Bill Clinton's New Markets initiative tried to fight poverty by showering incentives on the private sector. And now Hillary has embraced it. By Lily Geismer.

With multiple homes, a full-time private chef, vacations, entertainment and $746 for pet care, Alicia Stephenson needs more than $400,000 a month to meet her living expenses, according to testimony from a financial expert who specializes in divorces. By Kate Thayer and Amanda Marrazzo.

Welcome to the age of austerity. By Mark Blyth.

For all he gets wrong on race, the Republican nominee got one thing right: The Democratic Party does take black Americans for granted, and that’s a problem. By Nikole Hannah-Jones.

“[I]n an era marked by the rise of Lynch Law, across the U.S. American South, restrictions on voter rights, and a turn away from African American rights across the nation, Frederick Douglass traveled widely, and used his podium to argue that any person, notwithstanding physical attributes, class, or caste, could attain virtue…” By Daniel Joslyn.

Charts that go bump in the night. By Luke Kawa, Sid Verma, Julie Verhage, and Narae Kim.

By Nomi Prins.

Many white workers aren't voting for Democrats this November. And not for the reasons you think. By Connor Kilpatrick.

Why is it so hard to reduce the Pentagon budget? By William D. Hartung.

The South African city is World Design Capital, yet residents of its Khayelitsha township live in appallingly cramped, unhygienic conditions. The need for long-promised urban reform is urgent. By Oliver Wainwright.

The real story here is that the TPP is a deal about redistributing more income upward. By Dean Baker.

In the year of Trump and Brexit, education has become the greatest divide of all – splitting voters into two increasingly hostile camps. But this is not a clash between the ignorant and the enlightened. By David Runciman. (Oct. 5, 2016)

Historic debate between James Baldwin v. William F. Buckley Jr. at Cambridge University on the question: "Is the American Dream at the expense of the American Negro?"

What would Aristotle have thought of modern liberal democracy? It’s complicated. By Paul Cartledge. (June 3, 2016)

Developers have resorted to new techniques to combat a softening market. By Madeline Stone. (Aug. 15, 2016)

The notion that poverty stems from a lack of will power and a poor work ethic is as old as America. Why that needs to be dispelled. 

Is There a Future For Alternative Living in London? By John Komurki.

From community displacement in Mexico City to tourism-triggered evictions in Lisbon and crazy rent hikes in Silicon Valley, our readers shared stories of gentrification happening in their cities – and the initiatives trying to tackle it. By Francesca Perry.

The Mengs are just one of millions of families across the U.S. that are struggling to find affordable housing. The government has established several housing assistance programs to help them, but the vast majority of poor Americans don’t receive any housing aid. And the problem is getting worse: The share of poor families that devote more than half of their income to housing costs has risen by 10 percentage points since 1991.

The U.S. Census Bureau’s announcement today that the number of Americans living below the poverty line fell between 2014 and 2015 is good news. But before we get too excited, it is worth noting that the federal poverty line was a meager $12,000 for a single person living alone in 2015 (and only about $24,000 for a married couple living with two children).