Category: Economy

Moving Toward an Ecological Infrastructure. Part I: From Growth to Development

July 9, 2014

Economists are often confused by their own wallowing in esoteric but useless mathematical formulations of unquantifiable human complexities. But we just can’t afford their foolishness anymore. Investment in infrastructure is desperately needed, but not by merely restoring the infrastructure of the old growth economy. That needs to be replaced by a new viable infrastructure for … More Moving Toward an Ecological Infrastructure. Part I: From Growth to Development

Making Money: The Ultimate Illusion of a Debt-Driven Economy

June 29, 2014

How is money made? Well, in conventional terms we work for it. But where does it come from? We know that the economy needs a sufficient “money supply” so we can exchange “goods and services” every day. Of course, it’s not that simple. After the “Great Recession” of 2008, the Federal Reserve injected hundreds of … More Making Money: The Ultimate Illusion of a Debt-Driven Economy

How to Change the Economic Culture…and Save the Planet

June 25, 2014

It’s pretty clear that the corporate state is in control of the economic culture of the U.S. and that of most other nations as well. As environmentalists try to get enough attention to explain what is obvious about climate change, the scientific information is minimized, suppressed, or distorted.  We’re told that the best solutions to … More How to Change the Economic Culture…and Save the Planet

Why a Return to Progressive Taxation is necessary…and Right

June 17, 2014

The accelerating concentration of income and wealth in the upper 1% of the upper 1% of the population and the failure of the “growth” economy to serve the population that supports it, are not only moral questions of fairness. The distribution of income and wealth are also important elements of the health of the economy … More Why a Return to Progressive Taxation is necessary…and Right

Two Kinds of Development

June 8, 2014

When we think of “development,” it is usually about economic development of the so-called “developing nations,” that is, nations whose economies have not caught up with the “advanced” industrial nations of North America and Europe. Without question, the most advanced technology and its application to the full range of industrial processes, from extraction to product … More Two Kinds of Development

The Real Cause of Unemployment: Automated and Outsourced Over-Production

May 13, 2014

In a growth economy, new jobs are created on a regular basis because new production expands the employment base. In a shrinking economy, just the opposite happens. The U.S. and most of the industrial world have enjoyed the benefits of expanded production and employment for many decades, minus the occasional downswings of the “business cycle,” … More The Real Cause of Unemployment: Automated and Outsourced Over-Production

Scapegoating for the Oligarchs, or Not

May 8, 2014

Ruling elites routinely distract their subject people by directing attention to individuals or ethnic groups as ‘the enemy,’ and it routinely works. As long as people are distracted by arguments over ethnic and individual culpability and conflict, the oligarchy wins. We could discuss the dominance of the English-American elite over the American economy and politics … More Scapegoating for the Oligarchs, or Not

Collapse: Converging Crises and the American Oligarchs

April 26, 2014

Two new studies now being reported converge in frightening ways with the most recent data on climate disruption. Their results reflect the growing likelihood that the converging crises of economy, social justice, and ecology will lead to the collapse of civilization and even the sixth mass extinction. (Kolbert, 2014) First, Gillens and Page (2014) studied … More Collapse: Converging Crises and the American Oligarchs