Archive for the 'Economy' Category

Shadow Elite: How Global Power Brokers Undermine Democracy

by @ Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010. Filed under Economy, Globalization

Review: Shadow Elite

by Janine Wedel

The New 'Flexian'

Transnational Elites

 

By Ariana Huffington

Huffington Post

My first HuffPost Book Club selection of 2010 is Janine Wedel's Shadow Elite: How the World's New Power Brokers Undermine Democracy, Government, and the Free Market. It's a gripping, disquieting book that exposes and explains why it's been so hard to bring about any real change in our country -- why Washington no longer seems capable of addressing the problems our nation faces. Fingers have been pointed at everything from gerrymandering to partisan polarization to the misuse of the filibuster. But, according to Wedel, the real problem is much deeper -- and more disturbing -- than any of these.

As she writes in Shadow Elite, a new "transnational" class of elites has taken over our country: "The mover and shaker who serves at one and the same time as business consultant, think-tanker, TV pundit, and government adviser glides in and around the organizations that enlist his services. It is not just his time that is divided. His loyalties, too, are often flexible."

Wedel dubs this new class of influencers "flexians," and the closed system they've created for themselves the "flex net." She attributes their power, among other factors, to the "embrace of 'truthiness,' which allows people to play with how they present themselves to the world, regardless of fact or track record."

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NJ University and Green Tech Firms Go Solar in a Big Way

by @ Friday, February 12th, 2010. Filed under Economy

 

Nautilus Solar Energy and

SunDurance Energy to Build

Solar Power Facility at

William Paterson University

 

WAYNE, N.J., Jan. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- William Paterson University ("WPU"), Nautilus Solar Energy, LLC ("Nautilus Solar") and SunDurance Energy, LLC ("SunDurance") announced today an agreement to build the largest solar energy facility at a university in the United States. The 3.5 MW solar energy project ("Project") will comprise of rooftop and parking lot solar installations on the WPU campus in Wayne, New Jersey. The first 3 MW phase is expected to go on-line during the summer of 2010; the remaining 500 kW is expected to go on-line in early 2011.

"Nautilus Solar is proud to support WPU's leadership in sustainability by supplying low cost clean solar power," said Nautilus Solar CEO James M. Rice.

Nautilus Solar will finance, own and operate the solar facility under a 15-year Power Purchase Agreement ("PPA"), through which WPU will purchase a renewable energy source at a reduced rate without any upfront costs. The solar power system is expected to reduce WPU's energy costs by $4.3 million over the 15-year term. The Project will be designed and constructed by SunDurance Energy, a leading NJ based solar system installer. Nautilus Solar will fund the installation in part through a loan provided by New Jersey Economic Development Authority.

Stephen Bolyai, WPUNJ's Vice President for Administration and Finance, states, "This project will be a landmark project for the University. In addition to reducing our energy costs and carbon footprint, the solar facility will provide excellent learning opportunities to our students."

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Jobs Campaigns, New Deal History, National Service and Socialist Values

by @ Tuesday, December 29th, 2009. Filed under Economic Democracy, Economy, Labor Movement, Organizing, Socialism

A Left Role, Renewed Identity,

and How-To, in Campaigns for

National Service Jobs Programs

 

By John Case

Socialist-Economics Group

 

Does the current crisis justify an expanded role for government as an employer of last result?

Consider the following facts from EPI research:

Number unemployed: 15.4 million (up from 7.5 million in December 2007) Portion of official unemployed considered structural: 3.9 million Portion of unemployed who have been jobless more than six months: 38.3% Total jobs lost during the recession: 8.0 million Jobs needed to return to pre-recession unemployment rate: 10.9 million Number of job-seekers per job opening: 6.1 Unemployment rate: 10.0% Underemployment rate: 17.2%; Share of workers un- or underemployed: more than 1 in 6 States with double-digit unemployment in October, 2009: 15 White unemployment: 9.3%; African-American unemployment: 15.6%; Hispanic unemployment:12.7% Manufacturing jobs lost since the start of the recession: 2.1 million (15.5% of sector's jobs) Construction jobs lost in the recession: 1.6 million (20.8%, nearly one in five construction jobs) Mass layoffs (50 or more people by a single employer) in October 2009: 2,127; jobs lost:217,182 Under- and unemployed, marginally attached and involuntary part-time workers: 26.9 million

Americans with no health insurance in 2008: 46.3 million Annual Social Security benefit for average retiree: $13,922; Share of older Americans receiving all their income from Social Security: more than 1 out of 4 Number of children in poverty in 2008: 14.1 million (over one-third) Drop in real median income from 2007 to 2008: 3.6% (largest one-year drop since 1967) Growth rate of nominal, hourly wages of production workers over the last three months:1.7% Additional people covered by Medicaid/SCHIP in 2008: 3 million

Not since the Great Depression has structural unemployment been so intense or sustained. Despite faster and smarter liquidity and fiscal efforts by government than occurred then, employment decline has merely decelerated 24 months into what is now dubbed 'The Great Recession'. It is not yet near enough to avert 5-10 years of unemployment rates above 6% (the level at which the 'Great Recession' started). The foundation of New Deal anti-depression actions, and one of the most successful and long lasting in its effects, was directly putting men to work in public works projects that became associated with several national service programs. The economist Hyman Minsky coined the term 'Employer of Last Resort' to describe government full employment efforts, which were part of his economic prescription, discussed more below, for countering capitalism's inherent vulnerability to financial instability.

This article explores the appropriateness, precedents and how-to's of national service programs (the chief US version of employer of last resort). in responding to the current crisis. The moral and social virtues of putting the unemployed to work in the creation of useful and meaningful public goods, instead of subjecting them to sustained idleness, should be self-evident.

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Marxism and Keynesianism: Contested Ground of Alliance and Struggle

by @ Sunday, December 27th, 2009. Filed under Economy

Reviving

Keynesianism:

A Critique


By Rick Wolff


The global crisis has undermined the neo-liberalist phase of capitalism that dominated the last 30 years of the world economy.  It has likewise challenged the hegemony of neo-classical economics as the theoretical rationale of neo-liberalism's celebration of private enterprise and markets.  The form this challenge takes is a revival of Keynesian economics.  As the crisis requires states everywhere again to intervene in the "private" economy -- and massively this time -- Keynesian economics provides much of the rationale and many of the prescriptions of what the state should do.

Of course, different interpretations of Keynes (as of Marx) have always contested with one another.  Multiple interpretations emerged because of pressures upon Keynesians from both the left (those who criticized them for "saving" capitalism) and the right (those who attacked them for "threatening" capitalism).  What matters are the stakes among contesting Keynesianisms, the social consequences that flow from the hegemony of one versus another of them.  How are we to understand differences and overlaps between Keynesianisms and Marxisms?  What political alliances might be crafted between some Keynesians and some Marxists?

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Yankee Doodle Ecologist: Tom Friedman and the Green Revolution

by @ Tuesday, December 15th, 2009. Filed under Economy, Environment, High Road Economics, Socialism

Hot, Flat, and Crowded

by Thomas Friedman.

New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008.

$27.95. Pp. 438.

 

By Jerry Harris

SolidarityEconomy.Net

Thomas Friedman is always the head cheerleader for the next big thing. At first it was globalization and now it’s the green revolution. Friedman’s instincts are good, it’s just his analysis and politics are lacking. There are certainly valuable and interesting insights in his work, but his adolescent enthusiasm for capitalism often turns his critique to shallow propaganda.

The book’s title, Hot, Flat, and Crowded is a good indicator as to how Friedman understands environmental problems. Underline that word crowded because the book takes us on a Malthusian ride through the Third World. It’s overpopulation, not capitalism and its need for every expanding accumulation that is destroying the world’s environment.

Friedman marches us through China, India, Brazil and Nigeria offering a myopic view that only occasional refers to the developed countries and their use of energy and resources. When it comes to energy markets transnationals such as Exxon and Shell disappear as does any discussion of imperialism and its history in the Middle East. Instead Friedman targets “petrodictorships” and “Sheikhs…with bags of cash” indoctrinating madrassa students to “breed like rabbits” and “swarm” over the Islamic world. (p. 88)

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Food for Thought Dept: Tennessee’s New Wave of High-Road Green Jobs

by @ Monday, December 7th, 2009. Filed under Economy, High Road Economics, Organizing

 

Green Tide: State

taking big steps toward

energy-efficient future

 

By Ed Marcum

Sunday, December 6, 2009

A modest zero-energy project has multiplied into a major career change for one-time software developer David Bolt.

The Roane County resident may be on the cutting edge of an industry wave that could mean valuable jobs for an East Tennessee economy hungry for new investment.

Bolt grew interested in sustainability - also known as energy and environmental conservation - as he was renovating his family's 2,400-square-foot home in Harriman. Through various energy savings features, he modified the house to become a "zero energy" home - one that creates as much energy as it consumes.

Then in 2005, Bolt founded Sustainable Future, an online company that does turnkey design and installation of solar energy systems to homes and businesses.

Bolt may be the tip of a trend that area economic developers pray will lead to widespread employment opportunities in the near future.

By many estimates, a wave of green jobs is about to wash over Tennessee. But some observers question whether the swift current will lift all boats.

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A Chicago Public School Studies Mondragon Worker-Owned Coops

by @ Sunday, November 15th, 2009. Filed under Economy

Forget Rio - Austin Kids Headed to Spain


Students to learn self-empowerment

and economic development


Photo: Bon voyage: Good grades and recommendations from teaches landed eight students from Austin Polytechnical Academy, a Chicago public high school, a chance to study in Spain.

 

By LA RISA LYNCH,

Contributing Reporter
October 07, 2009

Good grades and recommendations from teachers garnered eight lucky Austin Polytechnical Academy students a chance to study abroad. And the country of choice is where Nikki Green, 16, has dreamed about going ever since she was little.

"I always wanted to go to Spain," said Green, a junior at the academy.

Her aunt often traveled to Spain and would bring back mementos from the places she visited. Green hoped her group's nine-day trip would include a stop in Barcelona. But she will have to settle for Madrid instead.

"I'm excited," she said. "I can't wait."

Students embark on their journey today.

The trip to Spain is not your usual study abroad program. The kids will have a chance to learn the Spanish language and explore the country's history and culture while touring Madrid, Segovia and Toledo. But they will also look at how creating jobs in manufacturing revitalized one small Spanish town nearly devastated by civil war.

Students will spend five days in Madrid and then four in Mondragon, located in the Basque region in northern Spain. They'll stay in a local university dormitory while visiting a manufacturing cooperative that contributes to much of Spain's economy. The area of Mondragon is an allegory for the Austin community, said Erica Swinney-Stein, director of community programs at Center for Labor and Community Research, which is sponsoring the trip.

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Targeting the Main Enemy: Low-Road Finance Capital

by @ Tuesday, October 13th, 2009. Filed under Economic Democracy, Economy, Financial Crisis

 The Dominance of the Financial

Sector has Become a Mortal Danger

to our Economic Security

 

 

By Robert Creamer
Huffington Post

Over the last several decades, the financial sector has grown relentlessly. It has doubled in size over the last 14 years. During the period 1973 to 1985 the financial sector never earned more than 16% of domestic profits. This decade, it has averaged 41% of all the profits earned by businesses in the U.S. In 1947 the financial sector represented only 2.5% of our gross domestic product. In 2006 it had risen to 8%. In other words, of every 12.5 dollars earned in the United States, one goes to the financial sector, much of which, let us recall, produces nothing.

That growth has not been among community or regional banks -- or credit unions. I'm talking about Wall Street.

Wall Street's growth is one big reason that most of America's economic growth during the last decade has flowed into the hands of investment bankers, stock traders and partners in firms like Goldman Sachs. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reports that fully two-thirds of all income gains during the last economic expansion (2002 to 2007) flowed to the top 1% of the population. And that, in turn, is one of the chief reasons why the median income for ordinary Americans actually dropped by $2,197 per year since 2000.

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Putting the Obama Stimulus Toward Green Manufacturing

by @ Sunday, October 4th, 2009. Filed under Economy, Environment, High Road Economics

Green Power Revives

Defunct Battery Plant

By Dennis Spisak

Mahoning Valley Green Party


NEW CASTLE, Pa. - Just outside this town in the western part of the state,
famous for its chili dogs and fireworks, a low-rise battery plant sits along a
side road named Clover Lane.


To miss it is to miss a back-from-the-dead story, one that Gov. Rendell hopes
will inspire a manufacturing revival across Pennsylvania.


With a workforce of 59, Axion Power International is no industrial giant. But
its resurrection - from a shuttered lead-acid battery plant to one now turning
out lead-carbon batteries for use in electric cars, among other eco-friendly
applications - is cited by Rendell and his representatives as evidence of the
green economy's transformative powers.

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Green Structural Reform Works - If Wall St Doesn’t Sabotage It

by @ Monday, August 3rd, 2009. Filed under Economic Democracy, Economy, Environment

 

  Now Hiring:

Green-Collar

Workers

 By Prashant Gopal

Yahoo! News

July 31, 2009 - When Alden Zeitz started the Wind Energy Program at Iowa Lakes Community College five years ago, 15 students enrolled.

This year, 102 students enrolled in the two-year training program for wind turbine technicians, including some students who abandoned another career for the economic promise of green technology. The wind energy industry hasn't been immune to the recession, but students are counting on the federal government's injection of $80 billion in clean energy projects to change that.

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The Roads Not Taken: To Save Ourselves, We Must Change Direction

by @ Friday, June 26th, 2009. Filed under Economy

Photo: Green Transit via Light Rail

GM's Tragedy:

The System

Strikes Back


By Rick Wolff

Rethinking Marxism

June 15, 2009 - The greatest tragedies among many in the collapse and bankruptcy of General Motors concern what is not happening.  There are those solutions to GM's problems not being considered by Obama's administration.  There are the solutions not being demanded by the United Auto Workers Union (UAW).  There are all the solutions not even being discussed by most left commentators on the disaster.  Finally there are crucial aspects of GM's demise not getting the attention they deserve.

Let's start with an example of the last.  For 50 years, the world market for automobiles has grown spectacularly.  The company best positioned to have ridden that rising tide to success was GM, the global market leader for most of that time.  Instead, GM failed catastrophically.  Those responsible, who planned, adjusted, and competed poorly, have a name.  They are the corporation's Board of Directors: the handful of individuals chosen by and responsible to the handful of major GM shareholders.  That Board and those shareholders proved across decades that they lacked the understanding, vision, and flexibility to succeed.  A rising tide is supposed to lift all boats, but GM's captains managed to sink its boat.

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Exposing the Crisis: Richard Wolf’s DVD

by @ Monday, May 4th, 2009. Filed under Economic Democracy, Economy, Financial Crisis, Socialism

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DVD promo image above: Still of title from Richard Wolfe video. Use link below to view the entire one hour lecture in a Preview Mode. 

Capitalism Hits the Fan

 



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21st Century Socialism: Eleven Talking Points

by @ Thursday, April 30th, 2009. Tags:
Filed under Economy, Socialism

May Day

Eleven Talking Points

On 21st Century Socialism

 

By Carl Davidson

SolidarityEconomy.net

May 1, 2009

The current discussion around socialism in left and progressive circles in the U.S. needs to be placed in a more substantive arena. This is an effort to do so. I take note in advance of the criticism that the following eleven working hypotheses are rather dry and formal. But in light of the faux ‘socialisms’ bandied about in the headlines and sound bytes of the mass media in the wake of the financial crisis, especially the absurd claim in the media of rightwing populism that the Obama administration is Marxist and socialist, I felt something a little more rigorous might be helpful. Obviously, criticism and commentary is invited.

1. Socialism’s fundamental building blocks are already present in US society. The means of production, for the most part, are fully developed and in fact are stagnating under the political domination of finance capital. The US labor force, again for the most part, is highly skilled at all levels of production, management, marketing, and finance. The kernels of socialist organization are also scattered across the landscape in cooperatives, socially organized human services, and centralized and widespread mass means of many-to-many communication and supply/demand data management. Many earlier attempts at socialism did not have these advantages. (more...)

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Can Worker Cooperatives Build a Bridge to Socialism?

by @ Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009. Filed under Economy

Gramsci, Economic Theory of

Worker Cooperatives and the

Transition to a Socialist Economy

By Bruno Jossa

Economics, University of Naples

1. Introduction

In this paper we intend to discuss the problems arising in connection with the transition from capitalism to a system of producer cooperatives, i.e. to a system of self-managed democratic firms. This subject will be addressed against the backdrop of the ideas of Gramsci, a major theorist of workers' councils and probably the one Marxist thinker whose work has outlived the collapse of state socialism in the Soviet Union (see Buttigieg, 1995, p.105 and Baratta, 1999, p. 3).(1)

The problem is interesting because in the literature on possible forms of market socialism, the intermediate period between capitalism and socialism has received little attention right to this day. This is all the more surprising if we bear in mind that analyses of the transitional period used to occupy centre-stage in most of the debates on classical issues such as state socialism and the viability of the socialism-in-one-country option. Preliminarily, we wish to point out that, in our opinion, the transition must come about by democratic means and that we will lay particular stress on the query why Gramsci did not accept the idea that the market is a necessary option in the long-term transition to communism. Traditionally, the term 'transition' is used to describe a "shift from one production mode to another". (more...)

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Lights. Camera. Action. Das Kapital. Now

by @ Tuesday, April 21st, 2009. Filed under Economic Democracy, Economy, Marxism

Thoroughly

Modern Marx

By Leo Panitch

May/June 2009

The economic crisis has spawned a resurgence of interest in Karl Marx. Worldwide sales of Das Kapital have shot up (one lone German publisher sold thousands of copies in 2008, compared with 100 the year before), a measure of a crisis so broad in scope and devastation that it has global capitalism—and its high priests—in an ideological tailspin.

Yet even as faith in neoliberal orthodoxies has imploded, why resurrect Marx? To start, Marx was far ahead of his time in predicting the successful capitalist globalization of recent decades. He accurately foresaw many of the fateful factors that would give rise to today’s global economic crisis: what he called the “contradictions” inherent in a world comprised of competitive markets, commodity production, and financial speculation.

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