Mass Unemployment Amid the Pandemic Is an Indictment of Capitalism
Worker co-ops lack capitalism’s irrational fixation on profit, so they are not subject to boom-and-bust job cycles.
![People sit on a hillside overlooking oil pumpjacks at the Huntington Beach Oil Fields amidst the coronavirus pandemic on April 20, 2020, in Huntington Beach, California. Oil prices traded in negative territory for the first time as the spread of COVID-19 impacts global demand.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2020/04/2020_0421-oil-negative_-400x300.jpg)
The Day Petroleum Was Less Than Worthless
We now know that oil can cease to be important without the Earth tumbling into the sun. Where do we go from here?
![](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2020/04/GettyImages-1217876152-400x300.jpg)
COVID-19 Exposes the Delicate Economic Balance We All Live in Under Capitalism
This pandemic makes it clear that under capitalism, the worker is not that far removed from the pauper.
![Rows of golden piggy banks](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2020/04/2020_0417-billionaires-taxes-j-400x300.jpg)
Billionaires Have Paid 79 Percent Fewer Taxes Since 1980
As we emerge from this pandemic, any recovery program should include a tax that limits the hoarding of wealth.
![Police officers in face masks are seen near the NASDAQ stock exchange at the crossing of Broadway and West 43rd Street during the COVID-19 pandemic, April 12, 2020.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2020/04/2020_0417-nasdaq-pandemic-400x300.jpg)
COVID-19 Was a Trigger, But Capitalism Caused the Economic Crash
Naming economic crashes after their triggers only distracts attention from capitalism’s innate vulnerabilities.
![A walmart employee holds a box in a warehouse](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2020/04/2020_0413-walmart-worker-400x300.jpg)
Minimum-Wage Workers Are Dying to Keep Everyone Else Alive. They Deserve More.
Low-wage workers are standing between our society and calamity. They deserve health care and a living wage now.