The New York Times is having one of its better days. Two separate stories expose the same simple but unmentionable truth: capitalists, with the quiet cooperation of the nominally public political structures they dominate, kill and despoil for money.
So, here’s another easy and obvious litmus test for Obama: Mr. President, even if you’re unwilling to start opening public factories to make basic products like peanut butter in modern buildings with maximum product safety, rich-country labor standards, and minimum marketing costs, are you at least going to correct the Reagan Revolution’s long-standing near-ban on the federal inspection of private businesses?