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America's
sharp divide about poverty
Why
we have to change how we think about money
Importing businesses won't help
states' economic growth
The religious sin lost by the
wayside
The importance of local business
Safety net programs have dramatically
cut poverty
2015
How debt collection court judgements
disproportionately hit blacks
How Dodd-Frank is killling community
banks
How the World Trade Organization
screws America
Billionaires don't help the economy
Middle class collapse shutting
down major retail chains
Martin Luther King supported a
guaranteed income
Where those welfare loafers really
hang out
About those welfare druggies.
. .
Kansas rips off poor people's
money for banks
Rightwing lie about welfare exposed
Another Fed governor shows his
true colors
Word: Franklin Roosevelt on an
economic bill of rights
Why Americans aren't enjoying
purported "economic growth"
The red state with the socialist
bank
Students
rebel against conventional economics
2014
A Pulitzer Prize winning former
Washington Post
book review editor
tells what it's like to be become a poor man
TPP scam misses another deadline
More jobs for the poor means a
need for more childcare
The fake recovery
Tokyo has three percent of the
homeless of NYC
The sharing economy
Low-income drivers face higher auto insurance, even
when they have clean driving records
Why basic income should be a key
issue
Another way the Fed could have
handled the recession
Milton Friedman: Killing American
softly with his song
Bookshelf: An economy without
greedsters
Time is right for the return of
postal banks
More than a quarter of Americans
live in poor neighborhoods
Why economic growth is a human
shift that can't survive
2013
Why America's obsession with growth
doesn't work
2012
Degrowth
movement growing
@Harpers
- Factor
by which the average compensation for CEOs of fast-food companies
has increased since 2000: 7
67% believe economy is unfair
to middle class
Pope Francis attacks global economic
system
America's flagging economy compared
to other countries
The looming fiscal crisis nobody's
talking about
Richard Florida sort of admits
that he was full of it
A few reasons that anti-poverty
programs work
I
AM ECO WARRIOR
Why a guaranteed income makes
sense
IMF finally discovers that inequality
isn't good for economy
Postal banking works
How computers contributed to the
decline of the middle class
The role of free trade in income
inequality
Tennessee governor urges two free
years of community college and technical school
2013
What happens in Davos should stay
in Davos (along with those who go there)
Swiss banks want amnesty for helping
US citizens avoid taxes
China doubles investment in U.S.
How’s your GDP today?
Well paying American service jobs
being off shored
America's 40 year slump
The long term disaster of austerity
politics
Why a little inflation is a good
thing in times like this
Economists confuse greed with
intelligence
Growing number of Americans feel
they'll have to work until they're in the 80s . . .or until they
die
Some
well working cooperatives
According to a Brookings
Institution’s survey, more
than a quarter of Americans say capitalism is working “not
too well” while 16% say capitalism is working “not
at all well.”
Some ways to democratize the economy
Capital's income soars as rest
of country's goes down
The sickest article we've read
in a long time
Middle class has declined with
fall of union membership
17 states rejecting up to 80%
of new welfare applicants
Some reasons our economy is such
a mess
The economy Washington and the
media refuse to face
Germany produces twice as many
cars as U.S. with workers paid twice as much
Why the GDP is obsolete
Hillary Clinton gets around campaign
spending laws by huge fees for speeches
Organizing without a union
Big banks trying to screw credit
unions
Koch brother wants to get rid
of minimum wage
Why is Obama keeping his planned
anti-American trade agreement secret?
American capitalists have screwed
you; time to talk cooperatives
American households have regained
less than half of wealth lost during recession
Austerity leads to record unemployment
in Europe
Pope attacks "dictatorship
of the economy"
Corporate lobbyists getting big
bonuses for hacking into government
The corporate civil war against
the First American Republic
Sale of Bentleys soar as economy
stalls
California Attorney General Sues
J.P. Morgan Over Alleged 'Fraudulent and Unlawful Debt-Collection
Practices'
OREGONIAN FINDS JPMORGAN CHASE
MEMO ON HOW TO SNEAK IN SUBPRIME LOANS
The Supreme Court hasn't been
this pro-business since the 40s
What austerity cost
Young Americans still slammed
by recession
- Department of Good Stuff: The
student who tackled the austerians
-
- Having just a few companies control
an industry isn't competition, it's oligarchy
-
- Economic crashes that are happening
right now
-
- How Germany does better with employment
-
- How the FDIC plans to steal your money
to bail out banks
NPR exposes con behind Clinton's
welfare attack
Case for a steady state economy
Bernanke won't say he won't seize
some of your bank funds
American social mobility is a
myth
Occupy Wall Street eliminates
over $1 milion in debt for 1,000 people
Steelworkers pushing co-ops
Walmart Sales Are A 'Total Disaster'
The real story of social welfare
The real story of the recession
The Richest 1 Percent Have Captured
121 Percent Of Income Gains During The Recovery
George Will & Sherrod Brown
agree it's time to break up the big banks
Constitutional amendment to end
corporate personhood introduced
David Cobb talks about the fight
against corporate personhood
Debtor prisons still surviving
The world’s top 100 billionaires now
hold so much wealth, says a new Oxfam report, that just the increase
in their net worth last year would be “enough to make extreme
poverty history four times over.”
Eight chains that will close the most
stores this year
Austerity through a ten year old's
eyes
Made in America making it
Corporate profits have soared under
Obama
2012..
The most underreported fact from
the cliff
Chile, Mexico, Turkey only developed
countries more economically unequal than U.S.
Dream fades for Gen Y professionals
Mr. Incompetent still messing
up our finances
LA
PROGRESSIVE
Not all box stores are run the
same way
Number of Families Struggling
to Afford Rent Rises Sharply
Why the Madoff scheme didn't have
to happen .
The gap in the Queen City
A cheap way to to get rid of debt:
buy it
US has had the best economic recovery
of any nation
Who's better at handling the economy?
@HarpersIndex - Amount by which the average Canadian
household is richer than the average American one: $43,232
The economic cost of anti-immigration
policies
America is so competing globally
As
unions decline, so does the middle class
New Balance: the last shoe maker
in US fights against new trade agreement
American corporation to privatize
three Honduran cities
Earth’s richest 1,000 control
as much wealth as poorest 2.5 billion
Most unequal wealth and income
distribution since the 1920s
The Justice Department had
more people investigating Roger Clemens lying to Congress than
investigating the financial system
Nation's kids big victims of austerity
politics
How to set up your own offshore
account
People losing homes for back taxes
not fully paid
Canada shows cutting taxes for
corporations doesn't help economy
Most new jobs are low paying ones
Federal work program is actually
a form of unconstitutional indentured servitude. . .and neither
Republicans or Democrats care
A bipartisan solution to the fiscal
crisis won't work because that's what caused it
US trade policy has sent 2.7 million
jobs to China
Word: The fundamental
problem is
not government debt. Over the past few years, the budget deficit
has been caused by low growth. If we focus on growth, then we
get growth, and our deficit will go down. If we just focus on
the deficit, we're not going to get anywhere.- Joseph Stiglitz
The new economy
Three stats that tell it all
- 1. Corporate profit margins
just hit an all-time high.
- 2. Fewer Americans are
working than at any time in the past three decades.
- 3. Wages as a percent
of the economy are at their lowest since 1940
Recovered history: predicting
the financial disaster
Great combo: Paul Krugman and
Stephen Colbert
35-44 year olds worst losers in
net worth
Verizon plans to get rid of 1,700
workers so execs can continue to earn millions
Charts show how bad economy is
Tough town turns to co-ops
Why you don't have to listen to
Mitt Romney about capitalism
America's war on tourists
Four things Obama could do to
help the economy
Word:
At least they paid something for their madness
In
a certain sense, wealthy
people could live with a justifiable guiltlessness in “Mad
Men” New York. Not because they were blind to the city’s
mounting racial crisis or to the perils of smoking or sexism,
but rather because, fiscally speaking, they were paying their
due. In 1966, which is where the new season finds us, the federal
income tax topped out at 70 percent on income over $100,000 (approximately
$700,000 in present-day dollars), a figure reduced from 90 percent
in a tax cut enacted two years earlier. - David Dyssegaard
Kallick,Senior Fellow,Fiscal Policy Institute
Bloomberg News calls for higher
minimum wage
America's soaring inequality began
in the Reagan years
If America's income were evenly
distributed each married couple would earn over $100K
The collapse of the pension
The original Occupier: Huey Long
More
on Huey Long
17 states have introduced bills
for state banks
Capital's unemployment tells an
American story
Economy - not social issues -
is what matters to voters
How the media fouls up budget
reporting
Washington legislators considering
state bank
Beyond capitalism: what's possible
Bookshelf: People Helping People:
A History of the Maine Credit Union Movement
How Germany builds twice as many
cars as U.S. and pays its workers twice as much
The safety net has worked
Why people don't trust the Fed
The military is a lousy way to
create jobs
Some ways to occupy our future...and
our economy
Recovered history: What Adam Smith
really said
73% of boomers planning to work
past retirement age
Workers with college degrees have indeed, on average, done better than workers
without, and the gap has generally widened over time. But highly
educated Americans have by no means been immune to income stagnation
and growing economic insecurity. Wage gains for most college-educated
workers have been unimpressive (and nonexistent since 2000),
while even the well-educated can no longer count on getting jobs
with good benefits. In particular, these days workers with a
college degree but no further degrees are less likely to get
workplace health coverage than workers with only a high school
degree were in 1979. - Paul Krugman
A more equal economy would produce
big gains for the middle class
Study: Income equality spurs economic
growth
The party's over. What happens
now?
Why Harvard should claim 1/5th
of the blame for the mess we're in
Free checking disappearing
Obama's new economic advisor wants
still more corporate subsidies
The secret the politicians and media won’t
tell you: Government is legally required to create jobs
The Bush Obama bailout fraud
How FDR learned to hate what the
GOP & Obama are doing to the economy
The Wal-Marting of America
Medicare payments likely to be cut thanks to deficit debacle
How the GOP screws you for their
rich buddies
Why the NY attorney general's
bank probe is important
Republicans so bad, even the Economist
has turned against them
Budget crunch: NYC limiting toilet
paper at Cony Island
Robert Reich explains the economy
in two minutes and fifteen seconds
What we could learn about business
from the Germans
Stocks Of Socialized Countries
Have Outperformed U.S. Since Reagan Era
Mayors say jobs won't return until
2020. . .
How to reform our money system
Most Americans have less than
$25,000 saved up for retirement.
Study: Wal Mart hurts local communities
This chart shows every Democratic president between
Roosevelt & Obama lowering the fedral debt as a percent of
GDP. Every Republican president since Reagan, on the other hand,
has raised it.
Graffiti
at Berkeley
Another GOP & embedded media
lie: 'the government doesn't create jobs'
Microcredit: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Union membership drops again..
. and what to do about it
Republicans launch war on unions
51 million Americans will do worse
under Obama tax bill
The farrmland price bubble
2010
Black DC
councilmembers agree with Bill Clinton: you can only be poor
for five years
The wealth of the top 1 percent
of households rose, on average, 103 percent (to $18.5 million
per household) from 1983 to 2007. The poorest 40 percent of households
experienced a 63 percent decline in wealth during the same period
(to $2,200 per household).
Inflation: the next thing to worry
about
RAHM EMMANUEL: "FUCK THE
UAW"
JOB GROWTH IN U.S. DRIVEN BY STARTUPS
SPY SWAP COMPARED WITH WALL STREET
CRIMES
NEW FINANCIAL BILL EXEMPTS SEC
FROM FREEDOM OF INFORMATION LAW
PRIVATE BUSINESS PAY CHECKS THE
LOWEST PERCENT OF AMERICANS' INCOME EVER
CHECKING OUT WHAT BIG CORPORATIONS
HAVE DONE TO THE OLD 'HOOD
TAX AUDITS OF LARGEST CORPORATIONS
DECLINE
43% OF WORKERS HAVE LESS THAN
$10K IN RETIREMENT FUNDS
TOWARDS A STEADY STATE ECONOMY
MASSACHUSETTS TO REMOVE FUNDS
FROM 3 BANKS TO PROTEST USURY
CIA AGENTS HELPED HEDGE FUNDS
PLAY THE MARKETS
THE THREE HORSEMAN OF THE FISCAL
CRISIS
COMMODITIES WHISTLEBLOWER VICTIM
OF BIZARRE HIT AND RUN
THE REAL CAUSE OF INFLATION
POVERTY REDEFINED BY OBAMA ADMINISTRATION
SOCIAL SECURITY SCARE SQUAD MISSTATES
FUTURE
COLLEGE-HIGH SCHOOL GRAD PAY GAP
NOT AS GREAT AS CLAIMED
BRITISH CIVIL RIGHTS COMMISSION
SAYS WORKERS SHOULD NOT BE FORCED TO RETIRE
INCOME INEQUALITY SOARED OVER
PAST 30 YEARS
ANOTHER OBAMA CAMPAIGN PROMISE
DOWN THE DRAIN
BILL AIMS TO CUT TECH FIRMS' BIAS AGAINST
AMERICAN WORKERS
TOUGH TIMES FOR ENGINEERS: OVER-REPRESENTED
IN AL QAEDA; UNDERREPRESENTED IN SEX
BRITISH AIRLINES TO CHARGE YOU
TO SIT NEXT TO YOUR CHILDREN
PAST DECADE HAD WORST ECONOMY
IN MODERN TIMES
GEITHNER'S NY FEDERAL RESERVE
BANK FIDDLED WITH AIG'S GOVERNMENT REPORT TO MAKE IT LOOK BETTER
STOP BANKING WITH THE BAD GUYS
THE CAUSES OF RISING INEQUALITY
IN AMERICA
HOW TO MAKE AN EASY ONE BILLION
DOLLARS
FACING OUR HIDDEN WELFARE PROBLEM
STUDY: NEARLY HALF OF ALL U.S.
CHILDREN WILL USE FOOD STAMPS
2009
BERNANKE SAYS SOCIAL SECURITY
AND MEDICARE NOT MANDATORY
FOUR THINGS THAT WOULD TRULY HELP
THE ECONOMY
WHY HELPING LOWER INCOME PEOPLE
HELPS REVIVE THE ECONOMY
WHAT WOULD A ROUT OF THE DOLLAR
LOOK LIKE?
HUNGER IN AMERICA HITS NEW LEVELS
ADMINISTRATION REPORTS STIMULUS
BENEFITS IN NON-EXISTENT PLACES
CELEBRITY MEDIA BUBBLE JOINS THE
RECESSION
TORN TARP: TAXPAYERS ABOUT TO
LOSE $2.3 BILLION FROM FAILED BAILOUT
OBAMA AFRAID TO PROVIDE JOBS
BOSTON GLOBE FINDS MAJOR MISTAKES,
MISSTEPS & MANIPULATION IN STIMULUS JOB COUNT
GLEANINGS FROM THE STIMULUS PACKAGE:
$9 MILLION FOR A BOSTON FOOTBRIDGE
TEN YEARS AGO: CLINTON, SUMMERS,
SCHUMER BLOW IT
SEVEN QUESTIONS ABOUT THE FINANCIAL
INDUSTRY THAT AREN'T BEING ASKED
OBAMA'S PROGRAMS FOR WORKERS:
ANOTHER STUDY IN NOTHINGNESS
THE ECONOMIC MODEL MENTIONED BY
NEITHER FOX NOR MSNBC
BEN BERNANKE GOES TO COSTLY RESORTS
TO PREACH LOWER FEDERAL DEFICITS
JAMES GALBRAITH ON THE VIRTUES
OF DEFICITS
CONGRESSIONAL WATCHDOG CRITICAL
OF FORECLOSURE EFFORTS
JOSEPH STIGLITZ: WE ARE NOT OUR
GDP
YOU'RE NOT UNEMPLOYED, YOU'RE
JUST A LAGGING INDICATOR
ANOTHER HUD SCANDAL: DEPARTMENT
TURNED FORECLOSURE WORKOUTS OVER TO WALL STREET PREDATORS
LAGGING INDICATORS: 67 BODIES
IN DETROIT MORGUE REMAIN UNCLAIMED
SOTOMAYOR CHALLENGES MYTH THAT
CORPORATIONS ARE PERSONS
CREDIT CARD USURERS COME UP WITH
NEW WAYS TO HIS CLIENTS
LAUNCHING THE BAILOUT RIP-OFF
INCOMES OF YOUNG IN 8-YEAR NOSE
DIVE
27 PERCENT OF NEW YORK BLACKS
UNEMPLOYED OR UNDEREMPLOYED
THE COMPLEXITIES OF LOCALISM
TOP EXECS CASH IN ON HUGE STOCK
OPTIONS
HOMEOWNERS FORCED INTO BEING LANDLORDS
BARTERING SOARS IN BAD ECONOMY
MIDDLE CLASS JOINING THE POOR
ON FOOD STAMPS
MADOFF AIDE EXPLAINS HOW IT WAS
DONE
WHY IS THE MEDIA DOWNPLAYING THE
JOB CRISIS?
AFL-CIO PUSHING STOCK TRANSFER
TAX
LOCAL HEROES: SOMEONE IN GOVERNMENT
WHO ACTUALLY CARES ABOUT FORECLOSURES
BUSH PROVES SOCIALISM WORKS
WHAT UNDERWEAR TELLS YOU ABOUT
THE ECONOMY
OBAMA'S FORECLOSURE PROGRAM SUBSIDIZING
SUBPRIME LENDERS
OBAMA'S PLAN TO HELP HOMEOWNERS
IS A BUST
UNDERSTANDING THE UNEMPLOYMENT
FIGURES
UNEMPLOYMENT CHECKS RUNNING OUT
FOR 1.5 MILLION AMERICANS
PANHANDLERS TELL THEIR STORY
HOW JOB LOSS AFFECTS YOUR LIFE
EXPECTANCY
BOOKSELF: INEQUALITY IS BAD EVEN
FOR THOSE AT THE TOP
AVOID SOCIALISM OR YOU COULD END
UP LIKE NORWAY
HYBRID REBATES DON'T WORK
OVER 1200 RHODE ISLAND BUSINESSES
TOLD THEY'RE OUT OF BUSINESS IF THEY DON'T PAY OVERDUE SALES
TAXES IMMEDIATELY
REAL UNEMPLOYMENT HIGHEST SINCE
DEPRESSION
7-11 GROWING DESPITE RECESSION
USURY PROTESTS IN FIVE CITIES
BAILOUT WATCHDOG SAYS TREASURY
REJECTS 'COMMON SENSE'
WHAT CALIFORNIA COULD HAVE DONE
WITH ITS IOUs
OBAMITES FINALLY DISCOVER SMALL
BUSINESS
WHAT RECOVERY?
AN INSTRUCTIVE - IF DEPRESSING
- COLLECTION OF CHARTS ON THE ECONOMY
BAD ADVICE AND THE FINANCIAL CRASH
OBAMA'S FINANCIAL PLAN ISN'T CLOSE
TO WHAT THE NEW DEAL DID
HOW MUCH SHOULD THE FED BE FED?
RENTERS' PLIGHT IGNORED BY CONGRESS
THE GOOD & THE BAD IN OBAMA'S
FINANCIAL REGULATORY PLAN
THREE ESSENTIALS OF FINANCIAL REFORM
END OF AN AFFAIR WITH CHRYSLER
THE FINANCIAL WAR AGAINST US
THE ULTIMATE FORECLOSURE: CITY
BOARDS MAN UP IN HOUSE HE LOST
DEMOCRATS REFUSE TO END USURY
BY BANKS GETTING BAILOUTS
DEMOCRATS EXPRESS CONCERN OVER
DEALERSHIP CLOSINGS
STATE UNEMPLOYMENT FUNDS IN DEEP
TROUBLE
STATE BUDGET WOES TO GET WORSE
THE BANKRUPT APPROACH TO GENERAL
MOTORS
SIX WAYS THE BAILOUT IS A SCAM
OBAMA BACKED AUTO DEALER SLASHING
IS NEW BLOW TO STATES
WHY ARE CHRYSLER & GM DESTROYING
THEIR CUSTOMERS, THE DEALERS?
BILLIONS FOR BANKERS; NOT ONE
DIME FOR SUNSHINE DODGE
COURT OKAYS FORECLOSURE ON GOTTI
ESTATE . . .
BUT NOT UNTIL DELINQUENCY HIT $650K
HOW OFFSHORE TAX HAVENS HELPED
CREATE THE CRISIS
SIGNS OF THE TIMES
AIG BONUSES 2.5 TIMES MORE THAN
STATED EARLIER
AS AMERICA SHRINKS, CHINA GROWS
CAN SBA HANDLE SMALL BUSINESS
STIMULUS PACKAGE?
CREDIT CARD COMPANIES ABUSE BUSINESSES
AND CUSTOMERS WITH HIGH TRANSACTION FEES
THE COLLAPSE OF THE MIDDLE CLASS
CREDIT CARD COMPANIES ILLEGALLY
BLOCKING SOCIAL SECURITY OF DEBTORS
UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL WITH TIM
GEITHNER
PULLING THE TARP ON TARP
TENT CITIES GROWING
WORKERS OF MIXED ETHNICITY PAID
LESS THAN WHITES OR BLACKS
THE LAW THEY JUST WANT TO FORGET
ABOUT, NOT REPEAL
WHERE YOUR BAILOUT MONEY WENT
THE NEW DEAL WORKED; THE GOP'S
DISMANTLING OF IT IS WHAT GOT US INTO THIS TROUBLE
WHY IS ONCE CRIMINAL USURY NOW
COMMON PRACTICE?
THE HUGE FRAUD BEHIND THE FISCAL
CRISIS
LARRY SUMMERS: A WALKING, TALKING
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
CREDIT UNIONS ALSO IN DANGER
WHY BANK RAGE IS NOT POPULISM
WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM ITALY ABOUT
ECONOMIC COOPERATION
HOW THE GEITHNER TOXIC ASSET SCHEME
IS ANOTHER BANK SCAM
HOMELESSNESS UP A THIRD
WHAT'S REALLY BEHIND THE AIG BAILOUT
THE MARKET AS PREDICTOR
HIDDEN PENSION FIASCO MAY FOMENT
ANOTHER $1 TRILLION BAILOUT
GROWTH IN PRISON SPENDING TOPS
ALL BUT MEDICAID
INTERVIEW WITH DEAN BAKER, WHO
SAW IT COMING
ELIMINATING EARMARKS, WEAKENS
CONGRESS, STRENGTHENS WHITE HOUSE
HOW WRONG YOU CAN BE IN WASHINGTON
AND STILL NOT SAY YOU'RE SORRY
WHY IS AIG SO IMPORTANT?
KARL MARX IS BACK
TMZ FINDS $1.6 BILLION FOR THE
GOVERNMENT
THE MEDIA'S ROLE IN THE FISCAL
CRISIS
ABOUT EARMARKS
FBI WARNED OF MORTGAGE FRAUD EPIDEMIC
FIVE YEARS AGO
BANK NATIONALIZATION ATTRACTS
OBAMA, GOP, ECONOMISTS
COMMODITY MARKET PONZI SCHEMES
ON THE RISE
WHY THE STIMULUS MAY LEAVE THE
ECONOMY SOMEWHAT FLAT
LOOK WHO PLANS TO MAKE BIG BUCKS
OUT OF THE BAILOUT. . . WITH TAXPAYERS SUBSIDIZING IT
THINGS THEY DON'T TELL YOU ABOUT
THE BAILOUT
HOW MUCH YOU'LL GET FROM THE BAILOUT
THE RECOVERY PLAN FROM HELL
HOW MUCH DID THE BI-PARTY KNOCK
OUT OF YOUR SCHOOL SYSTEM'S CONSTRUCTION BUDGET?
HOW CLOSE THE WORLD ECONOMY CAME
TO COLLAPSING
CALVIN & HOBBES GOT IT DOWN
YEARS AGO
TWO OUT OF FIVE DEMOCRATS BUY
INTO GOP TAX CUT MYTH
NOT ALL PORK IS EQUAL
THE CASE FOR NATIONALIZING BANKS
BUSH'S APPROACH TO SOCIAL SECURITY
PROVED A DISASTER. . .IN ITALY
SAVING THE GLOBE VS. GROWING THE
ECONOMY
PROGRESSIVES & THE BAILOUT
WHO'S ON FIRST? AN EXPLORATORY CALCULATION
UN CRIME WATCHDOG SAYS DRUG MONEY
HELPED IN FISCAL CRISIS
THE GOOD AND THE BAD IN OBAMA'S
ECONOMIC PLAN
BRITS PROVE BAILOUTS DANGEROUS
TO THOSE IN POWER
AUTO BAILOUT INCLUDES WORKER STRIKE
BAN
LEMON SOCIALISM AT ITS WORST
LAUNDERING ILLEGAL FUNDS THROUGH
THE FINANCIAL SYSTEM
NEARLY TWO THIRDS OF AMERICANS
DON'T AGREE WITH OBAMA ON TARP
RECESSION GIVES BOOST TO LIBRARIES
THE BUDGET SWAMP NOBODY MENTIONS
WHAT'S A DEPRESSION?
WHAT SORT OF ECONOMISTS DO WE
GET?
ECONOMY TRASHER GREENSPAN GOT
HIS START WITH AYN RAND
WAL-MART: NATION'S LEADING UNION
BUSTED
RAIL TAKES BACK SEAT IN OBAMA
STIMULUS PLAN
THE PRICE OF FOLLOWING JIM CRAMER'S
ADVICE
TRAPPED UNDER THE TARP
FED TO GIVE HEDGE FUNDS LOANS
STIMULUS IS FOR SUCKERS: WHAT
WE REALLY NEED
WHAT A REAL STIMULUS
MIGHT LOOK LIKE
Sam Smith
- Reduce credit card interest.
As one politician once put it, "I'd frankly like to see
credit cards rates down. I believe that would help stimulate
the consumer and get consumer confidence moving again.'' Another
politician responded by offering a bill in the Senate to cap
credit card interest at 14%. The Senate voted for it 74-19. The
first politician was that radical president, George Bush, in
1991. The other politician was that well known progressive, Alfonze
D'Amato. Why are Obama and the Democrats more conservative than
Daddy Bush and D'Amato?
- Start a movement to
nationalize banks. Progressives led by Robert LaFollette did
this in the 1930s, giving FDR cover for his more moderate solutions.
Today, all the political pressure is coming from Wall Street,
which tilts policies in that direction.
- All measures must put
the interest of the ordinary citizen first. Neither the GOP nor
the Democrats are doing that.
- Deemphasize tax cuts.
They are far less effective than many think.
- Emphasize programs that
will cheer people up and where they can see things changing for
the better. Among the Wall Street bailout scam's many faults
was that no one could tell what was happening as a result. Good
economies need optimism.
- Use revenue sharing.
It's a quick way to get money down to the states and cities and
to the people who live there. Sure, some of it will get corrupted
but far less than is already happening with the phony stimulus
packages. The upside is that citizens have a better idea of what
is being done on their behalf and have some say in how it is
done.
- Fund public works project
that have large spin-off benefits and which will be heavy in
blue collar employment. These would include new mass transit
service and a massive growth of America's rail system. It would
deemphasize fixing up existing systems because the spin off benefits
are far less. Would it include the much discussed new energy
projects? We haven't seen any serious discussion of this. What
is the blue collar employment potential of such projects?
- Institute a shared equity
program for homeowners in distress under which the federal government
buys a portion of the mortgage, renegotiates interest rates with
the lenders and then gets its part of the equity back when the
house is sold. A similar program could be used for building new
homes.
- Decentralize decisions
and negotiations on foreclosures and real estate interest rates,
using local courts and similar bodies as was done in the 1930s.
- Give the government
preferred stock in companies it aids. At one point in the New
Deal, the Reconstruction Finance Corporation owned bank shares
that would be worth at least $20 billion today.
NADER: TIME TO CHALLENGE CORPORATE
PERSONHOOD IN COURT
THE MYTH OF AMERICAN CAPITALISM
2008
A VISUAL GUIDE TO THE BAILOUT:
HOW IT NORMALLY WOULD HAVE BEEN HANDLED, HOW IT WAS HANDLED,
AND HOW IT COULD HAVE BEEN HANDLED
FED REFUSES TO REVEAL RECIPIENTS
OF BAILOUT
THE CRASH OF AMERICAN IMAGINATION
WHAT'S HAPPENING TO THE MIDDLE
CLASS?
CHINESE BARGAIN HUNTERS CHECKING
OUT U.S. REAL ESTATE
HOW CHINA AND HONG KONG HAVE HANDLED
THE FINANCIAL CRISIS
WHAT BANKS, ACADEMICS, THE MEDIA AND POLITICIANS
DON'T TELL YOU ABOUT MONEY
THE SUB PRIME CASE FOR BLAMING
IT ALL ON SUB PRIMES
FOOD STAMP USE HITS RECORD
THE BANKING SYSTEM IS REALLY BROKEN
SMALL BANKS ANGRY WITH BAILOUT
Do you think the strapped
middle-class family feels better when hearing that inflation
is "only" 4%, instead of 11.6%, as measured prior to
1983? Not likely. Understated inflation does not help remove
the sting of declining purchasing power. It just adds to the
confusion and desperation. . .
WHY WASHINGTON CAN'T HANDLE DETROIT'S
PROBLEM
PAULSON THREATENED CONGRESS WITH
MARTIAL LAW IF IT DIDN'T PASS BANK SWEETHEART DEAL
ETHICAL SUBPRIME LENDING
THREE CITIES SEEKING FEDERAL FUNDS
LANGUAGE: THE BAILOUT IS FAR MORE
FASCIST THAN SOCIALIST
BILL CLINTON'S ROLE IN THE FINANCIAL
COLLAPSE
TWO WOMEN WHO TOOK ON THE WALL
STREET TOUGH GUYS
THE BAILOUT: WHAT THE HELL IS
GOING ON?
WHAT ECONOMISTS DON'T UNDERSTAND
THE PROFANITY OF CASINO CAPITALISM
BANKERS ALREADY RIPPING OFF A
TENTH OF THE BAILOUT FOR THEMSELVES
THE
ESTABLISHMENT THAT DESTROYED AMERICA'S FIRST REPUBLIC
DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN: THE S&L BAILOUT
REVISITED
ETHICAL SUBPRIME LENDING
BANKS PRINT MONEY; WHY CAN'T THE
GOVERNMENT?
TAKING IT FROM THE TOP AGAIN
THE FALLACY OF THE 401(K)
HANK PAULSON'S BACKGROUND
HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL IS FAR
WORSE THAN YOU THOUGHT
SHIPPING COSTS CUTTING GLOBALIZATION
CORPORATE EXECS ABUSING PENSION
PLANS FOR OWN BENEFIT
LAS VEGAS ON THE HUDSON. . . AND
WHAT WE PAID FOR IT
HOW THE MELTDOWN WORKED
THE MYTH OF AMERICAN CAPITALISM
WHY YOU CAN'T BLAME THE HOUSING CRISIS ON
POOR HOMEOWNERS
WHERE WILL ALL THE MONEY GO?
OBAMA FINALLY COMES UP WITH SOME
IDEAS FOR THE CRISIS
NINE WAYS A DEPRESSION WILL HELP
NEW YORKERS
TOYOTA WORKPLACE UNDER FIRE
AN ECONOMIC HITMAN EXPLAINS HOW
THE NSA & US POLICY TOWARDS POOR COUNTRIES REALLY WORKS
LATIN LEFT HAVING FUN WITH 'COMRADE
BUSH'
CUSTOMERS FLOCK TO NATIONALIZED
BANK; FREE MARKETEERS CRY THAT'S NOT FAIR
FANNIE MAE FORGIVES LOAN AFTER
90 YEAR OLD WOMAN SHOOTS HERSELF
REPRESENTATIVE SAYS MEMBERS WERE
THREATENED WITH MARTIAL LAW IF THEY DIDN'T PASS BILL
PAULSON PRIVATIZING BAILOUT OPERATION
TRASHING OUT ON FORECLOSURE ALLEY
SICKEST BAILOUT STORY OF THE DAY.
STATES ACT TO CUSHION WALL STREET
MELTDOWN
$700 BILLION FIGURE PULLED OUT
OF THIN AIR
HOUSE TOSSES $25 BILLION TO CAR
MAKERS; STILL NOTHING FOR HOMEOWNERS
UNDER PLAN, PAULSON COULD PAY
OFFENDERS TO SOLVE THE CRISIS
THE GREEN VIEW OF THE FISCAL CRISIS
LIVE ON IMAGINARY MONEY; DIE BY
IMAGINARY MONEY
YOU GOT SOME BAD ASSETS? ADD THEM TO THE
FEDERAL SHITPILE
ONLY 28% SUPPORT BAILOUT PLAN
|
Dear American:
I need to ask you to support
an urgent secret business relationship with a transfer of funds
of great magnitude. I am Ministry of the Treasury of the Republic
of America. My country has had crisis that has caused the need
for large transfer of funds of 800 billion dollars US. If you
would assist me in this transfer, it would be most profitable
to you. . . MORE |
THE LIST: WHAT A TRILLION DOLLARS
WILL BUY
BUSH PROPOSES COUP BY EMERGENCY
LEGISLATION
BUSH WANTS TO BAIL OUT FOREIGN
BANKS, TOO
CLINTON-BUSH HOUSING BUBBLE BIGGEST
IN A CENTURY
COMPARE BAILOUTS BY SIZE
HUGE BONUSES PROMISED TO SOME
LEHMAN STAFF, OTHERS LEFT WITHOUT PAY
BUSH OFFERS GAMBLING INSURANCE
TO THE RICH
INSTEAD OF HEALTH INSURANCE TO EVERYONE
THE INVISIBLE & UNAIDED VICTIMS
OF THE FISCAL CRISIS
DEJA VU: NO FAULT CAPITALISM MEETS
LEMON SOCIALISM AL CRISIS
WHY THE DEMOCRATS HAVEN'T BEEN
MORE HELPFUL
WHAT THE BRITISH LEFT THINKS ABOUT
THE FISCAL CRISIS
AIG STORY ISN'T OVER
REAGAN GAVE BIRTH TO TODAY'S FISCAL CRISES
47% OF WORKERS UNABLE TO SAVE
ANYTHING
ELDER BANKRUPTCIES SOAR
NEARLY ONE THIRD OF HOME OWNERS
OWE MORE THAN HOUSE IS WORTH
DEALING WITH THE ECONOMIC FREE
FALL
THE LIST: RECENT STORE CLOSINGS
ECONOMY HITTING STATES HARD
VOLUNTARY FORECLOSURES RAISES
NEW BANKING THREAT
LIVE ON IMAGINARY MONEY;
DIE BY IMAGINARY MONEY
One of the important
things not being discussed about the financial crisis is that
the money that is gone was not real in the first place, something
we have mentioned from time to time. . .
Sam Smith's Great American
Political Repair Manual, 1994 - The total federal state, local
and private debt in this country in 1996 was around $14 trillion.
The actual money supply was just under $6 trillion. So what happened
to the rest of the money? Most of it doesn't exist and never
did. We call this imaginary money debt. This debt is money that
we (as individuals, companies and government) have borrowed,
primarily from private sources. As Bob Blain, a professor at
Southern Illinois University, put it:
"Most debt is not
the result of people borrowing money; it is the result of people
not being able to repay what they owed [to banks or individuals]
at some earlier time. Instead of declaring them bankrupt, creditors
just add more to their debt."
This new debt is called
interest. Many people think the idea of the government printing
money is shameful, yet our laws permit private financial institutions
to create money all the time. Every time you fail to pay off
your credit card, you're letting a banker print some more money.
You're not the first,
of course. For example, when the Congress met in February 1790
to figure out how to pay off the Revolutionary War debt of $75
million, Alexander Hamilton strongly advocated issuing debt certificates
and using them as money. Congressman James Jackson of Georgia
warned that this would "settle upon our posterity a burden
which [citizens] can neither bear nor relieve themselves from.
. . Though our present debt be but a few millions, in the course
of a single century it may be multiplied to an extent we dare
not think of."
An alternative to Congress
borrowing money to pay off its debt would have been to have created
the $75 million, using Congress's constitutional power to "coin
money and regulate the value thereof." Instead Congress
began a long tradition of borrowing the money that -- five trillion
dollars of debt later -- many believe we can neither bear nor
relieve ourselves from.
In the early 19th century,
the little British Channel island of Guernsey faced a smaller
but similar problem. Its sea walls were crumbling. its roads
were too narrow, and it was already heavily in debt. There was
little employment and people were leaving for elsewhere.
Instead of going still
further into debt, the island government simply issued 4,000
pounds in state notes to start repairs on the sea walls as well
as for other needed public works. More issues followed and twenty
years later the island had, in effect, printed nearly 50,000
pounds. Guernsey had more than doubled its money supply without
inflation.
A report of the island's
States Office in June 1946 notes that island leaders frequently
commented that these public works could not have been carried
out without the issues, that they had been accomplished without
interest costs, and that as a result "the influx of visitors
was increased, commerce was stimulated, and the prosperity of
the Island vastly improved." By 1943, nearly a half million
pounds worth of notes belonged to the public and was so valued
that much of it was being hoarded in people's homes, awaiting
the island's liberation from the Germans.
About the same time that
Guernsey started to fix its sea walls, the town of Glasgow, Scotland,
borrowed 60,000 pounds to build a fruit market. The Guernsey
sea walls were repaid in ten years, the fruit market loan took
139. In the first part of the 20th century, Glasgow paid over
a quarter million pounds in interest alone on this ancient project.
How did Guernsey avoid
the fiscal disaster that conventional economics prescribed for
it? First and foremost by understanding that when you build roads
or sea walls or colleges or houses, you are not reducing your
society's wealth. In fact, if you do it right, you are creating
something that will add to its wealth. The money that was created
was simply backed by public works rather than gold or "full
faith and credit." It was, in fact, based on something more
solid than the dollar bills in our wallets today. In contrast,
tacking on an interest charge to public works -- as we do in
the US -- creates no new wealth, but merely transfers claims
on existing wealth from debtors to creditors.
The privilege of creating and issuing money is not only the
supreme prerogative of government, but is the government's greatest
creative opportunity. By the adoption of these principles, the
taxpayers will be saved immense sums of interest. -- Abraham
Lincoln
CLINTON-BUSH HOUSING
BUBBLE BIGGEST IN A CENTURY
Sam Smith, Progressive
Review - According to a study by Yale economist Robert J Shiller
cited in his book, "Irrational Exuberance," between
1890 and 1990 the sale of the average existing house (not new
construction) rose no more that 25% over the inflation corrected
value for 1890. In the 1990s, beginning in the Clinton years,
that changed dramatically. Between 1997 and 2006 the typical
house doubled in value of over the 1890 average. In other words,
the Clinton-Bush housing bubble was greatest in over a hundred
years. The bright side is that if the average house drops by
50% we'll be right back where we were in 1997.
Throughout the preceding
century, houses varied from 85-125 percent of the 1890 average
value with the exception of the depression, which for housing
actually began during World War I. By 1920,housing prices were
down to about 65% of 1890 levels and then began to slowly rise.
By 1940 they were back to the 1890 figure. In other words, housing
devaluation can be a harbinger of worse to come
WEST COAST FOOD BANK SEES DEMAND
RISE 80% THIS SPRING
HOW SUBPRIME POLITICIANS, LOBBYISTS
AND BANKERS CAUSED CRISIS
FACING THE HOUSING CRISIS
AIRLINES THINKING ABOUT PASSENGERS
AS FREIGHT NOT CUSTOMERS
TEN WAYS AMERICANS ARE HURTING,
NOT WHINING
CORPORADOS PACKING LESS IN SAME
SIZE BOXES
HOUSING CRASH DISASTROUS FOR RETIREMENT
SAVINGS
SHOPPING CENTER CONSTRUCTION BOOMS
AS STORES CLOSE
EXPANDING FREE TRADE MAY BE NEARING
END
HOME ELECTRICITY PRICES SOARING
NUMBER OF MARRIED MOTHERS IN WORK
FORCE DROPS
THE ROLE OF SPECULATION IN CURRENT
PRICE INCREASES
TIP DEPENDANT WORKERS FEELING
THE SLUMP
CALIFORNIA FORECLOSURES UP 327%
WASHINGTON & BANKS USING FISCAL
CRISIS TO LIMIT STATE REGULATORY ROLE
FEARS MOUNTING OVER BANKS' USE
OF FED'S LOANS
IMF SAYS MORTGAGE CRISIS IS LARGEST
FINANCIAL SHOCK SINCE THE GREAT DEPRESSION
HOME EQUITY LOANS NEXT CRISIS?
HUD WARNS LANDLORDS IT MAY RUN
OUT OF HOUSING ASSISTANCE FUNDS BY FALL
SOARING FOOD PRICES CAUSING CROP
THEFTS, FOOD TRUCK HIJACKINGS
FED'S RESCUE HALTED A DERIVATIVES
CHERNOBYL
THE FED'S VERSION OF LEMON SOCIALISM
THE FISCAL CRISIS: AMERICANS HAVE
BEEN CONNED
ILLEGAL DISCRIMINATION HELPED
FUEL SUBPRIME CRISIS
AMERICA'S DISINTEREST IN POVERTY
WHEAT MARKET GOES WILD
SO DOES CORN
BEN BERNANKE THREE YEARS AGO:
HOUSING MARKET NO PROBLEM
HEDGE FUNDS GOOD FOR LAUNDERING
DRUG MONEY
WHAT A REAL ECONOMIC RECOVERY
PROGRAM WOULD LOOK LIKE
SUBPRIME SCANDAL AN OLD STORY
IN STOCKTON, CA
SUBPRIME LENDERS TARGETED BLACKS
& LATINOS
SUBPRIME CRISIS HELPED BY SUBPRIME
POLITICS. . . AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT
HOW TO STIMULATE THE ECONOMY
SOROS CALLS IT'S THE WORST FINANCIAL
CRISIS SINCE WORLD WAR II
BUSH'S WAR ON TERROR HAS COST
AMERICA $94 BILLION IN TOURIST DOLLARS
MORTGAGE LENDERS PREFER FORECLOSURE
TO HELPING HOME BUYERS PAY OFF LOAN
WHAT'S REALLY HAPPENING IN MANUFACTURING
THE FISCAL CRISIS TOTALLY EXPLAINED
TENT CITIES SPRINGING UP
COMPARING FINANCIAL CRISES: WE'VE
BEEN THROUGH THIS BEFORE
In 1990, the Progressive Review
ran an article, "No-Fault Capitalism Meets Lemon Socialism"
in which we examined the second great savings & loan scandal:
the bailout of the S&L industry. The article won an Utne
Reader award for one of the ten most undercovered stories of
the decade. In it, we compared the government's reaction to the
S&L crisis to its reaction to the banking crisis that culminated
in the banking holiday and emergency legislation of 1933. Although
the causes of the two crises were quite different, so were other
factors. Some may ring a bell in today's financial crisis.
1933
Underlying financial problem involved
shortage of deposits.
Fraud was not a major factor
Single bi-partisan goal: to save
the banking system
Protection of average citizens'
interest central to decisions.
Long-range implications of actions
thought through
Majority party not beholden to major
financial interests
Pressure for nationalization of
banking industry by progressives such as Sen. Robert LaFollette,
creating a political middle for FDR to work within.
Administration and Congress moved
decisively. Within five days of FDR's inauguration, emergency
banking legislation was passed with only 40 minutes of House
debate. From introduction to president's signature it took only
eight hours.
Problem affected 18,390 banks Administration
handled specific cases quickly. About two thirds of all banks
were opened under government license four days after bank holiday
was declared. Another 1300 banks were reopened a month later
and within nine months another 1200 banks were reopened and the
remaining 2000 would be reopened as soon as financing from the
Reconstruction Finance Corporation could be arranged.
Specific situations handled by small
bureaucracy in decentralized fashion with banks placed under
conservatorships. Emphasis on recapitalization and low interest
loans.
Government allowed to participate
in recovery by holding preferred stock in commercial bank. At
one point, the RFC held $1.3 billion in commercial bank stock.
Heavy White House pressure on banking
industry to cooperate. Appeal to patriotism, implicit threat
of nationalization.
1990
Underlying financial problem involved
failure of loan repayments
Fraud is a major factor
Multiple and conflicting bi-partisan
goals including changing the financial system (even to extent
of eliminating S&L industry), avoiding blame, escaping political
and criminal liability.
Protection of major financial institution's
interest central to decisions.
Decisions driven by fire-sale mentality
Both parties beholden to major financial
interests.
No significant progressive pressure
for radical solutions, hence politics of situation skewed heavily
toward rightwing assumptions.
Administration and Congress moved
indecisively. Early actions were driven by attempt to conceal
from public the true extent of the problem. When situation got
out of hand, legislation was passed hastily with inadequate forethought.
Problem affected 2600 savings &
loans
Administration handles specific
situations at snail's pace. The Resolution Trust Corporation
dealt with only 200 out of 450 failed thrifts in its first eleven
months, with another 260 S&Ls expected to go under in the
next year.
Specific situations handled by large
centralized bureaucracy in Washington, adding the inefficiency
of scale to other problems.
Emphasis on government subsidies
and lemon socialism. Rightwing paradigm prevents government from
engaging in self-supporting solutions.
No political or financial burden
placed on S&L industry as a whole. Political leverage of
White House lies fallow.
RECOVERED HISTORY: THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY
OF 'THE AFFLUENT SOCIETY'
STIMULUS PACKAGE A SURPRISE BUST
FOR 36 STATES
PRIMING THE SUBPRIME CRISIS
JAMES MCCUSKER, EVERETT HERALD,
WA - In the wake of the 1929 stock market crash and the subsequent
global economic depression, Congress, among other actions, passed
the Glass-Steagall Act which prohibited banks from engaging in
securities underwriting. There was money to be made in securities,
though, and after a suitable period of penance for their contributions
to the crash and depression banks began to agitate for relief
from this restrictive law.
The banking industry's whining about
Glass-Steagall eventually paid off. . . Few people spoke out
against the idea, which was endorsed by America's top banking
regulator, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. It is tempting
to say that his enthusiasm for the idea, and Congress' action,
made sense at the time, but that was not so. In fact, it made
no sense then, and makes none now. . .
Banks eagerly bought up low-quality
mortgage loans, packaged them up and sold them as securities
-- all the while using "three-card Monte" accounting
constructs to keep the transactions off their balance sheets.
. .
The Federal Reserve, the president
and Congress have their hands full at this time. Their first
priority is damage control, and that is as it should be. Eventually,
though, the economy will right itself, with or without Washington's
help, and the president, the Federal Reserve and Congress will
have time to consider what got us into this fix in the first
place.
If we had to pick a single event
that set off this economic stink bomb, it would have to be Alan
Greenspan's decision to support the expansion of bank activities
into securities underwriting. While the Congress has a mind of
its own, it is extremely doubtful that they would have approved
this expansion in the face of his objections. He was at the height
of his powers then, and his support for the idea made it bullet-proof,
politically.
As soon as possible, Congress should
extend its damage control operations to put banking back on solid
ground, and reconstruct the wall between banking and stock-market
gaming.
WALL STREET REWARDED ITSELF WITH
$39 BILLION IN BONUSES AS MARKET WAS TANKING
WORLD SOCIALIST - The five largest
Wall Street banks doled out a record $39 billion in bonuses last
year, according to data collected by the Bloomberg news service.
After driving hundreds of thousands of families into foreclosure,
causing a financial crisis affecting hundreds of millions, and
pushing the US and world economies closer to recession, it appears
Wall Street is rewarding itself for a job well done.
The banks announced record losses
in the fourth quarter, wrapping up the financial industry's worst
year since 2002. All in all, Wall Street wrote off more than
$90 billion in bad debt for the year, and the five largest banks
saw their profits drop more than 60 percent. Three of the five
firms posted losses in the fourth quarter.
While the $39 billion was divided
among 186,000 workers at the five firms -averaging $211,849 -
the lion's share was reserved for a few thousand high-level managers,
traders, and senior executives, who took in multimillion-dollar
bonuses in addition to their salaries. Rank-and-file clerical
workers took home a few hundred dollars. Bonuses for traders
in subprime-related securities are reported to be about 30 percent
lower this year in comparison to other sectors.
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/jan2008/bonu-j21.shtml
HOW TO SIMULATE AN ECONOMY
ECONOMIC POLICY INSTITUTE - An effective,
appropriate stimulus package should meet the following five criteria:
1. A stimulus package should generate
growth and jobs to offset rising unemployment. . . The two feasible
ways to boost demand are to increase consumer spending (for example
through tax or monetary policy) or to increase government spending
(at the federal, state, or local level). Any stimulus aimed at
spurring more business investment will not be effective at this
point, because business investment will remain sluggish until
consumer and government demand picks up. For example, a recent
study estimated that business investment write-offs and the dividend-capital
gain tax reductions included in Bush's tax packages had a small
"bang-for-the-buck. . .
Government spending is more effective
than tax cuts in stimulating domestic demand for two reasons:
a portion of the tax cut will be saved rather than spent immediately,
and consumers are more likely than the government to spend on
imports (rather than domestically produced goods). Approximately
10 cents per dollar of consumer expenditures will be spent abroad,
while virtually every penny of investments in public infrastructure
will be spent domestically. Especially problematic would be more
tax cuts directed at the wealthy, which would not be as effective
as tax cuts directed at the low- and middle-income households
who would spend (rather than save) a larger share of any extra
income.
2. A stimulus package should take
effect quickly. . . Ideally, an effective package would have
some components that have immediate effect and others that might
have impact in six months to a year, thus ensuring a solid foundation
for the recovery. . .
3. A stimulus package should raise
current deficits but not affect the long-term budget outlook.
The purpose of any good stimulus package is to boost immediate
job growth. For this purpose we need one-time measures that,
if the recession deepens, can be extended as necessary. Permanent,
ongoing measures that will affect the budget two or three years
from now are, in most cases, inappropriate. . .
4. A stimulus package should target
unmet needs. Another goal of any good stimulus plan should be
to meet, where possible, unmet social needs. For instance, it
is widely acknowledged that there is a huge backlog of necessary
school and bridge repairs and new construction projects. A temporary
spending increase for such infrastructure would be doubly beneficial
in that it would meet the other criteria listed above but also
address an acknowledged, pre-existing need. Other examples could
include funding needed sewage-treatment plant construction or
making public facilities energy efficient.
5. A stimulus package should be
fair. The distribution of wages, income, and wealth in the United
States has become vastly more unequal over the last 30 years.
In fact, this country has a more unequal distribution of income
than any other advanced country. Therefore, a criterion for favoring
one stimulus plan over another should be that the plan avoids
exacerbating income inequality and, wherever possible, acts to
lessen current inequalities. A temporary increase in federal
revenue-sharing with the states, for example, would fulfill this
criterion well by helping preserve public school spending, Medicaid
for low-income families and low-income elderly in nursing homes,
and other state programs that could face cutbacks due to state
fiscal crises.
http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/bp210
THE SELFISH CAPITALISM OF REAGAN,
BUSH AND CLINTON MAY BE WHAT HAS MADE US UNHAPPY
THINGS THE MEDIA DOESN'T TELL
YOU: THE PUBLIC HOLDS BIG BUSINESS IN LOW REGARD
STUDY: WAL MART REDUCES NATIONAL
WAGES $4.5 BILLION A YEAR
Retail workers in the U.S. are making
$4.5 billion less each year due to Wal-Mart's presence, according
to a new study by the University of California's Center for Labor
Research and Education.
The study focuses on stores that
opened between 1992 and 2000 and concludes, "Opening a single
Wal-Mart store lowers the average retail wage in the surrounding
county between 0.5 and 0.9 percent."
Wal-Mart's presence pushes down
wages in two ways. "First is the substitution effect: a
new Wal-Mart store replaces better paying jobs with lower-paying
ones," the authors explain. "A second factor is competition:
Wal-Mart pushes down wages in competing businesses."
Not only did Wal-Mart lower average
wage rates, but "every new Wal-Mart in a county reduced
the combined or aggregate earnings of retail workers by around
1.5 percent." Because this number is higher than the reduction
in average wages, it indicates that Wal-Mart not only lowered
pay rates, but also reduced the total number of retail jobs.
That finding is consistent with a major study published earlier
this year that found that the opening of a Wal-Mart store causes
a net loss of about 150 retail jobs.
"At the national level, our
study concludes that in 2000, total earnings of retail workers
nationwide were reduced by $4.5 billion due to Wal-Mart's presence,"
they find.
Most of these losses were concentrated
in metropolitan areas. Although Wal-Mart is often associated
with rural areas, three-quarters of the stores it built in the
1990s were in metropolitan counties.
Another new study from the UC Center
for Labor Research and Education indicates that Wal-Mart could
substantially raise its workers' earnings, particularly those
living at or near poverty, with little impact on most shoppers.
"Living Wage Policies and Wal-Mart" analyzes the effects
of instituting a $10 minimum wage at Wal-Mart. More than half
of the retailer's employees (56%) currently earn less than $10
an hour.
"We find that 46.3 percent
of the pay increase would go to workers in families with total
incomes below 200 percent of the federal poverty level,"
the study finds. "These poor and low-income workers could
expect to earn an additional $1,020 to $4,640 a year."
http://www.newrules.org/retail/news_slug.php?slugid=365
STEADY STATE ECONOMICS
BRIAN CZECH AND HERMAN E. DALY, WILDLIFE SOCIETY
BULLETIN 2004 -
A steady state economy with long human life spans entails low
birth and death rates. In our opinion this is preferable, within
reason, to a steady state economy with short life spans, high
birth rates, and high death rates. The same concept applies to
capital and durable goods such as automobiles. We opine that
a relatively slow flow of high-quality, long-lasting goods is
preferable to a fast flow of low-quality, short-lived goods.
Nothing about a steady
state economy precludes economic development, where development
is defined as a qualitative process. Various sectors may come
and go in a steady state economy. For example, organic farms
may supplant factory farms, the proportion of bicycles to Humvees
may increase, and professional soccer may attract more fans while
NASCAR attracts fewer. As long as the physical size of the economy
remains constant in the long run, a developing economy is a steady
state economy.
Nor would any type of cultural
stagnation result from a steady state economy.
John Stuart Mill, one of
the greatest economists and political philosophers in history,
emphasized that an economy in which physical growth was no longer
the goal would be more conducive to political, ethical, and spiritual
improvements
A steady state economy
means a constant rate of employment. . . Economic development
continues in a steady state economy so that in the extractive
sector, oilfield roughnecks may decrease in number while wind-power
facility attendants may increase. In the arts, guitar playing
may wax while flute playing wanes. In the sciences, industrial
chemists may be replaced by wildlife ecologists. . .
In a steady state economy,
the average amount of money in real dollars earned by workers
from the current generation to the next remains constant.
"Real dollars"
means that inflation has been accounted for. Because income reflects
the use of natural resources, stabilized income reflects a stabilized
"ecological footprint," which is the area of land required
to support a human being . . .
If the steady state economy
is established at a relatively low population level, the potential
exists for each worker, and his replacement in the next generation,
to earn a high income. This scenario is similar to that of a
low-density deer population with plenty of forage per deer. If,
on the other hand, the steady state economy is established at
a high population level, less income is available for the average
worker, as in a high-density deer population with little forage
per deer.
We think it important that
a steady state economy be established at a relatively low population
level. This scenario is conducive to incomes high enough to allow
retirement savings and social secu rity (in the generic sense),
making the economy more politically acceptable and therefore
more stable. If the steady state economy is established with-in
ecological carrying capacity, each new generation may expect
its workers to accumulate retire- ment savings of the same magnitude
as the previous generation. So we think it important to establish
a steady state economy as soon as possible. As the population
grows, it becomes less likely the steady state economy may be
established whereby incomes are high enough to support reasonable
periods of retirement.
Won't the stock market
crash if a steady state economy is established? . . . Many people
view the stock market as predicated on economic growth, so they
wonder if a stock market could even exist in a steady state economy.
It certainly could and probably would. In a steady state economy,
firms still need to invest in capital--namely, at the same rate
at which capital depreciates.
Publicly traded stocks
provide the social benefit of liquidity to investors and offer
an efficient mechanism for the acquisition of investment capital.
Stock markets tend to expand
and contract in concert (though often with lags) with gross domestic
product, the dollar value of newly produced, final goods and
services. There are winners and losers in bullish and bearish
markets, though the winners tend to be more prominent in the
for- mer. The stock market in a steady state economy of stable
GDP would be neither bullish nor bearish for extended periods.
It, too, would have winners and losers, with perennial losers
becoming insolvent and being replaced by more competent firms.
But in a steady state economy the stock market would be less
of a casino than in the growth economy.
Economic growth, on the
other hand, is bound to cause an extensive and extended stock
market crash because demands for capital eventually will exceed
the productive capacity of the earth.
Therefore, advocating a
steady state economy is appropriate not only for purposes of
wildlife conservation but also because it would reduce the volatility
of the stock market.
There are, of course, alternatives
to the stock market for purposes of financing capital investment.
For example, capital may be financed by private banks, cooperatives,
and governments. In fact, all of these institutions are active
financiers throughout the world. The relative prominence of each
in a given nation helps to describe that nation's history, ideology,
and "political economy," which brings us to our next
question--a very big one.
Doesn't a steady state
economy require a socialist government? More generally put, what
kind of government is most conducive to a steady state economy?
Might it be, for example, a capitalist democracy, a communist
state or a dictatorship? In theory, each is capable of producing
or coexisting with a steady state economy, but we do not think
any of these is particularly conducive. Each has exhibited far
more concern with GDP growth than with other important endeavors,
such as poverty alleviation and, of course, wildlife conservation.
We think the form of government
most conducive to a steady state economy, in the context of twenty-first-century
nation states, is a constitutional democracy somewhat more socialized
than the current American version. "Socialist democracies,"
as the term is used in political science, already exist in many
nations, most notably such European nations as Sweden, Switzerland
and England.
Economists more frequently
call them "mixed economies." These are democratically
operated governments in which the state plays a more prominent
role in the economy than the American government plays in its
economy
EDWARDS TAKES ON CREDIT
CARD USURY, TRICKS
ONE AMERICA - Senator John
Edwards has outlined a plan to take on abusive lenders and help
American families save. "Debt has become the central fact
of middle-class existence," said Edwards. "For most
families, wages have not kept up with rising costs for middle-class
essentials like health care, housing and child care. Consumer
debt has skyrocketed in recent years and today, half of Americans
say they live paycheck to paycheck.
"At the same time,
abusive credit card companies deliberately build in tricks and
traps for families. Consumers often fail to understand the basic
terms of their cards due to complicated and confusing disclosures.
Most big credit card companies advertise low rates but reserve
the right to change rates at any time for any reason - a single
late payment can trigger penalties that raise interest rates
to an average of almost 25 percent.
To take on the credit card
industry - that has spent $250 million on lobbying and campaign
contributions since 1998 - Edwards promises to:
- enact national legislation
to protect families from the most abusive practices in the credit
card industries.
- create a new Family Savings
and Credit Commission to review all financial services products
marketed to families to determine that terms are reasonable and
fairly disclosed.
- subsidize bank accounts
for low-income workers - nearly 28 million Americans lack them
- and create work bonds to match their savings.
http://johnedwards.com/news/headlines/20071202-abusive-lenders/
2007
NOVEL IDEA FOR THE HOMELESS: GIVE THEM
A HOME
THE REAGAN-BUSH-CLINTON-BUSH YEARS:
BRINGING INEQUALITY TO PRE-DEPRESSION LEVELS
FROM THE
ECONOMIST
HOW TO CONTACT A LIVE PERSON IN
CORPORATE AMERICA
BRINGING FAIR TRADE HOME
ERBIN CROWELL, EQUAL EXCHANGE, IN COOPERATIVE
GROCER - Today, just 10 corporations account for over 50 percent
of the revenue generated globally by food retailing. Not surprisingly,
as agribusiness profits have gone up, the share of the consumer
dollar received by farming families has declined dramatically.
By 2003, there were just 1.9 million working farmers in the U.S.
- less than the prison population.
For African American farmers, the challenge
is even more severe. For example, in 1920, one in seven farmers
were African American; by 1998, just one in 100, a loss rate
more than three times that of white farmers. Like many of the
small farmers that Equal Exchange works with across Latin America,
Africa and Asia, black farmers in the U.S. have been shut out
of markets, denied access to capital, and given racist treatment
at an institutional level. . .
Recently Equal Exchange and the Federation
began exploring a new idea: Domestic Fair Trade. The goal of
the partnership is to bring the Federations nearly 40 years of
organizing for civil rights and community development together
with Equal Exchanges 20 years of international Fair Trade experience
and commitment to cooperation. The result will be healthy snacks
grown, processed, marketed, and sold by cooperatives.
Our first project is with Southern Alternatives,
a pecan processing cooperative in southern Georgia. Through collective
action and persistence, this group has managed to accomplish
something inspiring: a black-owned, cooperatively organized pecan
processing facility that includes farmers and workers. With the
support of the Federation, workers in the facility kept the business
alive as a strategy for preserving jobs in a rural area devastated
by the modern agricultural economy and abandoned by the textile
mills that have moved overseas. .
http://cooperativegrocer.coop/articles/index.php?id=697
LEFT BUSINESS OBSERVER HITS
20
DOUG HENWOOD, one of the most useful and
remarkable voices on the left for the past two decades has just
published his 20th edition issue of the Left Business Observer.
One of the things we've always liked about Henwood is his ability
to make one think differently about money and its effect on us.
His anniversary issue is no different. For example he notes that
Tom Frank in the 'What's the Matter with Kansas' had argued that
"the white working class has been hoodwinked by Republican
culture warriors into voting against their economic interests."
This has been a case we have long made as well and is one of
the reasons we support a strong populist approach to politics.
But Henwood shoots two well-aimed holes
in the argument:
- "[Richard Hofstadter] made the now
largely forgotten point that American Protestants have long had
a deep sympathy for The Market. Since they see humans as fallen,
corrupt creatures always in need of a good kick in the ass, they
revere it as a wonderful mechanism of social discipline, punishing
the lazy and rewarding the hard-working. If people are poor,
it's because they're immoral, impatient, or wasteful.".
. .Henwood notes the acceptance of this fantasy explains "why
there's been so little political price paid for the economic
march back to the 19th century."
- "I'll confess that for a moment
or two after the dot com bubble burst, and Enron and the other
corporate scandals were revealed, I'd hoped there might be some
moment of magical awakening. But it didn't happen that way. And
the reason it didn't happen was well anticipated by C. Wright
Mills in the Power Elite. Writing of of the routinization of
crisis and scandal, Mills declared there was really no energy
for sustained or productive outrage: 'Among the mass distractions
this feeling soon passes harmlessly away. For the American distrust
of the high and mighty is a distrust without doctrine and without
political focus; it is a distrust felt by the mass public as
a series of more or less cynically expected disclosures.'"
Henwood hopes to have a more upbeat tone
for the 30th anniversary of LBO, but in the meantime it's an
excellent place to find why things work the way they don't. .
. and why they don't know matter how hard we try.
LEFT BUSINESS OBSERVER
http://leftbusinessobserver.com/
WHERE WOULD JESUS BANK?
Do you know who is your
banker is? Do you know what your banker is doing with your money
right now? The corruption and violence we are witnessing today
could only be happening with the complicity and leadership of
the major banks. When we do business with these banks, we are
"voting with our money" to finance the Wall Street-driven
government and financial policies we say we despise.
We have the power to transform
events by making some simple choices about who we bank with on
Main Street. According to Catherine Austin Fitts, former Assistant
Secretary of Housing during Bush I and successful Wall Street
investment banker, this is the single most effective action that
consumers can take to clean up government and dirty money.
In an audio seminar, Fitts illuminates the relationship between
our banks and growing corruption; identifies the "Tapeworm
Banking 20" -- our vote for the 20 worst offenders; walks
you through how to affirm your existing bank or choose a new
local bank or credit union; describes why a small number of people
shifting their deposits locally can have a dramatic impact in
a highly leveraged financial system; explains why the first step
to decentralized energy solutions and new job creation is decentralizing
our bank deposits.
http://www.solari.com/store/free_offer/
2006...
SUPER RICH
EVADE AS MUCH AS $70 BILLION A YEAR IN TAXES
DAVID CAY JOHNSTON, NY TIMES - So many superrich Americans evade taxes using
offshore accounts that law enforcement cannot control the growing
misconduct, according to a Senate report that provides the most
detailed look ever at high-level tax schemes.
THE COST OF
BEING POOR
ERIK ECKHOLM, NY TIMES - Drivers from low-income neighborhoods of New
York, Hartford and Baltimore, insuring identical cars and with
the same driving records as those from middle-class neighborhoods,
paid $400 more on average for a year's insurance.
RISE OF THE
SUPER-RICH
TERESA TRITCH, NY TIMES
- Income inequality used to be about rich versus poor, but now
it's increasingly a matter of the ultra rich and everyone else.
The curious effect of the new divide is an economy that appears
to be charging ahead, until you realize that the most of the
people in it are being left in the dust. . . Figures show that
from 2003 to 2004, the latest year for which there is data, the
richest Americans pulled far ahead of everyone else. In the space
of that one year, real average income for the top 1 percent of
households - those making more than $315,000 in 2004 - grew by
nearly 17 percent. For the remaining 99 percent, the average
gain was less than 3 percent. . .
GRAND UNIFIED
THEORY OF THE DAY
How many economists does
it take to change a light bulb?
The answer is indeterminate.
Choose one of the following:
TWO: one to change the
bulb and one to assume the existence of a ladder.
EIGHT: one to screw in
the bulb and seven to hold everything else constant.
NONE: They are all waiting
for an invisible hand.
[Alcom, S. and Solarz,
B, Yale Economic Review]
STUDY: WAL-MARTS INCREASE POVERTY
BERNANKE: THE MUSIC VIDEO
BACKGROUND: R. Glenn
Hubbard, a predecessor of Bernanke's at the Council of Economic
Advisers, had long been seen as a candidate for the Fed job,
but as Bernanke's star rose, so did the voices of Hubbard advocates,
who saw him as a stronger conservative. Hubbard's role as architect
of Bush's drive to all but eliminate taxes on dividends won him
strong allies among supply-side economists, who view tax cuts
as the surest path to economic growth. - Washington Post
KIDDING OURSELVES ABOUT POVERTY
BANKS OUT TO GET RID OF CREDIT UNIONS
43% OF FIRST TIME HOMEOWNERS LAST YEAR
PUT NO MONEY DOWN
THE MIDDLE
CLASS PRECIPICE
[A deep look at the problems
of the middle class]
ELIZABETH WARREN, HARVARD
MAGAZINE - Middle-class families have been threatened on every
front. Rocked by rising prices for essentials as men's wages
remained flat, both Dad and Mom have entered the workforce-a
strategy that has left them working harder just to try to break
even. Even with two paychecks, family finances are stretched
so tightly that a very small misstep can leave them in crisis.
As tough as life has become for married couples, single-parent
families face even more financial obstacles in trying to carve
out middle-class lives on a single paycheck. And at the same
time that families are facing higher costs and increased risks,
the old financial rules of credit have been rewritten by powerful
corporate interests that see middle-class families as the spoils
of political influence.
In just one generation,
millions of mothers have gone to work, transforming basic family
economics. The typical middle-class household in the United States
is no longer a one-earner family, with one parent in the workforce
and one at home full-time. Instead, the majority of families
with small children now have both parents rising at dawn to commute
to jobs so they can both pull in paychecks. . .
Today the median income
for a fully employed male is $41,670 per year (all numbers are
inflation-adjusted to 2004 dollars) - nearly $800 less than his
counterpart of a generation ago. The only real increase in wages
for a family has come from the second paycheck earned by a working
mother. With both adults in the workforce full-time, the family's
combined income is $73,770-a whopping 75 percent higher than
the median household income in the early 1970s. But the gain
in income has an overlooked side effect: family risk has risen
as well. Today's families have budgeted to the limits of their
new two-paycheck status. As a result, they have lost the parachute
they once had in times of financial setback-a back-up earner
(usually Mom) who could go into the workforce if the primary
earner got laid off or fell sick. This "added-worker effect"
could buttress the safety net offered by unemployment insurance
or disability insurance to help families weather bad times. But
today, a disruption to family fortunes can no longer be made
up with extra income from an otherwise-stay-at-home partner.
http://www.harvard-magazine.com/on-line/010682.html
THE HIGH PRICE OF STOPPING BY STARBUCKS
WHY IT'S BETTER TO BE
POOR IN NORWAY OR CANADA THAN IN THE U.S.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0414/p17s02-cogn.html |