5LL #138 - The Gilded Age, Dream Jobs, Student Debt, Comedy, Existentialism

The Politics of a Second Gilded Age
Matt Karp, Jacobin

The mass inequality of America’s first Gilded Age thrived on identity-based partisanship, helping extinguish the fires of class rage. In 2021, we’re headed down the same path.

The Life and Death of the Dream Job
Raechel Anne Jolie, The Baffler

A new book reminds us that work is only a means to an end.

Joe Biden Can Cancel All Student Debt. He Just Won't.
Bridget Read, The Cut

He campaigned on canceling “at least” $10,000 worth of debt for borrowers as soon as he got into office, and on canceling debt totally for borrowers at historic Black colleges and universities — but now that he is actually in the executive seat, Biden is dashing hopes that he will enact the policies that will truly fix the issue.

When the Comedy Left Crashed L.A. Politics
Tom Pike, The Trouble

How a ragtag group of leftist comedians went up against fossil fuel interests and corporate Democrats—and won.

The Philosophy of Our Time
Ronald Aronson, Boston Review

Jean-Paul Sartre’s existential Marxism offers a radical philosophical foundation for today’s revitalized critiques of capitalism.

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