free-market ideology
Video Post – Introduction to In Depth Capitalism Series
Introducing the In Depth series on the actual workings of capitalism. Commentary on economic theories.
free market capitalism
environment
Plastics and Run Amuck Capitalism
Plastic packaging is swamping the world with refuse that never degrades and flows into mountains of trash in land dumps and pollutes the oceans. For example, the bottled water industry produces over 50 billion bottles per year for the American market alone. Roughly 38 billion are not recycled and end --->> read more -->>
economy
John Oliver and Monopoly Capitalism
Corporate concentration of income and wealth are core features of capitalism. From its earliest chroniclers and cheerleaders like Adam Smith, the drive for corporations to get ever larger and in the doing drive their competitors out of the market was noted and warned against. In the US, the late 19th --->> read more -->>
economy
A Note on Jobs & Unemployment – revised
A Note on Jobs & Unemployment Original publication date – 12/27/2016; Revised – 12/31/2017 As the presidential campaign of 2016 fades away and the Trump Era begins, we find a national scene without any real discussion of the facts of jobs and unemployment and what the future might bring. Trump --->> read more -->>
free-market ideology
Recently Noted – Robert Reich: how we got into this mess and how we get out of it
Recently Noted – Robert Reich: how we got into this mess and how we get out of it This is a good description of how we got into our current mess; the way out is weaker. Nevertheless, well worth the six minute view. A few thoughts To be clear the --->> read more -->>
free-market ideology
Ultra-Processed Foods, Conquest of New Markets, Capitalism In Action
The American food industry led the way in the 20th century with the introduction of processed foods that feature lots of salt, sugar (including refined white flour) and fat converted into products that launched us on the earliest mass experiments with obesity, diabetes, hypertension and other chronic illnesses. The promotion --->> read more -->>
free-market ideology
Recently Noted – about free market capitalism – is capitalism the real problem?
Capitalism is driven by a single internal logic that requires the transformation of people and nature into commodities to produce profits. This logic is amoral and the system, excepting for external controls by government and social institutions, just churns on. Despite the enormous increase in the economic output over the --->> read more -->>
free-market ideology
Capitalism and Innovation
Innovation is at the heart of capitalism We have been constantly told this for so long that it is now an assumption that has become an accepted fact. On the other hand, government is slow-footed, clumsy, bureaucratic, rule bound and the antithesis of innovative. This is the flip side of --->> read more -->>
free-market ideology
Healthcare and Markets – why don’t they work together?
A consistent chattering point in American discussions of healthcare is the claim that if we can only bring transparency and competition to healthcare we will drive prices down and bring sanity to healthcare. The rest of the world knows that this is not the answer but we seem to remain --->> read more -->>
healthcare
The Democratic Party and Healthcare – Preserving Obamacare Cannot Be The End Game
While our current attention is on the Republican Party’s transfer of wealth to the rich and corporations through the charade of a healthcare reform, the Democratic Party needs to face up to its future and the future of our healthcare system in particular. The Global Context The chart shown here --->> read more -->>
free-market ideology
Recently Noted – free-market capitalism
Companies must externalize as many costs as possible in free-market capitalism. Without adequate government protections you will end up with this kind of environment. from the New York Times: Nearly 14,000 Companies in China Violate Pollution Rules By EDWARD WONG “Environmental inspectors in northern China have found that nearly 14,000 companies, or --->> read more -->>
free-market ideology
Neoliberalism Revisited
A return to a topic first posted 2/10/2017. Neoliberalism – a term that needs never to be used February 10, 2017 Dollars and Sense has been around since the 1970s. Always a source of well researched critiques of capitalism. I recently, after a more than 30 year hiatus, re-upped a --->> read more -->>
free-market ideology
The Global Context of the US Healthcare Debate
The solution to our healthcare fiasco is first to recognize its true nature and then to face down those who are consuming a fifth of our economic output while producing profoundly bad results. We need to take a much broader view in order to see that, compared to the rest --->> read more -->>
free-market ideology
Regulations vs Protections – more than just words
In a recent stream of comments about a post in GossipsOfRivertown, “More about Dumped Cement” Virginia Martin wrote to me: Mark Orton said “This is why we have government regulations.” Linguist George Lakoff would say the term “regulations” is ill-considered. He’d say they’re protections. This is why we have government --->> read more -->>