Mark Levinson
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Retired Chief Economist, Service Employees International Union; Book Review Editor at Dissent Magazine and lover of jazz.
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Articles by Mark Levinson
Review: 2025 Lexus LS 500 F Sport AWD
Luxurious Lexus LS is smoooooth … Smooth as silk, smooth as a baby’s behind, smooth as satin, smooth as glass, smooth as a pool table, smooth as an iPad screen, or even smooth as a breeze, but slick as a whistle. That’s the Lexus LS 500 luxury sedan. Smooth, and quiet, and comfy the Lexus flagship LS 500 coddles, pampers and wraps its occupants in luxury that is stylish, yet restrained. The LS 500 defines elegance.
Harman's heroes - Audiograde
Harman Luxury Audio Group is using High End Munich 2025 to announce the latest models hitting its JBL and Mark Levinson brands. For the former this sees three new models added to JBL’s Summit loudspeaker series, with designs inspired by Himalayan peaks. The two-way Ama standmount at £14,998 (including stands) features an 8″ HC4 cone woofer with a D2 compression driver and ‘HDI’ horn.
Sound United Finds a New Home with Harman
Masimo Corporation has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its Masimo Consumer Audio division, which is made up of the former Sound United hi-fi brands, to Harman International, a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics, for $350 million in cash. Pending regulatory approvals, the transaction is expected to close by the end of 2025.
Harman’s $350 Million Play: The Sound United Deal
Harman International, the Samsung-owned powerhouse behind JBL, Harman Kardon, Mark Levinson, Revel, and Arcam, has agreed to buy Masimo’s Sound United division for $350 million in cash. If regulators sign off, the sale should close by the end of 2025—just three years after Masimo stunned the market by paying roughly $1.0 billion for the very same collection of brands.
Bidenomics: A Giant Step Forward for Workers
Bidenomics: A Giant Step Forward for Workers Published October 14, 2024 Economic Policy and Worker Power For the labor movement, the key criterion to assess economic policy is: how does it affect the relative strength of workers on the one side and corporate managers and capital owners on the other. Policy that weakens workers’ bargaining power will result in lower wages and greater inequality. Conversely, policy that bolsters workers’ power will raise wages and reduce inequality.
The Problem With a Job Guarantee
The Problem With a Job Guarantee Building working-class power through full employment is a worthy goal, but there are better strategies for creating and sustaining a tight labor market. ▪ Fall 2024 Read responses to this article by Dustin Guastella and Mark Levinson here. The time has come to abandon a political proposal that the left has advanced in Europe and the United States for almost 200 years: that the government should guarantee a job to everyone who is looking for work.
Responses to Fred Block
Responses to Fred Block Two responses to “The Problem With a Job Guarantee.” , and ▪ Fall 2024 Our Fall 2024 issue features an article by Fred Block on “The Problem With a Job Guarantee.” Below are two responses to the article, along with a reply from Block. Jobs Are a Source of Meaning Fred Block has written an admirable critique of the job guarantee idea from the left.
Bidenomics: A Giant Step Forward for Workers
Credit: ABCDStock Caption: Construction workers laying new asphalt to repair the road. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act provided funding for such work. Economic Policy and Worker Power For the labor movement, the key criterion to assess economic policy is: how does it affect the relative strength of workers on the one side and corporate managers and capital owners on the other. Policy that weakens workers’ bargaining power will result in lower wages and greater inequality.
The Coming Public Education Crisis
Subscribe Magazine Online Blog Podcasts Events Store Login About Us Donate Contact Advertise Newsletter The Coming Public Education Crisis A fiscal calamity awaits public schools once pandemic-related federal assistance ends. Justin H. Vassallo ▪ Spring 2023 Of all the social inequities that the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted in the United States, the crisis of public education is among the most intractable.
The Coming Public Education Crisis
Subscribe Magazine Online Blog Podcasts Events Store Login About Us Donate Contact Advertise Newsletter The Coming Public Education Crisis A fiscal calamity awaits public schools once pandemic-related federal assistance ends. Justin H. Vassallo ▪ Spring 2023 Of all the social inequities that the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted in the United States, the crisis of public education is among the most intractable.
Daniel Hertz Eva S50: The New High-End, Affordable Audio System By Mark Levinson
The Daniel Hertz Eva S50: Designed by Mark Levinson, this high-end system promises unparalleled sound quality at an affordable price. Today, Daniel Hertz, an audio company founded by industry veteran Mark Levinson introduced the Eva S50 System, a high-end, affordable audio system designed for music lovers. Mark Levinson himself has created the Eva S50, and the company says it offers the same enchanting experience as systems that cost over $100,000 but at a much more affordable price of $13,499.98.
The Privatization Myth
The Privatization of Everything: How the Plunder of Public Goods Transformed America and How We Can Fight Back By Donald Cohen and Allen Mikaelian New Press For 40 years, both Republican and, regrettably, Democratic administrations have been turning over control of health care, public water supplies, infrastructure and transportation, criminal justice, education, prisons, parks, policing, sanitation, libraries, the weather service, and more to private companies.
Cry, the Beloved Country
Watching the Republicans’ frat-boy hazing of Ketanji Brown Jackson made me wonder how Thurgood Marshall had fared in his confirmation hearings when Lyndon Johnson elevated him to the Supreme Court in 1967, more than a half-century ago. So I checked the transcript. The comparison underscores just how far this country has fallen. The Dixiecrats who still dominated Southern Senate seats knew that history was not on their side. The momentum was with civil rights.
Así explota el capitalismo chino
En su libro Morir por un iPhone, Jenny Chan relata la vida y las condiciones laborales de los jóvenes que trabajan en Foxconn, una empresa con sede en Taipéi que fabrica productos para Apple. Allí demuestra que el rápido crecimiento económico chino se basa en un sistema fabril que depende de la superexplotación de cientos de millones de trabajadores y trabajadoras. Frente a la represión, estos han hallado formas creativas de resistencia pero a veces la única opción que encuentran es el suicidio.
Así explota el capitalismo chino
En su libro «Morir por un iPhone», Jenny Chan relata la vida y las condiciones laborales de los jóvenes que trabajan en Foxconn, una empresa con sede en Taipéi que fabrica productos para Apple. Allí demuestra que el rápido crecimiento económico chino se basa en un sistema fabril que depende de la superexplotación de cientos de millones de trabajadores y trabajadoras. Frente a la represión, estos han hallado formas creativas de resistencia pero a veces la única opción que encuentran es el suicidio.
Spring 2021 | Dissent Magazine
The Kurds [W]hen we refer to all Kurdish fighters synonymously, we simply blur the fact that they have very different politics. . . right now, yes, the people are facing the Islamic State threat, so it’s very important to have a unified focus. But the truth is, ideologically and politically these are very, very different systems. Actually almost opposite to each other. —Dilar Dirik, “Rojava vs.
Another Lost Decade?
Subscribe Magazine Online Blog Podcasts Events Store Login About Us Donate Contact Advertise Newsletter Another Lost Decade? Introducing the Spring 2021 special section, Global Economic Disorder. Mark Levinson and Julia Ott ▪ Spring 2021 Illustration by Molly Crabapple The global economy suffered an unprecedented shock during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Behind the Mask | Dissent Magazine
The Kurds [W]hen we refer to all Kurdish fighters synonymously, we simply blur the fact that they have very different politics. . . right now, yes, the people are facing the Islamic State threat, so it’s very important to have a unified focus. But the truth is, ideologically and politically these are very, very different systems. Actually almost opposite to each other. —Dilar Dirik, “Rojava vs.
Monetary Myth-Busting: An Interview With Stephanie Kelton
Monetary Myth-Busting: An Interview With Stephanie Kelton The author of The Deficit Myth on why national debt is not an obstacle to progress—and why the government can afford to fund its priorities. ▪ August 11, 2020 Booked is a series of interviews about new books. For this edition, Mark Levinson spoke with Stephanie Kelton, author of The Deficit Myth: Modern Monetary Theory and the Birth of the People’s Economy (Public Affairs).
Monetary Myth-Busting: An Interview With Stephanie Kelton
Monetary Myth-Busting: An Interview With Stephanie Kelton The author of The Deficit Myth on why national debt is not an obstacle to progress—and why the government can afford to fund its priorities. Mark Levinson ▪ August 11, 2020 Stephanie Kelton (Paul Thomas/Wikimedia Commons) Booked is a series of interviews about new books.
Fall 1998 | Dissent Magazine
The Kurds [W]hen we refer to all Kurdish fighters synonymously, we simply blur the fact that they have very different politics. . . right now, yes, the people are facing the Islamic State threat, so it’s very important to have a unified focus. But the truth is, ideologically and politically these are very, very different systems. Actually almost opposite to each other. —Dilar Dirik, “Rojava vs.
Valuing the World, with Mariana Mazzucato
Booked: Valuing the World, with Mariana Mazzucato In her new book, economist Mariana Mazzucato explodes the myth that wealth is created solely by a select few trailblazing entrepreneurs, and lays out how our collective innovation can be put into the service of a more equal economy. Kate Aronoff ▪ October 17, 2018 If someone’s rich, does that mean they’re productive?
Dreams and Defiance in Foxconn City: An Interview with Jenny Chan
Dreams and Defiance in Foxconn City: An Interview with Jenny Chan China’s rapid economic growth is built on a factory system that relies on hundreds of millions of exploited workers. In the face of repression, those workers have found creative ways to resist. Mark Levinson ▪ Spring 2021 Workers in the Foxconn factory in Shenzhen (STR/AFP/Getty Images) The rise of China as a dominant economic and political power is a central fact of our age.
The Road to Renewal
Subscribe Magazine Online Blog Podcasts Events Login About Us Donate Contact Advertise Newsletter My Subscription The Road to Renewal Even in its weakened state, the labor movement remains the largest organizational counterweight to capital and the power of the wealthy. Introducing our Spring 2019 special section, Labor’s Comeback.
The Economic Collapse
Financial market conditions in the OECD countries sunk to their lowest levels in more than half a century, and the U.S. government made its most dramatic interventions in financial markets since the 1930s. The Federal Reserve and the Treasury nationalized the country's two mortgage giants, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; bailed out AIG, the world's largest insurance company; and, in effect, extended government deposit insurance to $3.4 trillion in money market funds.
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