Occupy Economics, Opposes Cleansing of Debate over Causes of Economic Crisis

[FayeforCure]

300 Economists support Economic and Social Justice:

http://www.youtube.com/v/8Yhm7gKdAm0?


Dec 3, 2011   //   by boyce   //   Articles, News  //  3 Comments

From James Boyce’s post on the TripleCrisis blog:


Our current economic crisis is not only a crisis of the economy. It is also a crisis of economics. The free-market fundamentalism of the closing decades of the 20th century today has been thoroughly discredited â€" or at least, should have been â€" by financial collapse, swelling inequality, global imbalances, mass unemployment, and environmental degradation.

Read the rest of the article here.

Nancy Folbre: Occupy Economics

Nov 29, 2011   //   by econ4org   //   Articles, Media Library, News  //  No Comments

From Nancy Folbre’s NYT Economix post, Occupy Economics:


The Occupy Wall Street movement, displaced from some key geographic locations, now enjoys a small but significant encampment among economists.

Concerns about the impact of growing economic inequality fit neatly into a larger critique of mainstream economic theory and its deep faith in the efficiency of markets.

Read the rest of the article here.


Interview with Gerald Friedman

Jan 31, 2011   //   by econ4org   //   Media Library, News, Videos  //  No Comments

Gerald Friedman on forgotten American values.


http://econ4.org/category/news

[ronchamblin]

This is an interesting comparison between robots and corporations in an article titled:

2011: The Year Corporations Attacked America (Huff Post Article by Bob Burnett)

In 1936 evil robots made their first film appearance in Flash Gordon. Since then they've haunted popular culture, because robots can be designed to perform human functions yet have no conscience -- they are programmed to achieve their objectives no matter the consequences. This nightmare vision reached an apogee in the 1999 film The Matrix. The movie depicts a world where robots, the "sentinels," run everything and humans have become an energy source. Robots maintain control by enveloping Americans in a simulated reality -- we have no idea what's happening to us.

In 2011 multinational corporations ran most of the US but the average American didn't realize this because corporations controlled our reality.

Although the concept of a "corporation" is 400 years old, the modern US corporation evolved from an 1886 Supreme Court decision. Until the end of World War II most Americans did not work for corporations. Now the typical wage earner works in a corporate setting.

Over the past 50 years, corporate power grew. In his 1961 farewell address, President Eisenhower warned, "we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence... by the military-industrial complex." Ike should have alerted Americans to the threat of corporations, in general.

The sixties and seventies saw a new era of global trade and the advent of multinational corporations. In 1981 Ronald Reagan became president and "Reaganomics" became the dominant ideology. At the forefront of this philosophy were three malignant notions: helping the rich get richer would inevitably help everyone else, "a rising tide lifts all boats;" markets were inherently self correcting and there was no need for government regulation; and the US did not need an economic strategy because of the "free" market. The Reagan administration viewed unfettered corporations as a vital component of a free market and deliberately unleashed a pernicious threat to democracy.

Once Reagan came to power the number of Washington lobbyists grew from a few hundred to an estimated 40,000 -- in 2009 Federal lobbyists expended $3.5 billion. Multinational corporations sponsor most lobbyists either directly or indirectly through organizations such as the United States Chamber of Commerce.

Under Reagan, the Justice Department softened enforcement of the Sherman Antitrust Act and other statutes limiting the growth of corporations, in general, and monopolies in specific. As a consequence, five giant corporations now control most of the US media industry -- and manipulate the reality of average citizens.

Despite these changes, until recently most Americans were unaware of the threat posed by multinational corporations -- unless their job had been shipped overseas or their cable provider dropped their favorite TV channel. Then three things combined to wake up the 99 percent.

In September of 2008, the US walked to the edge of a profound financial crisis. In response Congress authorized a $700 billion bailout and funds went to financial giants such as AIG, Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and Wells Fargo -- the same corporations whose reckless policies had caused the crisis. Average Americans asked, "What about me? Where's my bailout?"

In January of 2010, the Supreme Court decided the Citizens United case and strengthened the notion that corporations have "personhood" and, therefore, enjoy the same rights as ordinary individuals, including the right of free speech. (For a compelling account of how the bizarre notion that corporations enjoy the same constitutional rights as human beings has evolved, see radio host Thom Hartmann's book, Unequal Protection.) The Citizens United decision allowed corporations to spend unlimited funds in political contests. Members of the 99 percent bellowed, "Since when do corporations have the same rights that I have?"

For eighty years, Americans have feared robots, worrying they might one day rule the world. In 2011 we realized our real enemies are not robots, but multinational corporations, who have declared war on democracy.

In November of 2010, because of their new political clout, corporations were able to shift control of the House of Representatives to Republicans. Since the GOP took over in January 2011, this has become the most corporation-friendly legislative body in American history. Republicans have consistently thwarted efforts to have multinational corporations -- and their executives -- pay their fair share. Republicans behavior has been so egregious that average Americans were outraged: "Why do corporations get special treatment when I can't pay my bills?" (Mother Jones reports that corporations are gearing up to spend billions more to buy the 2012 election.)
In The Matrix the hero, Neo, breaks out of his simulated reality and joins a band of human insurgents, who battle the evil robots to regain control of earth. Occupy Wall Street is an insurgent movement that strives to get average Americans to break out of their simulated reality and battle evil corporations.

In 2011 our worst fears were realized. It's not evil robots but instead multinational corporations that want to control the world and, in the process, destroy democracy. Like humanoid robots, corporations have no conscience -- they are programmed to achieve their objectives no matter the consequences to humans or the planet. Now it's up to the insurgency to save democracy.

[FayeforCure]

The Reagan administration viewed unfettered corporations as a vital component of a free market and deliberately unleashed a pernicious threat to democracy.

Once Reagan came to power the number of Washington lobbyists grew from a few hundred to an estimated 40,000 -- in 2009 Federal lobbyists expended $3.5 billion. Multinational corporations sponsor most lobbyists either directly or indirectly through organizations such as the United States Chamber of Commerce.

Under Reagan, the Justice Department softened enforcement of the Sherman Antitrust Act and other statutes limiting the growth of corporations, in general, and monopolies in specific. As a consequence, five giant corporations now control most of the US media industry -- and manipulate the reality of average citizens.

Despite these changes, until recently most Americans were unaware of the threat posed by multinational corporations -- unless their job had been shipped overseas or their cable provider dropped their favorite TV channel. Then three things combined to wake up the 99 percent.

1.  In September of 2008, the US walked to the edge of a profound financial crisis. In response Congress authorized a $700 billion bailout and funds went to financial giants such as AIG, Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and Wells Fargo -- the same corporations whose reckless policies had caused the crisis. Average Americans asked, "What about me? Where's my bailout?"

2.  In January of 2010, the Supreme Court decided the Citizens United case and strengthened the notion that corporations have "personhood" and, therefore, enjoy the same rights as ordinary individuals, including the right of free speech. (For a compelling account of how the bizarre notion that corporations enjoy the same constitutional rights as human beings has evolved, see radio host Thom Hartmann's book, Unequal Protection.) The Citizens United decision allowed corporations to spend unlimited funds in political contests. Members of the 99 percent bellowed, "Since when do corporations have the same rights that I have?"

For eighty years, Americans have feared robots, worrying they might one day rule the world. In 2011 we realized our real enemies are not robots, but multinational corporations, who have declared war on democracy.

3.  In November of 2010, because of their new political clout, corporations were able to shift control of the House of Representatives to Republicans. Since the GOP took over in January 2011, this has become the most corporation-friendly legislative body in American history. Republicans have consistently thwarted efforts to have multinational corporations -- and their executives -- pay their fair share.

Occupy Wall Street is an insurgent movement that strives to get average Americans to break out of their simulated reality and battle evil corporations.

In 2011 our worst fears were realized. It's not evil robots but instead multinational corporations that want to control the world and, in the process, destroy democracy. Like humanoid robots, corporations have no conscience -- they are programmed to achieve their objectives no matter the consequences to humans or the planet. Now it's up to the insurgency to save democracy.

Ron, thanks for finding this excellent piece.

I hope Republican voters have been sufficiently woken up from their Fox News induced rage against the little guy while looking through rosy glasses at corporations that are the real destroyers of our democracy.

Fox strategy has always been divide and conquer. Let the little guys find among themselves about "evil government" while the real culprits, the 40,000 corporate controled lobbyists, actually run our government.

[FayeforCure]

Beware of FAKE Populism, and the "both parties are equally at fault" nonsense:


The Delusion of a Radical Center

Posted: 12/18/11 04:32 PM ET


A well-funded, faux-reformist group known as Americans Elect is promoting a third party presidential candidacy and anticipates qualifying its candidate to be on the ballot in nearly all states. It is doing this by collecting millions of petition signatures, over 2.2 million so far, taking advantage of voter frustration with political blockage in Washington. The actual candidate will be decided later, by Internet Convention.

Despite the superficial populism, just about everything about this exercise is misguided.

For starters, consider the premise that sensible centrism starts with budget balance. The storyline is that the obstacle to economic recovery is the budget deficit, prevented by partisan extremism.*** If only the left would agree to cutting social programs like Social Security and the right would accept raising taxes, fiscal responsibility and recovery would ensue.***NONSENSE!!

But fiscal tightening during a deep slump would retard the recovery. The centrists get the cause and effect backwards. The recession caused the deficit, not vice versa.

Cut the deficit while the economy is still shaky, and you abort a fragile recovery. If anything, the economy needs a lot more public investment to jump start job creation and put income in workers' pockets. The last thing it needs is high-minded austerity.

Social Security is in fine shape for decades, and Medicare reform needs to be part of broader healthcare reform, meaning national health insurance. Social insurance has little to do with the the current or near-term deficit. As for the rest of federal domestic spending, it's already at its lowest share of GDP since the Eisenhower years.

You can see the allure of the wrong kind of post-partisan centrism in Democratic Senator Ron Wyden's entirely misguided alliance with Republican Representative Paul Ryan to convert Medicare into a voucher after 2022. If the voucher doesn't pay for decent insurance, the elderly are on their own. Voucherization of Medicare takes us further away from real reform.

The quest for a centrist third party alternative also misstates why Washington is blocked. The storyline is one of symmetrical extremism and refusal to compromise on the part of Republicans and Democrats alike. Says Americans Elect's website, "you have the power to help break gridlock and change politics as usual. No special interest. No agendas. Country before party."

But, as anyone who hasn't spent the last three decades on Jupiter must know, Democrats have spent the era since Jimmy Carter moving to the middle of the spectrum on a broad range of pocketbook and national security issues. Only on tolerance issues has the presidential party remained progressive.

So we already have a centrist party. It's called the presidential Democratic Party.

President Obama kept splitting the difference with Republicans, and then splitting the difference again, and had to almost be bodily restrained by such Bolsheviks as Sen. Harry Reid lest Obama give away the store on Medicare and Social Security.

Republicans during this period have both moved further to the right ideologically, and have become more obstructionist tactically. They have refused to pass routine legislation such as extension of national debt authority. Ordinary bills are now subjected to Senate filibusters. If they don't like a federal agency like the consumer financial protection bureau or the National Labor Relations Board, they won't confirm its nominees. If they don't like duly enacted legislation like the Affordable Care Act, they vow to destroy it. The Supreme Court has become a partisan organ.

This pattern of extremist obstruction by a major party is something unknown in American politics since the pre-Civil War battles over slavery.

So anybody who blames both parties equally for the government's failure to address urgent national needs is simply delusional. This unfortunately includes the New York Times' Tom Friedman, who thinks Americans Elect is an idea whose time has come. It includes center-right Democrats such as Will Marshall of the Progressive Policy Institute and center-right Republicans such as Mark McKinnon, late of the Bush Administration.

These worthies somehow believe that if the next president is even more center-right on economic issues than those dangerous radicals like Tim Geithner, Republicans in Congress will somehow relent and learn the art of compromise.

The thing is funded mostly by hedge fund gazillionaires. In fact, the chief operating officer of Americans Elect, Elliot L. Ackerman, got a $30 million dollar gift from his father, Wall Streeter Peter Ackerman, to finance this exercise in Internet populism. Thanks, Dad.

As my colleague Paul Starr has observed, sometimes self-described moderates can also be zealous and dangerous fanatics.

With Americans Elect creating a placeholder slot on the 2012 presidential ballot in most states, a critical election gets yet another wild card. If someone like Ron Paul or Donald Trump decides to make a go of it, then the third party will siphon mostly Republican votes and help re-elect Obama. If Michael Bloomberg gets the itch, he will likely siphon off more socially liberal independent votes that would otherwise go to Barack Obama, and help the Republican win. And in this age of televised political celebrity, there is even an outside chance that the latest celebrity flavor of the day could be elected. Trump as the ultimate political survivor; Bloomberg finds another office to buy.

Note that this hedge-fund-spawned third party is most likely to attract self-financing billionaires. This is one hell of an exercise in the people taking back their politics.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-kuttner/americans-elect_b_1156608.html