SALES OF U.S. HOMES HIT 16 YEAR LOW
HOUSE PRICES DROPPING MOST IN PLACES WITH
LONG COMMUTES
EVERY SOUTHERN STATE EXCEPT FLORIDA &
VIRGINIA ARE AMONG THE 15 POOREST STATES
FOOD STAMP USE APPROACHING RECORD HIGH
U.S. INCOME GAP SETS POSTWAR RECORD
INDICATORS: ROBBER BARONS STILL DOING WELL
AMERICAN INCOMES DECLINED DURING BUSH REGIME
PERCENTAGE OF POOR AMERICANS IN SEVERE POVERTY
REACHES 32 YEAR HIGH
THE REAGAN-BUSH-CLINTON-BUSH YEARS: BRINGING
INEQUALITY TO PRE-DEPRESSION LEVELS
COMMUNITY CURRENCY
BERKSHARES
EF
SCHUMACHER SOCIETY
ITHACA
HOURS
LOCAL
CURRENCIES
TIME
DOLLAR NETWORK
TIME DOLLAR
CONSUMERS
THE CONSUMERIST GUIDE TO FIGHTING BACK
MOVIE
AD CLASS ACTION SUIT
HOW
TO ESCAPE CORPORATE PHONE HELL & SPEAK TO A LIVE PERSON
OTHER
WAYS TO REACH A LIVE PERSON
STILL
MORE HUMAN CODES
PUBLIC
CITIZEN
PUBLIC INTEREST RESEARCH GROUP
RIP OFF
REPORT
SPY
CHIPS
TRANS-ATLANTIC
CONSUMER DIALOGUE
WHO'S OUTSOURCING IN YOUR STATE
COOPERATIVES
NATIONAL
COOPERATIVE BUSINESS ASSOCIATION
CO-OP
AMERICA
NATIONAL
RURAL ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE ASSN
NORTH
AMERICAN STUDENTS OF COOPERATION
CORPORATE PERSONHOOD
COMMUNITY
ENVIRONMENTAL LEGAL DEFENSE FUND
CREDIT UNIONS
NAT
FED COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CREDIT UNIONS
ECONOMICS
BINARY
ECONOMICS
CAMPAIGN FOR AMERICA'S
FUTURE
NATIONAL CAMPAIGN
FOR JOBS & INCOME SUPPORT
CENTER
FOR ECONOMIC & POLICYRESEARCH
CENSUS
DATA
COMMUNITY INVESTING
COOP AMERICA
ECONOMIC
POLICY INSTITUTE
ECONOMIC
STATS
FINANCIAL MARKETS CENTER
FUCKED COMPANY
GREEN
ECONOMICS
GUIDE
TO ALTERNATIVE CURRENCIES
INEQUALITY
INSTITUTE FOR LOCAL SELF RELIANCE
INVEST-IN
PROJECT
JOINT
CENTER FOR POLITICAL & ECONOMIC STUDIES
MIDDLEBURY
ALTERNATIVE ECONOMY
NATIONAL
CAMPAIGN FOR JOBS & INCOME SUPPORT
NATIONAL
COMMUNITY REINVESTMENT
COALITION
NATIONAL JOBS FOR
ALL COALITION
NATIONAL
JUSTICE FOR ALL COALITION
POST-AUTISTIC ECONOMICS
RAINBOW/PUSH
REDEFINING PROGRESS
REINVENTING
MONEY
SHAREHOLDER
ACTION
TEMPS
TOO MUCH
TRUE MAJORITY
TWO ECONOMIC VISIONS
UNITED
FOR A FAIR ECONOMY
WAL-MART WORKERS
WHERE WOULD
JESUS BANK?
EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP
NATIONAL
CENTER FOR EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP
SHARED
CAPITALISM INSTITUTE
DATA
CENSUS
DATA
ECONOMIC
STATS
MARKETING
CLICHES BY ZIP
UNEMPLOYMENT
BENEFIT CALCULATOR
FOOD
AGRI
SURF
CORPORATE
AGRICULTURE RESEARCH PROJECT
FARM SUBSIDY DATABASE
FOOD
RESEARCH & ACTION CENTER
FOODSPEAK
OREGON FARM WORKERS
ORGANIC CONSUMERS
ORGANIC
FARMING RESEARCH FOUNDATION
NAT COALITON AGAINST MISUSE
OF PESTICIDES
PESTICIDE ACTION NETWORK
RURAL
ADVANCEMENT FOUNDATION INTL
RURAL COALITION
SUSTAINABLE
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UNITED FARM WORKERS
LIVING WAGE
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ECONOMIC
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MONEY
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STEADY STATE ECONOMICS
CTR
FOR ADVANCEMENT OF STEADY STATE ECONOMY
WEALTH
RICHEST
ZIP CODES
BABYLON AND BEYOND
The Economics of Anti-Capitalist,
Anti-Globalist and Radical Green Movements
Derek Wall - Babylon and Beyond provides
an accessible guide to the economics of anti-capitalism. Anti-capitalism
is a diverse movement: critics accuse it of knowing what it is
against, but not knowing what it is for. Anti-capitalists want
radical change, but what shape should that change take?
The truth is that
different sections of the movement advocate distinct -- sometimes
complementary, sometimes contradictory -- programs for change.
This book concentrates on perhaps the most divisive issue of
all in the anti-capitalist struggle: how to transform the economy.
There are greens
who think we must hold back economic growth and Marxists who
believe the economy must move forward along capitalist lines
before there can be revolutionary change; there are those who
remain faithful to notions of collective or state ownership of
all aspects of the economy, and those who think various kinds
of reform or regulation of capitalist practice is more appropriate.
Derek Wall explains
and summarizes the rich variety of theories available within
the anti-capitalist movement. Chapters cover Marxism, Autonomism,
Anarchism, Ecosocialism, Capitalist reformers (like George Soros
and Jospeh Stiglitz), Green localists (like Colin Hines),and
others.
ON THE RAMPAGE
Corporate Predators
and the Destruction
of Democracy
Russell Mokhiber & Robert Weissman
RAMPANT CORPORATE
CRIME. Pollution. Cancer. Sweatshops. Dangerous working conditions.
Wealth disparities. Corrupted politics. In a compilation of snapshots
from two of the leading reporters on business power, On the Rampage
documents the price we pay for living in a corporate-dominated
society - and provides accounts of individuals and movements
resisting, and triumphing over, concentrated corporate power.
ORDER
IT'S ALL FOR SALE: THE CONTROL OF GLOBAL
RESOURCES by James Ridgeway.
Five companies dominate the U.S. petroleum industry. Five control
the worldwide trade in grain. Two have a corner on the private
market for drinking water. In terms of actual dollars, trade
in heroin, cocaine, and tobacco ranks alongside that in grain
or metals. There are more slaves in the world today than ever
before. Resource-by-resource, It's All for Sale uncovers and
discloses who owns, buys, and sells what. Some resources—such
as fuel, metals, fertilizers, drugs, fibers, food, forests, and
flowers—have, for better or worse, long been thought of
as commodities. Others—including fresh water, human beings,
the sky, the oceans, and life itself (in the form of genetic
codes)—are more startling to think of as products with price
tags, but, as James Ridgeway shows, they are treated as such
on a massive scale in lucrative markets around the world.
Revealing the surprisingly small
number of companies that control many of the basic commodities
we use in everyday life, It's All for Sale confirms in specific
detail that globalization has been accompanied by an extraordinary
concentration of ownership. At the same time, it is about much
more than what company has cornered the market in corn or diamonds.
Corporations and captains of industry, wars and swindles, oppressors
and the oppressed, empires and colonies, military might and commercial
power, economic boom and bust—all these come alive in Ridgeway's
canny and arresting reporting about the global scramble for power
and profit. It's All for Sale is an invaluable source for researchers,
activists, and all those concerned with globalization, corporate
power, and the exploitation of individuals and the environment.
A GUIDE TO WHAT'S WRONG WITH ECONOMICS
Edited by Edward Fullbrook
"From the 1960s
onward, neoclassical economists have increasingly managed to
block the employment of non-neoclassical economists, narrow the
economics curriculum offered by universities to students, and
made their theory increasingly irrelevant to understanding economic
reality. Now, they are even banishing economic history and the
history of economic thought from the curriculum. Why has this
tragedy happened? At this time of accelerating momentum for radical
change in the study of economics, "A Guide to What's Wrong
with Economics" comprehensively examines the shortcomings
of neoclassical economics and considers a number of alternative
formulations. In it, a distinguished list of non-neoclassical
economists provide an examination of some of the many worldly
and logical gaps in neoclassical economics, its hidden ideological
agendas, disregard for the environment, habitual misuse of mathematics
and statistics, inability to address the major issues of economic
globalization, its ethical cynicism concerning poverty, racism
and sexism, and its misrepresentation of economic history. In
clear and engaging prose, "A Guide to What's Wrong with
Economics" shows how interesting, relevant and exciting
economics can be when it is pursued, not as the defense of an
antiquated and close-minded system of belief, but as a no-holds
barred inquiry looking for real-world truths."
THE PEOPLE'S BUSINESS: Controlling Corporations
and Restoring Democracy by Lee Drutman, Charlie Cray, Ralph Nader:
The People's Business examines the very nature of corporate power,
presenting a range of strategies to curtail it, explaining how
ordinary people can restore citizen control. Bringing together
the recommendations of the Citizen Works corporate reform commission
- a coalition of leading authors, activists, scholars, and professionals
- The People's Business offers a plan for strengthening individual
rights, transforming corporations into engines of public prosperity,
and creating a sustainable, life-respecting society where the
people have the power.
BORN TO BUY : THE COMMERCIALIZED CHILD AND
THE NEW CONSUMER CULTURE by
Juliet B. Schor. Drawing on her own survey research and unprecedented
access to the advertising industry, New York Times bestselling
author and leading cultural and economic authority Juliet Schor
examines how a marketing effort of vast size, scope, and effectiveness
has created "commercialized children." Schor, author
of The Overworked American and The Overspent American, looks
at the broad implications of this strategy. Sophisticated advertising
strategies convince kids that products are necessary to their
social survival. Ads affect not just what they want to buy, but
who they think they are and how they feel about themselves. Based
on long-term analysis, Schor reverses the conventional notion
of causality: it's not just that problem kids become overly involved
in the values of consumerism; it's that kids who are overly involved
in the values of consumerism become problem kids.
THE CASE AGAINST THE GLOBAL ECONOMY: Edited by Jerry Mander and Edward Goldsmith
with essays by 43 leaders in such fields as economics, agriculture
and the environment.
CORPORATE PREDATORS: THE HUNT FOR MEGAPROFITS
AND THE ATTACK ON DEMOCRACY
by Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman. Wealth disparity, mega-mergers
and the resulting consolidation of corporate power, commercialism
run amok, rampant corporate crime, death without justice, pollution,
cancer and an unrelenting attack on democracy. In a compilation
of compelling snapshots from two of the leading reporters on
corporate power, Corporate Predators documents the price we pay
for living in a corporate-dominated society.
THE CORROSION OF CHARACTER The
Personal Consequences of Work In the New Capitalism by Richard
Sennett. An important new book from the ever-fertile Sennett,
this time on the nature of work in the contemporary economy.
THE LIVING WAGE: BUILDING FOR A FAIR ECONOMY by Robert Pollin and Stephanie Luce. Almost
one-third of all working people earn wages below the official
poverty line. In response, a number of cities have passed laws
-- among them Boston, LA, New York and Chicago -- requiring that
their contractors pay a living wage. This book makes the case
for such an approach. It also refutes rightwing arguments that
a higher minimum wage hurts employment.
RATS IN THE GRAIN: The Dirty Tricks of the
''Supermarket to the World" by
James B. Lieber. Beneath the wholesome image of Archer Daniels
Midland, "Supermarket to the World," lie some of the
dirtiest practices in American business: price-fixing, bribery,
cover-up, and more. Rats in the Grain exposes the crime and punishment
of ADM and the largest white-collar criminal trial of the decade.
Drawing on Peter Edelman's vast
personal experience with the issues and many of the key figures,
SEARCHING
FOR AMERICA'S HEART shows that in an age of unprecedented
prosperity, Americans have in many respects forsaken their fellow
citizens. While we daily break economic records, we have largely
given up our vision of social and economic justice, leaving behind
a devastatingly large number of poor and near-poor, many of them
children. Edelman shines a bright light on these forgotten Americans.
Also, based in part on a firsthand look at community efforts
across the country, he proposes a bold and practical program
for addressing the difficult issues of entrenched poverty. Edelman
focuses on novel ways of braiding together national and local
civic activism, reinvigorating our commitment to children, and
building hope in our most shattered communities.
TOP HEAVY
: The Increasing Inequality of Wealth in America and What Can
Be Done About It. by Edward N. Wolff. Left Business Observer:
Top Heavy reveals just how densely packed wealth is in
America, and how we could go about taxing it. Forget the flat
tax--it's time for the 'fat tax'! In These Times: "Sometimes
numbers speak louder than words. In Wolff's book, the numbers
shout. Hailed in the Boston Review as "the leading contemporary
study of the distribution of wealth in the United States and
the recent explosion in wealth inequality," Top Heavy provides
the clearest picture available of the growing gap between rich
and poor in America, and a compelling proposal to help correct
it." |
Money news
The Progressive
Review
OCTOBER 2008
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 |
SEPTEMBER 2008
STORIES THE MEDIA DIDN'T TELL
YOU: HANK PAULSON'S BACKGROUND
Tom Ely, World Socialist
- In 1970, fresh from the Masters program of the Harvard Business
School, Paulson entered the Nixon administration, working first
as staff assistant to the assistant secretary of defense. In
1972-73, Paulson worked as office assistant to John Erlichman,
assistant to the president for domestic affairs. Erlichman was
one of the key figures involved in organizing President Richard
Nixon's notorious "plumbers" unit that carried out
illegal covert operations against the president's political opponents,
including espionage, blackmail, and revenge. Ehlichman resigned
in 1973, and in 1975 he was convicted of obstruction of justice,
perjury, and conspiracy, and was imprisoned for 18 months.
Utilizing his connections,
Paulson went to work for Goldman Sachs in 1974. In a 2007 feature,
the British newspaper the Guardian wrote, "Not only was
he well connected enough to get the job [in the Nixon White House],
but well connected enough to resign in the thick of the Watergate
scandal without ever getting caught up in the fallout. He went
straight to Goldman back home in Illinois."
Paulson rose through the
ranks of Goldman Sachs, becoming a partner in 1982, co-head of
investment banking in 1990, chief operating officer in 1994.
In 1998 he forced out his co-chairman Jon Corzine "in what
amounted to a coup," according to New York Times economics
correspondent Floyd Norris, and took over the post of CEO.
Goldman Sachs is perhaps
the single best-connected Wall Street firm. Its executives routinely
go in and out of top government posts. Corzine went on to become
US senator from New Jersey and is now the state's governor. Corzine's
predecessor, Stephen Friedman, served in the Bush administration
as assistant to the president for economic policy and as chairman
of the National Economic Council. Friedman's predecessor as Goldman
Sachs CEO, Robert Rubin, served as chairman of the NEC and later
treasury secretary under Bill Clinton.
Agence France Press, in
a 2006 article on Paulson's appointment, "Has Goldman Sachs
Taken Over the Bush Administration?" noted that, in addition
to Paulson, "the president's chief of staff, Josh Bolten,
and the chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission,
Jeffery Reuben, are Goldman alumni."
"But the flow goes
both ways," the article continued, "Goldman recently
hired Robert Zoellick, who stepped down as the US deputy secretary
of state, and Faryar Shirzad, who worked as one of Bush's national
security advisors.". . .
Paulson, according to
a celebratory 2006 Business Week article entitled "Mr. Risk
Goes to Washington," was "one of the key architects
of a more daring Wall Street, where securities firms are taking
greater and greater chances in their pursuit of profits."
Under Paulson's watch, that meant "taking on more debt:
$100 billion in long-term debt in 2005, compared with about $20
billion in 1999. It means placing big bets on all sorts of exotic
derivatives and other securities."
According to the International
Herald Tribune, Paulson "was one of the first Wall Street
leaders to recognize how drastically investment banks could enhance
their profitability by betting with their own capital instead
of acting as mere intermediaries." Paulson "stubbornly
[asserted] Goldman's right to invest in, advise on and finance
deals, regardless of potential conflicts.". . .
PAULSON UNDERSTATED THE PROBLEM
EVERY STEP OF THE WAY
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
AUGUST 2008
WEST COAST FOOD BANK SEES DEMAND
RISE 80% THIS SPRING
JULY 2008
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
JUNE 2008
HOME ELECTRICITY PRICES SOARING
NUMBER OF MARRIED MOTHERS IN WORK FORCE
DROPS
MAY 2008
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
APRIL 2008
THE NEW AMERICA
IMF SAYS MORTGAGE CRISIS IS LARGEST FINANCIAL
SHOCK SINCE THE GREAT DEPRESSION
OREGONIAN FINDS JPMORGAN CHASE MEMO ON HOW
TO SNEAK IN SUBPRIME LOANS
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
MARCH 2008
JOB MARKET 2009
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.
FEBRUARY 2008
RECOVERED HISTORY: THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY
OF 'THE AFFLUENT SOCIETY'
DANIEL BEN-AMI, SPIKED-ONLINE -
When John Kenneth Galbraith's The Affluent Society was first
published 50 years ago, it was meant as a polemic against the
spirit of the times. Back in 1958, with America in the middle
of the boom that followed the Second World War, the orthodox
view was that economic growth was good. That was why Galbraith,
then an economics professor at Harvard, coined the term 'conventional
wisdom' to describe the mainstream view that he intended to attack.
. .
To understand the impact the book
made it is first necessary to appreciate the intellectual context
in which it was written. Immediately after the war ended in 1945,
there was intense anxiety in America about what would happen
to the economy. Memories of the Great Depression of the 1930s,
with its economic slump and severe social dislocation, were still
fresh. But soon the economy started to boom. In the period from
the late 1940s to 1973 the American economy enjoyed its greatest
ever growth spurt. It was in this context that the overriding
emphasis on growth in economic policy, rather than simply an
attachment to stability, emerged. . .
At this point it is important to
recognize that the most ardent advocates of economic growth were
often liberals. Truman was a Democrat president and his key economic
advisers were inclined towards liberalism. This is in contrast
to today where the relatively few advocates of outright economic
growth tend to be associated with the right. Back in the late
1940s and 1950s what could be called 'growth liberalism' held
sway.
It was in this environment that
two leading liberal thinkers with close ties to the Democrats,
Arthur Schlesinger Jr (1917-2007) and Galbraith, started raising
questions about growth in the mid-1950s. Schlesinger, then a
Harvard historian, wrote in 1957 that liberals should shift their
focus to 'enlarging the individual's opportunity for moral growth
and self-fulfillment'. Meanwhile, Galbraith, who was of Canadian
origin, testified in 1956 to the Royal Commission on Canada's
Economic Prospects, arguing: 'Sooner rather than later our concern
with the quantity of goods produced - the rate of increase in
Gross National Product - would have to give way to the larger
question of the quality of life that it provided.' It was this
idea that Galbraith developed in The Affluent Society.
The emphasis on production - and
therefore on raising the level of affluence in society - was
one of the main targets for criticism in Galbraith's 1958 book.
He argued that his book's concern was with 'the thraldom of a
myth - the myth that the production of goods, by its overpowering
importance and its ineluctable difficulty, is the central problem
of our lives'
Galbraith does not argue that production
was always so unimportant. On the contrary, in earlier times
he concedes it was a worthy goal. But since the 1930s he said
that there had been 'a mountainous rise in wellbeing'. Under
such circumstances, in America and Western Europe at least, he
argued that promoting prosperity should no longer be a priority.
. .
For Galbraith, another consequence
of this argument was that conventional economics was living in
the past. Economic theory, developed in an era of scarcity, emphasized
the need to raise productivity and output (8). Much of the early
part of the book is a critique of economic thought as an expression
of the conventional wisdom. . .
By far the most quoted passage of
the book contrasts private affluence with public squalor. It
argues that the pursuit of growth can make individuals wealthy
but it has damaging consequences for the rest of society: 'The
family which takes its mauve and cerise, air conditioned power-steered
and power-braked automobile out for a tour passes through cities
that are badly paved, made hideous by litter, blighted buildings,
billboards and posts for wires that should long since have been
put underground. They pass on into a country that has long been
rendered largely invisible by commercial art. . . They picnic
on exquisitely packaged food from a portable icebox by a polluted
stream and go on to spend the night at a park which is a menace
to public health and morals. Just before dozing off on an air
mattress, beneath a nylon tent, amid the stench of decaying refuse,
they may reflect on the curious unevenness of their blessings.
Is this, indeed, the American genius?'
STIMULUS
PACKAGE A SURPRISE BUST FOR 36 STATES
KANSAS CITY STAR - The
federal economic stimulus package may please taxpayers who get
$600 checks, but it isn't going over well in many state capitols,
including Kansas and Missouri. The legislation could cost Missouri
$100 million and Kansas $87 million.
The Center on Budget and
Policy Priorities, a Washington think tank, estimates that two
business tax cuts in the package will cost 36 states a total
of $2.9 billion in lost tax revenue. While some of that loss
will occur this year, most will occur during the fiscal year
beginning July 1 for most states.
Missouri House Budget
Chairman Allen Icet, a St. Louis County Republican, said a $100
million hit would wipe out nearly 30 percent of the annual growth
in state revenue.
Officials with the Center
on Budget and Policy Priorities said the reduction in states'
spending would partly offset any economic boost from the additional
business tax breaks. . .
Two provisions in the
stimulus package cause the problem:
- Companies will be able
to depreciate 50 percent of the cost of new equipment and machinery
in the first year rather than over several years.
- Companies can reduce
their federal income tax liability by $250,000 if they expand,
compared to $125,000 now.
The accelerated write-offs
also will apply in the 36 states that link their tax codes to
the federal government's tax structure, among them Missouri and
Kansas. The center's report stated that 28 states already were
projecting budget deficits as a result of the nation's economic
downturn.
JANUARY 2008
BUSINESS AS MORE THAN PROFITS
IRVING WLADAWSKY-BERGER -[Dr. Muhammad]
Yunus is a Bangladeshi economist and the founder of the Grameen
Bank, which he created in 1974 to help impoverished borrowers
start small businesses and obtain an education. He first loaned
$27 to a small group of very poor Bangladeshi women, and gradually
increased the number of loans. He pioneered the revolutionary
concept of micro-loans to help the poor in developing countries.
With these micro-loans, the poor are able to start very small
businesses, and they can gradually improve their economic situations
and start moving out of poverty. Grameen Bank now has more than
7.5 million borrowers, and about 2/3 of the families receiving
loans have risen above the poverty line.
The banking system pioneered by
Muhammad Yunus is now being used in more than 100 countries.
. .
He does not view the Grameen bank
and related activities as charity. He truly views them as businesses,
albeit a somewhat different kind of business from the classic
ones based on maximizing profits. . .
He writes, "Many of the problems
in the world remain unresolved because we continue to interpret
capitalism too narrowly. In this narrow interpretation we create
a one-dimensional human being to play the role of entrepreneur.
We insulate him from other dimensions of life, such as religious,
emotional, political dimensions. He is dedicated to one mission
in his business life - to maximize profit. He is supported by
masses of one-dimensional human beings who back him up with their
investment money to achieve the same mission."
But, he later adds, "everyday
human beings are not one-dimensional entities, they are excitingly
multi-dimensional and indeed very colourful. Their emotions,
beliefs, priorities, behavior patterns can be more aptly described
by drawing analogy with the basic colors and millions of colors
and shades they produce." He wants to create a new type
of entrepreneur, who is not just interested in profit-maximization
but who is also totally committed to make a difference in the
world and give a better chance in life to other people, not just
through charity, but by creating social businesses. These businesses
may or may not earn a profit, but like other businesses, they
must not incur a loss. They must become self-sustaining. Grameen
Bank is such a social business.
http://irvingwb.typepad.com/
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
DECEMBER 2007
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
http://www.steadystate.org/CASSEFAQs.html#anchor_151
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/
SEPTEMBER
2007
NOVEL IDEA FOR THE HOMELESS: GIVE THEM A HOME
DAVID HENCH, PORTLAND PRESS HERALD A recently
released survey of Portland's homeless population shows a decline
for the third straight year in the number of chronically homeless
people, those who often absorb a disproportionate share of resources
from the city and social- service agencies. Advocates for the
homeless say the improvement is directly related to the availability
of Logan Place, which provides 30 apartments to men who had been
homeless repeatedly or for long periods, and to greater access
to housing in a softening rental market.
Beyond the reduction in shelter use, getting
people into stable homes provides dramatic benefits to people's
quality of life, and that pays dividends for society, said Mark
Swann, executive director of the Preble Street Resource Center,
which helped conduct the survey. . .
The Point-in-Time Survey of Homelessness,
which gathers information from the people staying in city shelters,
makeshift camps and in their cars, found that just 19 percent
of those people were considered chronically homeless, down from
37 percent in 2004.
City statistics show a decline in the use
of Portland shelters overall for the past two years -- Logan
Place opened in 2005 -- after increasing steadily between 1997
and 2005. . .
"There are only 30 people" at
Logan Place, he said, "but they were responsible for over
6,000 bed nights in shelters the previous year.". . .
An analysis done with the University of
New England showed that residents of Logan Place used ambulances
71 percent less than the year before they moved in; showed a
74 percent decrease in emergency room visits; had a 70 percent
decrease in police contacts; and had an 88 percent decrease in
jail time, Swann said.
THE REAGAN-BUSH-CLINTON-BUSH YEARS:
BRINGING INEQUALITY TO PRE-DEPRESSION LEVELS
FROM THE
ECONOMIST
JULY 2007
HOW TO CONTACT A LIVE PERSON IN
CORPORATE AMERICA
FEBRUARY 2007
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
NON-PROFIT TESTS BANK CARD FOR WORKERS
NORTH JERSEY - A
New Jersey nonprofit is at the forefront of a nationwide effort
to grant special bank cards to low-wage workers, including immigrants,
regardless of their legal status. The New Labor Center in New
Brunswick, a workers center with a largely immigrant clientele,
is piloting a device called the Sigo card, developed by the Newark-based
company I.T.D.
Sigo acts as a kind of pre-paid debit card
that workers can use to deposit money directly into an account
and cash checks, or send duplicate cards to family members so
they can withdraw remittances directly from an ATM in their country,
at a better rate than money transfer agencies.
"The idea was, could we save workers
money, provide a secure place to put their money and get them
on an asset-building path," said Janice Fine, a Rutgers
labor relations professor who helped developed the program with
The Center for Community Change in Washington, D.C.
Sigo cards cost $4.95, and have a $2.50
monthly maintenance fee, a portion of which is paid in dues to
the nonprofit agency that issues the cards, in order to fund
the programs that assist the workers.
NEW BUSINESS TREND: CO-WORKING
KERRY MILLER, BUSINESS WEEK -
Over the past few years, co-working facilities - both grassroots,
co-op-like versions and for-profit models - have started popping
up across the country and the world, from Seattle to Copenhagen.
A co-working wiki hosts pages for dozens of other cities with
co-working initiatives in progress. And while the concept of
shared office space is nothing new to entrepreneurs, an increasing
number of them are signing on and finding that the community-building
and networking benefits outweigh even the virtues of a shared
fax machine.
In a recent report on the future of small
business, the Silicon-Valley based Institute for the Future pegged
co-working as a trend to watch over the next decade. After co-working
first took off with clusters of free-agent programmers and writers,
its flexibility and low cost have also proven a good match for
startups unwilling to sign a long-term lease. Because many of
these facilities operate on a gym-membership model that doesn't
assign workers to specific desks, co-working is cheaper than
most subleasing arrangements. And unlike traditional business
incubators, co-working isn't just for startups with high-growth
potential. . .
One of the newest co-working facilities,
for-profit Indoor Playground, opened in Toronto on Feb. 1 with
a mission statement focused solely on supporting local entrepreneurial
activity. The space's hanging dividers and movable desks allow
for reconfigurable work areas that can accommodate growing businesses
as well as community events. Those events are planned by members
themselves, both in person and through wikis.
Indoor Playground co-founder Mark Dowds
calls it a hands-off approach to business incubation: "We
created an environment-an open space where people can find each
other, collaborate, and create great ideas. Then we'll see what
happens."
HOW THE MARKET REALLY WORKS
[A beautiful example of the privatization
myth at work]
PAUL DUGGAN, WASHINGTON POST
- A D.C. government report issued yesterday describes the private
management of parking meters in the city as a financial waste,
saying the outsourcing not only failed to save money but drove
up costs by nearly $9 million from 1999 to 2005.
The system is riddled with other problems as well, the report
says. Among the findings: The city improperly issued almost 7,000
tickets to vehicles parked at broken meters in that seven-year
span, while residents' complaints about meters jumped from 3,652
in 1997, shortly before privatization, to 89,840 in 2005. . .
ACS, which is paid based on parking meter
revenue, sometimes got more than it was entitled to, according
to the auditor's findings, first reported yesterday by the Washington
Examiner. When meters along streets are "bagged" with
hoods because of construction, parades, funerals or other events,
the people or companies involved pay the city a fee. ACS is not
supposed to share in that money. However, from 1999 to 2005,
the report says, "ACS billed, and the District inexplicably
paid ACS, $644,952 in fees for bagged meter revenue.". .
.
When the auditors examined paperwork related
to meters along seven sample traffic routes, ACS records showed
that there were 1,906 meters on those routes. But the auditors
found only 1,236, of which 197 were "completely inoperative."
As for the 670 missing meters, "DDOT management had no clue
. . . how many had been removed from service, the revenue implications
of these removals, the reason for the removals or how long the
meters had been removed."
The report states that in 1993, the most
profitable parking-meter year of the decade before privatization,
the city took in $13.2 million in revenue against $1.1 million
in expenses, for a net gain of $12.1 million -- a return of about
$11 for each dollar spent. In the best year under privatization,
2003, the return was $2.63 per dollar spent.
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/
JANUARY 2007
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/
DECEMBER 2006
MASSACHUSETTS COMMUNITY PRINTS ITS OWN
MONEY
Just ten weeks after Berk Shares
made their debut on the streets and in the cash registers of
southern Berkshire County, Massachusetts, trade in this model
local currency has been brisk. Berk Shares Inc., the organization
sponsoring the project, estimates that 333,000 Berk Shares have
already been purchased from the four participating banks. Much
of that has already gone into the hands of the 188 participating
local merchants and service providers, who, in turn, have spent
the currency at other participating local businesses.
Berk Shares are attractive bills
that celebrate local heroes, landscapes, and the work of local
artists. Their use helps keep community assets from leaving the
Berkshires for far-off places. Every Berk Share spent means more
money in the hands of Berkshire businesses. And as the Berk Shares
keep circulating, the effect is cumulative.
An estimated 3,000 people have
been using Berk Shares on a regular basis for food, movie tickets,
clothing, books, music, and a variety of services from legal
advice to landscaping, from car repair to carpentry. . . .
Berk Shares Inc. is cosponsored
by the E. F. Schumacher Society and the Southern Berkshire Chamber
of Commerce.
Participating businesses accept
Berk Shares at full dollar equivalent in payment for goods and
services. Some restrictions may apply to accommodate the individual
nature of each business. As long as the Berk Shares stay in circulation
- for change, partial payment of salaries, and purchase of goods
- they will keep full dollar value; however, when merchants accumulate
too many in their cash registers, they can redeem the notes at
participating banks for 90 cents on the Berk Share, thereby offering
regular customers a ten percent discount.
www.berkshares.org
LOCAL CURRENCY
[Several readers expressed skepticism
about Berk Shares, the new local currency in a Massachusetts
community, Here are some things we have previously written on
this topic]
SAM SMITH, SHADOWS OF HOPE, 1994
- During the last recession, the lease for a certain restaurant
in Great Barrington, Mass., expired. The local bank wouldn't
lend restaurateur Frank Tortrello money to move across the street.
So Frank decided to print his own. He called them Deli Dollars.
Each sold for $9 and could be redeemed for $10 worth of food
after six months. Not only did the idea provide Frank with enough
money to make his move, but it spread throughout the community.
A local farm issued notes with the slogan "In Farms We Trust,"
featuring the head of a cabbage instead of the head of a president.
New restaurants followed with their own currency and the local
bills started showing up everywhere, including in church collection
plates.
Others are also reinventing money.
Alternative currency has cropped up in Ithaca NY and is being
used by 700 individuals and business. In Seattle, some have devised
cardboard money. In another town, wooden coins.
Then there's Daisy Alexander,
a retiree from Montclair, New Jersey, and Pepe, a recent immigrant
from Havana, Cuba. They both live in a low-income senior housing
development section of Miami, Florida. At first glance, Daisy
and Pepe seem to have little in common. But they are bound to
each other -- in friendship and through the common bonds of a
new economic system called time dollars or service credits.
Time dollars, described in the book Time Dollars: A Currency
for the 90's by Edgar Cahn and Jonathan Rowe, operate like a
blood bank. People help others in their community and get credits
in a computer data base that they can draw upon in times of need.
Cahn and Rowe describe how time dollars have transformed over
100 communities and how grass-roots groups built the new currency.
Here's how it works for Daisy
and Pepe: Daisy volunteers three days a week tutoring first graders
at the elementary school across the street from her home. Every
week Pepe comes to her house and takes her grocery shopping.
An amputee with a cane, Daisy is dependent on Pepe to provide
this service for her. But no money changes hands. Daisy simply
"cashes in" the time dollars she earns tutoring to
"pay" for Pepe's shopping help. In turn Pepe earns
time dollars to buy services he needs. But Daisy and Pepe gain
in other ways as well. Both are renewed and enthused about the
opportunity for helping, and inspired by the social activities
that the sense of community has produced.
"The potential benefits
of the time dollars concept are limitless. It can touch every
life in every community, ranging from an apartment complex to
an entire nation, every facility, from a nursing home to a university
campus," says author Cahn. "It fosters a sense of financial
independence, camaraderie, community spirit, harmony among age
groups, races, religions, income levels, and even political adversaries."
In each of these cases, citizens
have come to understand that money is just a way that we translate
the value of products and services. Just because one may not
have money does not mean there is no value to be exchanged. It
is simply a matter of coming up with a way to keep track of it
without the services of the Federal Reserve.
SAM SMITH'S GREAT AMERICAN POLITICAL
REPAIR MANUAL, 1997 - It's legal to print your own money provided
that it can't be mistaken for the government kind -- the Secret
Service frowns on that. In fact, says Barbara Brandt in Whole
Life Economics, in the 1860s there were more than ten thousand
different kinds of locally issued bank notes in use in the US
simultaneously, including that issued by state banks. After the
creation of federal banking during the Civil War and a federal
reserve system in the early 1900s, the variety of money in this
country contracted. But in the 1930s, when communities found
themselves with products, needs, skills and labor but little
money, local currencies made a comeback. Writes Brandt: "In
numerous communities, local governments, business associations,
or charitable groups began to create their own money systems
for local use. Local depression money came in many variations:
vouchers that could only be traded in specific stores, or for
specific items, and printed currencies (often called 'scrip')
on paper, cardboard, or even wood, which had to be spent within
the community a certain number of times or before a certain date.
. . By 1933, the New York Times reported that one million Americans
in three hundred communities were using barter or scrip system
to keep their economies going. Today there is a revival of community
money -- or green dollars as it is sometimes called. In 1983,
Michael Linton developed a local exchange trading system on Vancouver
Island that created $350,000 worth of trading in its first four
years."
In Ithaca NY, some half million
dollars worth of local trade has been added to the economy through
Ithaca Hour notes. An Ithaca Hour is based on the average local
wage, about $10 an hour. Ithica Hours have been used to buy plumbing,
child care, car repair, and eyeglasses. They are accepted at
restaurants, movie theatres, bowling alleys, and health clubs.
As Paul Glover explained, "We printed our own money because
we watched federal dollars come to town, shake a few hands, then
leave to buy rain forest lumber and to fight wars. The local
money, on the other hand, stays in our region to help us hire
each other."
NOVEMBR 2006
CREDIT CARD FIRMS HEAVY INTO USURY
MARCY GORDON, AP - Late fees
for credit card payments have jumped, but card issuers have done
a poor job of explaining their policies on fees and penalties
to consumers, a new study by congressional investigators has
found. The report by the Government Accountability Office, Congress'
investigative arm, describes the fees, interest rates and disclosure
practices of 28 popular credit cards. It found that late fees
averaged $34, up from $13 in 1995, while some credit card issuers
impose penalty interest rates of more than 30 percent on consumers
who pay late or exceed the credit limit.
"Millions of Americans depend
on credit cards to pay their bills and buy essentials like groceries
or gas. Unfair or confusing credit card practices take advantage
of working families," said Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan,
the senior Democrat on the Senate's investigative subcommittee,
who had asked the GAO to conduct the study. . .
SEPTEMBER
2006
THE PHONY 'END'
OF WELFARE
CAT SULLIVAN,
SEATTLE POST-INTELIGENCER - Welfare reform has reached its tenth
anniversary. Many crow about its success and how wonderful it
is that low-income moms are now working for a wage; they are
now productive members of society. As if raising children to
run this country, fight in the wars we create and teach children
to become productive parents themselves is not being productive.
Some things we do know about the impact of what welfare reform
has or hasn't done:
- The U.S. has
increased its poverty levels.
- Many welfare
families are now part of the working poor and children see their
single parent less and less.
- We have the
highest infant mortality of all the world's developed nations.
- Underemployment
is growing by leaps and bounds.
- We have exponentially
raised the presence of whole families becoming homeless.
- More Americans
now live without health care.
ROBERT SCHEER
- To hear Bill Clinton tell it, his presidency won the war on
poverty three decades after President Lyndon B. Johnson launched
it, having changed only the name. Unfortunately, however, for
the mothers and their children pushed off the rolls but still
s |