Category: Economy

Trapped by Finance Capital: Business as Usual While Planet Burns. Part I: Control

November 1, 2015

Despite the absurd antics of a few fossil-shills in the U.S. Congress, most Americans now recognize the urgency of taking strong actions to mitigate the rapidly growing climate crisis. Mitigation has to mean stopping the flow of CO2 into the atmosphere and oceans so that the damage to ecosystems that is well underway can be … More Trapped by Finance Capital: Business as Usual While Planet Burns. Part I: Control

The Trouble with Economics: William Nordhaus and Pope Francis

September 25, 2015

Economics is perhaps the one social science “profession” that is most entrenched in the political economy of contemporary nations. Little economic thought escapes the halls of academia without the neoliberal stamp of theoretical approval. The trouble with most of the social sciences is that it is very difficult for them to actually be scientific. In … More The Trouble with Economics: William Nordhaus and Pope Francis

Political Pathology Trumps Political Democracy, or not?

August 28, 2015

Granted, the media frenzy over “The Donald,” as if he were some sort of political “outsider” riding in on a white horse to save the American people from all those “politicians” running for president, is rather astounding. Crass is in with the mass media. It is hard to find any genuine political process in all … More Political Pathology Trumps Political Democracy, or not?

The Upside-Down Economy

August 25, 2015

The idea that the financial markets are the essential force that drives economic growth and progress, has dominated political thinking for too long. The financial markets and their agents have dominated politics and the Congress over recent decades more than ever before. After all, it took several decades for the financial elite to accomplish the … More The Upside-Down Economy

Public or Private: It’s Time to Decide

August 18, 2015

The imminent conversion from fossil-fueled energy production in the U.S. to renewable sources of electricity is quite uneven. In New Mexico, it might be described as bizarre. It is not at all clear what the motivating forces driving the biggest electric utility, Public Services Company of New Mexico (PNM) or the governmental regulatory agency, New … More Public or Private: It’s Time to Decide

The Ideology of Predatory Capital: Social Illusions and Planetary Reality

August 12, 2015

With the fall of the Soviet Union and various other communist states, the victory of capitalism seemed assured. Ronald Reagan took on a God-like aura, anointed by Margaret Thatcher. The “Iron Lady” affirmed that there was no such thing as “society,” and there was no alternative to unfettered growth of neo-liberal capitalism. All was well … More The Ideology of Predatory Capital: Social Illusions and Planetary Reality

Accelerating Concentration of Income and Wealth: Another Positive Feedback Loop

July 25, 2015

That which seems to be wealth may in verity be only the gilded index of far-reaching ruin. ~ John Ruskin [1]p.187 Everybody seems to know that the concentration of income and wealth among “the one percent” has accelerated in recent years. Actually, the most extreme concentration is in the top one percent of the top … More Accelerating Concentration of Income and Wealth: Another Positive Feedback Loop

Homelessness, Plutocrats, Over-population, and the Climate Crisis

July 17, 2015

The “homeless” person is part of what is perceived by the power elite as an unneeded collection of persons of no value to the system – a “surplus population.” I first ran across the concept of “surplus population” in a sociology journal article many years ago. The point was simple: a certain number of “positions” … More Homelessness, Plutocrats, Over-population, and the Climate Crisis

Borrowing Nothing from Nowhere: Phantom Money and Phantom Debt

July 8, 2015

Borrowing money is a tricky thing to talk about, even trickier than talking about money itself. We all seem to have a love-hate relationship with the stuff. Well, maybe ‘stuff’ is not the right word. People disagree about what money actually is. Some, who I’ll call “money realists,” believe that the essence of money is … More Borrowing Nothing from Nowhere: Phantom Money and Phantom Debt

The Big Climate Blunder and Its Antidote: Risking Everything for What?

July 1, 2015

The Industrial Era has provided prosperity for many in the nations that industrialized first. In many ways it has also involved the plunder and pollution of both Body and Planet for over 200 years. After beginning to improve material existence for industrialized nations, especially through the 1950s and 1960s, the broadening participation in prosperity began … More The Big Climate Blunder and Its Antidote: Risking Everything for What?