Economic Update

Economic Update - Economics of Denial - 01.04.15

Updates on Apple Computer, French Socialism, Greek election, Vermont drops single-payer, oil and Russia, and latest NLRB rulings. Major discussions of welfare economics, meritocracy, and 5% US GDP growth without hype.

Signs of Deepening Inequality - 12.28.14

Updates on successful Oregon teaching assistants' strike, evicting the homeless, law limits unpaid internships to 4 weeks, and universities become businesses. Response to our audiences on the economics of war and military in US - "the elephant in the economy" - and on political corruption in the new budget. Major discussion of the sharp decline in most Americans' wealth since 2007 (no recovery there either) coupled with widening wealth gaps between whites and both African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans.

Capitalism's Christmas Presents - 12.21.14

Updates on economics of oil price collapse, resumption of US-Cuba relations, lost middle class, and the economics of Uber car service. Response to questions on upsurge of union organizing and on Supreme Court anti-labor ruling. Major discussion of why both men and women in the US are leaving the labor force.

Mainstream vs Critical Economics - 12.14.14

Updates on Mexican farm exploitation, Grenoble takes down advertising, US teachers underpaid, and cutting workers' pensions. Responses to listeners on Harvard and Yale as full participants in capitalism's defects. Analyzing modern "economics" as a discipline from Adam Smith to Karl Marx and since.

Economic Update - Labor and Unions - 12.07.14

Updates on Ferguson and Portland as symptoms of economic decline, critic rejections of profit-driven business, Sen. Bernie Sanders for worker coops, homeless in New York City, and rising political lefts in Greece, Spain and now Ireland. Responses to listeners on supply-demand economics and "capturing" government regulators. Interview with Steve Early, activist and author, on the present and future of US labor movement.

Economics of Private Property - 11.30.14

Updates on unpaid internships, extreme wealth, and economic perceptions. Response to listener questions on real economics of public pensions and of home refinancing. In depth analyses of private property and income and of economic regulation vs system change.

Extreme Capitalism - 11.19.14

Updates on low Irish taxes on corps, interns fight back, thriving opium, VW brings new  labor relations to US, big banks caught cheating again. Replies to questions on domestic outsourcing and democracy of workers self-directed enterprises. Major discussions of college sports, the business oligarchy in the US and forgiving countries' debts

Economic Update - Elections but no Democracy - 11/12/14

Updates on election results, Ebola, mortgage rules, China limits execs' pay, and whose got the wealth. Responses to listeners on changes at Costco, so-called "non-profits", why ever more billionaires, and Piketty's problem. Major topics discussed: election economics, child poverty, capitalism and democracy.

Economic Update - Capitalism, Inequality, and Martin Luther King - 10/29/14

Updates on Detroit’s water shutoffs, corporations prioritize profit at people’s expense (4 big examples), US Senators making money, economics of ebola, and hedge funds pay fines with pensioners’ money. Interview: Dr. Obery hendricks, Jr., on Martin Luther King, Jr.’s lifelong criticism of capitalism and preference for democratic socialism. Response to listeners on (1) economics of the disabled (productivity and wages) and (2) reduced 2014 deficit in US.

Economic Update - Why Economics Are So Poorly Understood - 10/15/14

Updates on GM recalls, Cuba's investment in medical training, Germany's end all tuition requirements. Major discussions of why economics education so poor and report from Santa Fe movement for public banking. Response to listeners on why no recovery from the crisis and how to think about transition to worker coop based economy.