In the past, I have ended the year with a post titled “My Year End Siege of Angers”. You might think that the oncoming onslaught of the Trump Presidency and government by his billionaire supporters would bring another round of angers. But, this year, I find myself very afraid for —>> read more –>>
From a recent email from Bernie Sanders with this byline: “Yes. In the wealthiest country on earth let us Make America Healthy Again.”, I extracted these headline proposals. Medicare for All. Lower the cost of prescription drugs. Paid Family and Medical Leave. Reform the food industry. Raise the minimum wage —>> read more –>>
In the wake of Trump’s victory over Harris there has been much hand-wringing over how to explain the obvious trend among Americans to favor Republicans. Is the Democratic Party too focused on social issues? Is this alienating white males in particular? Did the party underestimate the general misogyny of voters? —>> read more –>>
The tsunami of billionaires that has washed across the planet over the last decade or so is troubling in the extreme. Now, we have the fattest one setting policy in Washington in the most direct way imaginable. Billionaires already own the US political system, and they are on the very —>> read more –>>
The word democracy appears regularly in Americans’ discourse about our country. We describe our government as democratic, and our political rhetoric is filled with notions of democracy about many aspects of American life. But, in this age of originalist analysis let’s apply a little to this matter. The word “democracy” —>> read more –>>
American Compass is a self-described think tank for conservative economics. From its Mission Statement page: “We are developing the conservative economic agenda to supplant blind faith in free markets with a focus on workers, their families and communities, and the national interest.” There is much to admire about the analysis —>> read more –>>
In a recent NYTimes article, “In New Memoir, Merkel Talks Putin and Trump” about Angela Merkel’s memoir, “Freedom: Memoirs 1954-2021” this picture appears: The tough Real Politik negotiator crowd will doubtless applaud Putin’s maneuver. To me, it just speaks to his personal insecurity and Russia’s weakness in general. The history —>> read more –>>
Trump appears to be setting the stage to deport millions of immigrants. Leaving aside the obvious inhumanity of such a project, there is the question of who is going to do all of the work performed by immigrants? SEMAFOR has an interesting chart displaying the many fields in which immigrants —>> read more –>>
For the period between the end of WWII and 1979 there was productivity growth of ~ 55%. That means that for an hour’s work the economic value has grown by 55%. Over that period workers’ wages grew in parallel. As the economy flourished, so did the vast bulk of the —>> read more –>>
In the fall of 2011, a large group of protestors occupied areas around Wall St. in NYC for six weeks under the banner of “We are the 99%” At the same time, there were protests around the world in financial centers. These followed the financial collapse of 2008, and the —>> read more –>>
A key part of the description of capitalism in orthodox (neoclassical) economics, and our political rhetoric, is the role competition between companies plays in keeping the automatic self-regulation of markets humming for the most efficient and effective production at optimal prices. Competition is also regularly touted as a great driver —>> read more –>>
Neoliberalism is the word most frequently used by commentators and academics when discussing the changes in the US economy over the past 50 years. For most people, this is a completely useless term. Are we talking about some new form of the New Deal? Then, we must yank ourselves back —>> read more –>>
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