Corporations
Under Review
Maybe We Already Have Runaway Machines
A new book argues that the invention of states and corporations has something to teach us about A.I. But perhaps it’s the other way around.
Under Review
How Has Big Publishing Changed American Fiction?
A new book argues that corporate publishing has transformed what it means to be an author.
Daily Comment
Will Biden’s Meetings with A.I. Companies Make Any Difference?
Voluntary commitments from the likes of OpenAI, Microsoft, and Google could be a small step toward meaningful A.I. regulations—or a way for Big Tech to write its own rules.
Profiles
Vivek Ramaswamy, the C.E.O. of Anti-Woke, Inc.
By mocking corporate virtue-signalling on climate change and racial justice, the biotech founder is becoming a right-wing star.
Dispatch
The Upstart Union Challenging Starbucks
Baristas nationwide are remarkably organized. Is the company’s C.E.O., Howard Schultz, using firings, store closures, and legal delays to thwart them?
Shouts & Murmurs
Memories of My First Baseball Game
I never saw Dad again, but I was having too much fun to dwell on his disappearance for long.
Satire from The Borowitz Report
Women Declare Themselves Corporations to Force Supreme Court to Grant Them Rights as People
Attorneys across the nation indicated that they have been swamped by requests from clients seeking to incorporate as soon as possible.
Shouts & Murmurs
Better Ways to Answer “How Are You?”
Instead of: “Work is killing me.”
Try saying: “I’m fortunate to work for the fine people at Blackheart Universal Conglomeration.”
Daily Comment
The Baby-Formula Blame Game
At a House committee hearing this week, the F.D.A. and Abbott passed the buck. With parents scrambling to feed their children, who’s responsible for the shortages?
A Reporter at Large
Jordan Thomas’s Army of Whistle-Blowers
The lawyer and his clients have made millions by exposing one Wall Street crime after another. But are they changing the industry?
Daily Comment
Joe Manchin’s Deep Corporate Ties
An underexamined aspect of Manchin’s pro-business positions in the Senate is his early membership in the American Legislative Exchange Council.
Cultural Comment
Dave Chappelle, Netflix, and the Illusions of Corporate Identity Politics
The controversy over the comedian’s latest special is most telling not for its lessons on cancel culture or comedy but as a window on the streaming platform’s approach to so-called content.
Shouts & Murmurs
Fight the Power! Brought to You by the Power
Step up to the plate and purchase our anti-capitalist products.
Daily Comment
Inequality Has Soared During the Pandemic—and So Has C.E.O. Compensation
Legislators, including Bernie Sanders, aim to do something about it.
Annals of a Warming Planet
The Particular Psychology of Destroying a Planet
What kind of thinking goes into engaging in planetary sabotage?
Comment
The High Cost of Georgia’s Restrictive Voting Bills
Racist policies are bad for business, as the state’s own history can attest.
U.S. Journal
A Kansas Bookshop’s Fight with Amazon Is About More Than the Price of Books
The owner of the Raven bookstore, in Lawrence, wants to tell you about all the ways that the e-commerce giant is hurting American downtowns.
Dept. of Business
What Happens When Investment Firms Acquire Trailer Parks
The financial industry’s pursuit of profits from mobile-home communities is undermining one of the country’s largest sources of affordable housing.
Currency
Corporate America Reckons with Its Role Enabling Trump
Are the changes that companies are currently making simply emergency measures to repair reputational damage, or something more lasting?