Popular Education
@populareducation.bsky.social
Currently publishing a series on Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans.
Subscribe to our Substack at the link below:
https://populareducationblog.substack.com/
Subscribe to our Substack at the link below:
https://populareducationblog.substack.com/
Katrina revealed what decades of racialized disinvestment, environmental degradation, and hollowed-out public institutions had already created. Our series traces this history—and how elites used the storm to push privatization and displacement.
populareducationblog.substack.com/p/hurricane-...
populareducationblog.substack.com/p/hurricane-...
Hurricane Katrina at 20: What The Storm Revealed About America
An introduction to our series on Hurricane Katrina that will explore how racial inequality, environmental neglect, and neoliberal policies shaped the disaster and its aftermath in New Orleans.
populareducationblog.substack.com
November 26, 2025 at 12:46 AM
Katrina revealed what decades of racialized disinvestment, environmental degradation, and hollowed-out public institutions had already created. Our series traces this history—and how elites used the storm to push privatization and displacement.
populareducationblog.substack.com/p/hurricane-...
populareducationblog.substack.com/p/hurricane-...
Reposted by Popular Education
Defense stocks dropping because peace talks are progressing is the perfect summary of capitalism: good news for humanity is bad news for shareholders.
November 25, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Defense stocks dropping because peace talks are progressing is the perfect summary of capitalism: good news for humanity is bad news for shareholders.
Reposted by Popular Education
Auto repos up, debt up, defaults up — but stocks are up too, so apparently that’s what a "healthy economy" looks like now.
November 25, 2025 at 1:03 AM
Auto repos up, debt up, defaults up — but stocks are up too, so apparently that’s what a "healthy economy" looks like now.
Reposted by Popular Education
Imagine looking at record profits, record executive pay, and record inequality, and concluding: yup… the minimum wage is the problem.
November 24, 2025 at 12:40 PM
Imagine looking at record profits, record executive pay, and record inequality, and concluding: yup… the minimum wage is the problem.
Reposted by Popular Education
Katrina gets called a ‘natural disaster,’ but the real disaster was decades of segregation, poverty, disinvestment, and a city where 35% of Black households couldn’t evacuate. This piece shows what actually drowned New Orleans.
populareducationblog.substack.com/p/demographi...
populareducationblog.substack.com/p/demographi...
Demographic Disparities: Victims of Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina demonstrated that structural inequalities, rather than nature alone, dictated vulnerability, evacuation, and post-storm recovery
populareducationblog.substack.com
November 23, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Katrina gets called a ‘natural disaster,’ but the real disaster was decades of segregation, poverty, disinvestment, and a city where 35% of Black households couldn’t evacuate. This piece shows what actually drowned New Orleans.
populareducationblog.substack.com/p/demographi...
populareducationblog.substack.com/p/demographi...
Reposted by Popular Education
The American healthcare system where your survival depends less on your doctor and more on a hedge fund’s quarterly targets.
November 22, 2025 at 11:11 PM
The American healthcare system where your survival depends less on your doctor and more on a hedge fund’s quarterly targets.
Reposted by Popular Education
In the U.S., billionaires figured out it’s more cost-effective to buy elections than pay taxes. Apparently that qualifies as democracy.
Federal election spending by the 100 wealthiest Americans is now 140x what it was in 2000.
Last year they crossed $1 billion in election spending.
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/int...
Last year they crossed $1 billion in election spending.
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/int...
November 22, 2025 at 4:08 PM
In the U.S., billionaires figured out it’s more cost-effective to buy elections than pay taxes. Apparently that qualifies as democracy.
Reposted by Popular Education
Private equity paywalling kids’ sports is peak late-stage capitalism: even your kid’s memories are just another monetizable asset.
November 20, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Private equity paywalling kids’ sports is peak late-stage capitalism: even your kid’s memories are just another monetizable asset.
Katrina was not a “natural disaster” — it was 300 years of choices that put profit and extraction ahead of the land. From plantations to oil canals, the catastrophe was built long before the storm hit.
Read how New Orleans was set up to fail:
populareducationblog.substack.com/p/new-orlean...
Read how New Orleans was set up to fail:
populareducationblog.substack.com/p/new-orlean...
New Orleans: Geography, Growth, & Environmental Risk
The growth of New Orleans reveals how strategic geography encouraged expansion despite inherent environmental risks.
populareducationblog.substack.com
November 17, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Katrina was not a “natural disaster” — it was 300 years of choices that put profit and extraction ahead of the land. From plantations to oil canals, the catastrophe was built long before the storm hit.
Read how New Orleans was set up to fail:
populareducationblog.substack.com/p/new-orlean...
Read how New Orleans was set up to fail:
populareducationblog.substack.com/p/new-orlean...
Reposted by Popular Education
Median homebuyer age is now 56. Turns out if you suppress wages and let investors hoard housing, people can’t afford… housing.
November 15, 2025 at 5:49 PM
Median homebuyer age is now 56. Turns out if you suppress wages and let investors hoard housing, people can’t afford… housing.
New Orleans didn’t drown from Katrina. It drowned because the Bush admin gutted flood protection while writing blank checks for Iraq. FEMA was reoriented toward counter-terror, not hurricanes. The disaster was political long before it was natural.
populareducationblog.substack.com/p/the-failur...
populareducationblog.substack.com/p/the-failur...
The Failure of FEMA: The Political and Fiscal Choices Behind Katrina’s Devastation
A critical examination of federal policy and fiscal decisions shaping FEMA’s readiness before Katrina
populareducationblog.substack.com
November 14, 2025 at 2:35 PM
New Orleans didn’t drown from Katrina. It drowned because the Bush admin gutted flood protection while writing blank checks for Iraq. FEMA was reoriented toward counter-terror, not hurricanes. The disaster was political long before it was natural.
populareducationblog.substack.com/p/the-failur...
populareducationblog.substack.com/p/the-failur...
Reposted by Popular Education
"On a national level, 8% of the US population lives in a household that lacks access to an automobile. For comparison the rate in New Orleans prior to Hurricane Katrina was over triple the national rate at 26%"
populareducationblog.substack.com/p/demographi...
populareducationblog.substack.com/p/demographi...
Demographic Disparities: Victims of Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina demonstrated that structural inequalities, rather than nature alone, dictated vulnerability, evacuation, and post-storm recovery
populareducationblog.substack.com
November 9, 2025 at 2:14 PM
"On a national level, 8% of the US population lives in a household that lacks access to an automobile. For comparison the rate in New Orleans prior to Hurricane Katrina was over triple the national rate at 26%"
populareducationblog.substack.com/p/demographi...
populareducationblog.substack.com/p/demographi...
"New Orleans’ fate was sealed long before Hurricane Katrina made landfall. Through years of neglect and austerity, the federal government delivered New Orleans a verdict of despair and Katrina merely carried out the sentence."
populareducationblog.substack.com/p/the-failur...
populareducationblog.substack.com/p/the-failur...
The Failure of FEMA: The Political and Fiscal Choices Behind Katrina’s Devastation
A critical examination of federal policy and fiscal decisions shaping FEMA’s readiness before Katrina
populareducationblog.substack.com
November 1, 2025 at 2:31 PM
"New Orleans’ fate was sealed long before Hurricane Katrina made landfall. Through years of neglect and austerity, the federal government delivered New Orleans a verdict of despair and Katrina merely carried out the sentence."
populareducationblog.substack.com/p/the-failur...
populareducationblog.substack.com/p/the-failur...
Reposted by Popular Education
"Under the current regime of cronyism trickling down from the White House, billionaires like the Ellisons are coming out into the open, publicly chasing their personal agendas."
www.cjr.org/the_media_to...
www.cjr.org/the_media_to...
The CEOs of everything.
Larry and David Ellison are poised to become the Trump era’s reigning media moguls.
www.cjr.org
October 30, 2025 at 11:57 AM
"Under the current regime of cronyism trickling down from the White House, billionaires like the Ellisons are coming out into the open, publicly chasing their personal agendas."
www.cjr.org/the_media_to...
www.cjr.org/the_media_to...
Reposted by Popular Education
Conservatives love to fearmonger about SNAP, but here are the facts:
- Most recipients work — or are kids, seniors, or disabled.
- Fraud rate: ~1%.
- Avg benefit: $6/day.
- <2% of fed budget, yet lifts millions from hunger.
- Every $1 in SNAP adds up to $1.50+ in local economic activity.
- Most recipients work — or are kids, seniors, or disabled.
- Fraud rate: ~1%.
- Avg benefit: $6/day.
- <2% of fed budget, yet lifts millions from hunger.
- Every $1 in SNAP adds up to $1.50+ in local economic activity.
Whenever people complain about the number of folks relying on food stamps, it is worth reminding them that SNAP is, by too large of a degree, a subsidy for corporations that refuse to pay a living wage and their political allies who reject public policy prescriptions to reduce income inequality.
October 28, 2025 at 1:08 PM
Conservatives love to fearmonger about SNAP, but here are the facts:
- Most recipients work — or are kids, seniors, or disabled.
- Fraud rate: ~1%.
- Avg benefit: $6/day.
- <2% of fed budget, yet lifts millions from hunger.
- Every $1 in SNAP adds up to $1.50+ in local economic activity.
- Most recipients work — or are kids, seniors, or disabled.
- Fraud rate: ~1%.
- Avg benefit: $6/day.
- <2% of fed budget, yet lifts millions from hunger.
- Every $1 in SNAP adds up to $1.50+ in local economic activity.
ICYMI our newest article in our Hurricane Katrina series traces how budget cuts, the War on Terror, and FEMA’s shift under Homeland Security turned disaster relief into a casualty of fiscal and political priorities.
populareducationblog.substack.com/p/the-failur...
populareducationblog.substack.com/p/the-failur...
The Failure of FEMA: The Political and Fiscal Choices Behind Katrina’s Devastation
A critical examination of federal policy and fiscal decisions shaping FEMA’s readiness before Katrina
populareducationblog.substack.com
October 27, 2025 at 4:13 PM
ICYMI our newest article in our Hurricane Katrina series traces how budget cuts, the War on Terror, and FEMA’s shift under Homeland Security turned disaster relief into a casualty of fiscal and political priorities.
populareducationblog.substack.com/p/the-failur...
populareducationblog.substack.com/p/the-failur...
Reposted by Popular Education
"The result is not just bad policy but also a cultural blindness: An entire generation has grown up thinking that extraction, as opposed to building, is the path to riches."
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/25/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/25/o...
Opinion | We’re Counting on Big Tech to Invent the Future. That’s a Bad Bet.
www.nytimes.com
October 25, 2025 at 3:09 PM
"The result is not just bad policy but also a cultural blindness: An entire generation has grown up thinking that extraction, as opposed to building, is the path to riches."
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/25/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/25/o...
Reposted by Popular Education
"Imagine if a car manufacturer invested in a taxi firm, which used the money to buy only that car manufacturer’s vehicles. The carmaker could claim rising sales, the taxi firm could say it was growing, and investors might conclude the sector was booming."
graceblakeley.substack.com/p/the-ai-cir...
graceblakeley.substack.com/p/the-ai-cir...
The AI Circular Economy
Big tech companies and wealthy investors are driving an AI bubble - but they won't be the ones feeling the pain when it bursts.
graceblakeley.substack.com
October 24, 2025 at 5:17 PM
"Imagine if a car manufacturer invested in a taxi firm, which used the money to buy only that car manufacturer’s vehicles. The carmaker could claim rising sales, the taxi firm could say it was growing, and investors might conclude the sector was booming."
graceblakeley.substack.com/p/the-ai-cir...
graceblakeley.substack.com/p/the-ai-cir...
"Between fiscal years 2001 and 2005, federal funding was reduced by approximately 44% for flood and hurricane protection projects overseen by the Army Corps of Engineers in New Orleans."
populareducationblog.substack.com/p/the-failur...
populareducationblog.substack.com/p/the-failur...
The Failure of FEMA: The Political and Fiscal Choices Behind Katrina’s Devastation
A critical examination of federal policy and fiscal decisions shaping FEMA’s readiness before Katrina
populareducationblog.substack.com
October 23, 2025 at 4:17 PM
"Between fiscal years 2001 and 2005, federal funding was reduced by approximately 44% for flood and hurricane protection projects overseen by the Army Corps of Engineers in New Orleans."
populareducationblog.substack.com/p/the-failur...
populareducationblog.substack.com/p/the-failur...
The Failure of FEMA: Political and Fiscal Decisions Behind New Orleans’ Vulnerability to Hurricane Katrina 🧵
October 21, 2025 at 8:25 PM
The Failure of FEMA: Political and Fiscal Decisions Behind New Orleans’ Vulnerability to Hurricane Katrina 🧵
"Throughout the Bush Administration, a recurring pattern emerged: the federal government wrote blank checks for the war effort in the Middle East while domestic infrastructure projects were relegated to checking the couch cushions for loose change."
populareducationblog.substack.com/p/the-failur...
populareducationblog.substack.com/p/the-failur...
The Failure of FEMA: The Political and Fiscal Choices Behind Katrina’s Devastation
A critical examination of federal policy and fiscal decisions shaping FEMA’s readiness before Katrina
populareducationblog.substack.com
October 21, 2025 at 2:05 PM
"Throughout the Bush Administration, a recurring pattern emerged: the federal government wrote blank checks for the war effort in the Middle East while domestic infrastructure projects were relegated to checking the couch cushions for loose change."
populareducationblog.substack.com/p/the-failur...
populareducationblog.substack.com/p/the-failur...
Reposted by Popular Education
According to the American Bankruptcy Institute, individual Chapter 7 bankruptcy filings have increased 15% during the first 9 months of 2025, compared to the same time period in 2024.
October 20, 2025 at 12:15 PM
According to the American Bankruptcy Institute, individual Chapter 7 bankruptcy filings have increased 15% during the first 9 months of 2025, compared to the same time period in 2024.
Reposted by Popular Education
Late-Stage Capitalism: A system so efficient it convinces you your suffering is self-improvement
October 19, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Late-Stage Capitalism: A system so efficient it convinces you your suffering is self-improvement
Reposted by Popular Education
"Trump’s attempts at influencing the economic data produced by the US government are clearly authoritarian in intent, and a degradation of current practices in the US."
developingeconomics.org/2025/10/15/t...
developingeconomics.org/2025/10/15/t...
The Data War Comes Home
The Trump administration’s ongoing attempts at manipulating US government economic data echoes controversies that have existed in the realm of development data for decades. These controversies high…
developingeconomics.org
October 16, 2025 at 2:19 PM
"Trump’s attempts at influencing the economic data produced by the US government are clearly authoritarian in intent, and a degradation of current practices in the US."
developingeconomics.org/2025/10/15/t...
developingeconomics.org/2025/10/15/t...
Reposted by Popular Education
"That law changed strict bright-line media ownership rules that prohibited acquisitions of local stations by chains and moved them to a discretionary system where regulators could approve such acquisitions"
www.levernews.com/the-origins-...
www.levernews.com/the-origins-...
The Origins Of Kimmelgate
A 1996 law from a Democratic president created Donald Trump’s censorship machine by consolidating media, broadband, and tech firms. We can stop it.
www.levernews.com
September 26, 2025 at 1:59 PM
"That law changed strict bright-line media ownership rules that prohibited acquisitions of local stations by chains and moved them to a discretionary system where regulators could approve such acquisitions"
www.levernews.com/the-origins-...
www.levernews.com/the-origins-...