The Role Of Government In The Economy
A big debate is underway about fiscal multipliers. Sounds esoteric but it is not—it reveals that economics is far from an exact science and the outcome appears to confirm what most working people...
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We Need More Worker Power
The good economic news, which got plenty of attention, is that the U.S. economy added over 170,000 new jobs in October. The largely unreported negative news is that average real hourly wages in the...
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The Jobs Gap
There is growing talk that the economy is finally on its way to recovery—“A Steady, Slo-Mo Recovery”—in the words of Businessweek. Here is how Peter Coy, writing in Businessweek, explains the growing...
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Cutting Through The Budget Nonsense
The media continues to direct out attention to deficits and debt as our main problems. Yet, it does little to really highlight the causes of these deficits and debts. The following two figures from...
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Corporations And The General Welfare
There is general agreement that the economy is not growing fast enough to boost employment. The question: What to do about it? The response, at all levels of government, seems to be: increase...
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Beyond Growth
While newspapers give a lot of ink to arguments about whether reducing the budget deficit will boost or reduce growth, they seem to have little interest in the related issue of whether economic growth...
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One Reason It Is Tough To Pass Progressive Legislation
Dylan Matthews, blogging in the Washington Post, discusses a very interesting paper that provides evidence showing that politicians seriously underestimate the progressivity of their constituents....
View ArticlePolitics In Command
If you were one of those people who were not persuaded that the U.S. debt level was reaching growth-threatening levels, pat yourself on the back. One of the major studies supporting the austerity...
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Austerity Is Not The Answer
The U.S. economy continues to stagnate and our political leaders continue to embrace austerity. One major reason for this policy stance is that stagnation has done nothing to dent the earnings of our...
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Capitalist Dynamics And Labor
The recent International Labor Organization (ILO) Global Wage Report examines trends in the distribution of income between labor and capital. It finds that: An outpouring of literature has provided...
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The Student Debt Explosion
We celebrate education as the answer to almost all our economic problems. At the same time we largely ignore the enormous debt students are forced to acquire gaining a college degree and the great...
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Globalization And Inequality
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) recently examined the causes of rising inequality in developing and developed countries. In what follows I discuss its analysis of the...
View ArticleThe Free Trade Myth
The US government, on behalf of our largest corporations, continues to push for approval of the Transpacific Trade Partnership (TPP), a new “so-called” free trade agreement. It is striking how...
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Profits Without Social Benefit
The conventional explanation for our economic problems seems to be that our businesses are strapped for funds. Greater business earnings, it is said, will translate into needed investment, employment,...
View ArticleThe Art Of Research
There is serious research and then there is obfuscation that poses as serious research. I am spending time in Dublin, Ireland, learning about developments here. One thing that is obvious is that the...
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America: Land Of The Surveilled and Imprisoned
America stands out for the high share of its labor force that is employed in what economists Samuel Bowles and Arjun Jayadev call “guard labor.” There are now more people working as private security...
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Job Creators No More
Corporate profits as a share of GDP are way up. This is supposed to be good for all of us—higher profits, we are told, means greater investment and job creation. Unfortunately, this is not what is...
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Overwork And Its Costs
Americans with jobs tend to work long hours. Of course, averages can be deceiving, masking the fact that some people work too much while others work too little. Still, the following chart from the...
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The Way Forward
Floyd Norris, writing in the New York Times, summarizes key economic trends as follows: Corporate profits are at their highest level in at least 85 years. Employee compensation is at the lowest level...
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The Free Trade Record
The U.S. government is hard at work negotiating the Transpacific Partnership Free Trade Agreement with eleven other governments. It continues to defend this and other free trade agreements with claims...
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