Economic Update

Economics and Revolutions - 02.01.15

Updates on political corruption, Greek election results, social security taxes, debt jubilee, union membership and revolutions' lessons.

Spinning Out of Control - 01.25.15

Updates on Obama's SOTU speech, ECB pumps up money supply to stimulate Europe, forgiving Greece's (just like Germany's) debts, and US housing extremes. Response to questions on global wealth inequality and Switzerland's currency maneuvers. Interview with Dr. Harriet Fraad on US economy's disastrous impact on children.

Austerity Ends in Greece? - 01.15.15

Updates on Democrat's "Robin Hood" tax, riders shift from planes to buses, and misleading US job market headlines. Responses to questions on big bankers' self-image and the basic economics of US federal estate tax and state and local taxes. Interview: Prof. Peter Bratsis on Greek election January 25 and ongoing struggles, in Greece and beyond, to end austerity.

Economic Update - Real vs Fakenomics - 01.11.15

Updates on rising health insurance costs, rebel economists, Senate costs. Response to questions on Greek crisis, falling school funding, wealth inequality in US that blocks "recovery." Interview with London economics professor John Weeks.

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.