Readers, this a direct result of nominal "free trade" economics which was built upon the US being the market of last resort. This gets expressed also in the relative valuation of different currencies. Now that consumption in the US is falling off, the trade war against the US people is ricocheting backwards as though economies which were dependent upon that arrangement are suffering. The melt down and the "austerity" measure inflicted upon the Greek people are likely to be cast off even violently.

Readers, this article doesn't really provide much new in the way of analysis for those who have followed the process and particularly from an institutional economics perspective. That Jane D'Arista has been used for her input is substantial by her having been an economist for the US Congress for twenty years and the author of the book "The Evolution of US Finance." The other aspect is that this article appeared in the Christian Science Monitor which has had a fairly conservative perspective. Admin

Readers, please, note the prominent and repeating role of credit default swaps in the whole process. This alone application makes the whole process less about real economy than a casino of fictions. It is in this decoupling that banking established its primacy. There are also relics of the era of specie based monetary policies through the privatization of money. To put it another way this is dysfunctional finance gone wild. Admin

This article was first written for "Owners at Work", v. 20, no. 2 (Winter 2008/09).

Dateline: December 2, 2008. National Bureau of Economic Research announces that US in recession since December 2007.

Another recession in Ohio? We are still in the last one! Between January 1, 2000, and November 30, 2007, Ohio lost 255,200 manufacturing jobs -- 25% of our manufacturing base. Total Ohio employment dropped 154,700 or 2.8%. Since the "new" recession began on December 1, 2007 through October 2008, we’ve lost an additional 23,800 manufacturing jobs and 41,700 jobs over all.

Readers, the important distinction to be aware of is the difference of debt from money as a basis for and as units of exchange. Graeber is focusing upon debt and indebtedness, as does Innes. Graeber also explores the patterns of economies which were not oriented toward debt as gift economies. The modern use of the concept of money is a bit different. Admin

http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/5502/the_corporate_takeover_of_u.s._...

Jan. 21, 2010, will go down as a dark day in the history of U.S. democracy, and its decline.

On that day the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the government may not ban corporations from political spending on elections-a decision that profoundly affects government policy, both domestic and international.

The decision heralds even further corporate takeover of the U.S. political system.

Readers, this is one of the better short analyses of monetary policies from the chartalist perspective. Much of the way issues about public financing are posed are antiquated and date to the era when currency was specie based(aka on precious metals). Because governments are the sovereign originators of money its accounting and debt process is actually much different than how ordinary households relate to debit and credits. There are more thorough treatments of the topic, and this works well as an introduction. Admin.

If the economy deteriorates in the L-shaped “hockey-stick” rut that many economists forecast, what political price will President Obama and the Democrats pay for having returned the financial keys to the Bush Republican appointees who gave away the store in the first place? Reappointing Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke may end up injuring not only the economy but also the Democratic Party for years to come. Recognizing this, Republicans made populist points by opposing his reappointment during the Senate confirmation hearings last Thursday, January 27 – the day after Mr.

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/a_memory_of_howard_20100127/

I just learned that my friend Howard Zinn died today. Earlier this morning, I was being interviewed by the Boston Phoenix, in connection with the February release of a documentary in which he is featured prominently. The interviewer asked me who my own heroes were, and I had no hesitation in answering, first, “Howard Zinn.”

Reader, In the passing of Howard Zinn I had been thinking about whether coverage of Howard Zinn's passing should be included here, and then decided that his variety of history was actually an economic history, in the sense of the root meaning of economics as the management of home and community. The word adjective "radical" is acceptable to the extent that its core meaning is from radix as in "radical" meaning "to the root." It is a blunt crime that the corporate control of NPR inspired it to dig up a reactionary crank to attack Zinn's legacy.