|
|||||
|
(Presented at History of Economics Society Annual Meeting, Syracuse, New York, June 2010) Religious upheavals have generally preceded waves of radical reform and reaction in U. S. history, thus serving at least as leading indicators, and perhaps as causative explanations. As these waves rise and swell, crest, crash and ebb, they sweep and tumble most individuals along, . . . → Read More: How Religious Awakenings Presage Radical Reforms Dear Georgist historians, and other good people We have lost former Cal state Senator Al Rodda, senate leader and Georgist stalwart. Perhaps it was time: he lived his 3-score years and 10 plus 27 more, but he left footprints in the sands of time. Anyone caring to write him up, start with www.thebackbench.blogspot.com. Al graduated . . . → Read More: Al Rodda, RIP On Jan 21 2010 our High Court shocked Americans by ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission that a corporation may contribute unlimited funds advertising its views for and against political candidates of its choice – in practice, the choice of its CEO or Directors. . . . → Read More: Corporations, Democracy, and the US Supreme Court At a time when most everyone has an opinion about the state of the U.S. economy and the quality of decision-making in Washington, D.C., the voice of esteemed economics professor and former TIME magazine journalist Mason Gaffney is an important one. Currently teaching at the University of California, Gaffney has been publishing vital Vampire #1 is public debt. Vampire #2 is land value. Vampire #3 is housing and land values conjoined. Vampire #4 is the corporation.
Land and Liberty, Summer 2009 . . . → Read More: The Four Vampires of Capital Why we have more buildings than we use. Working capital is the bloodstream of economic life. It is physical capital, the fast turning inventories of goods in process and finished goods that supply materials to the worker, and feed and clothe her family. Short term commercial loans and trade credit buy it, but the capital is “real”—a fact often forgotten in the paper and virtual worlds of . . . → Read More: How to Thaw Credit, Now and Forever QUESTION: We hear that the feds HAD to bail out Fannie and Freddie because of the terrible consequences of letting them fail. How much of that is real and how much is bunk? I’d have thought that if the companies go bankrupt, their stock sells for pennies on the dollar and the . . . → Read More: Is the Bailout Justified? This crash is The Big One; it has signs of becoming a Category 5. How do we know? We’ve “been there and done that” so many times before, roughly every 18 years over the last 800 or more. Major wars and, rarely, plagues have broken the rhythm, along with the little ice age, reformation and counter-reformation, political revolutions and . . . → Read More: THE GREAT CRASH OF 2008 |
|||||
|
Copyright © 2012 Mason's Blog - All Rights Reserved |
|||||
Review of Donald Stabile, The Living Wage
Professor Stabile’s main thesis is that most classical economists cared about social justice, which he equates with a living wage…
By the end, however, it becomes clear that Stabile is pushing a viewpoint after all: he is invoking classical political economy on the side of labor unions. This is not the same as a ‘pro-labor’ view – . . . → Read More: Review of Donald Stabile, The Living Wage