These Tuesday evenings each begin with an update and analysis of major economic events of the last month and their contexts of longer-term economic trends shaping politics and society here and abroad. We focus on the evolving global capitalist economic crisis and its consequences. Topics examined include

A national campaign is now fully launched to make local public sector employees pick up a major share of the costs of economic crisis.  Years of rising spending and falling revenue have carved a path of destruction through federal, state, and local budgets.  Deficits and debts have mounted, eroding taxpayer support for government spending in general and for public employees particularly.

Richard Wolff makes an appearance on Tanner & Moore on KRUU Radio to provide and up-to-the-minute overview of the evolving crisis. 

Professor Wolff spoke about the particular relationship between the Left and the current state of the world economy at the Marxist-Humanist Initiative Conference at Pace University in New York on November 6th, 2010.

 

A CONFERENCE CONVENED BY MARXIST-HUMANIST INITIATIVE

Saturday Nov. 6, 2010 - 9 am to 6 pm

You say that a good way to balance the US budget and cut the national debt to zero, would be by applying a 10% tax on stocks and bonds of the ultra rich American population. Do you believe that the same could be applied in Greece as well, given that the two countries have huge differences in the rates of their economic growth and that Greece strives to attract investments?

«Η αναδιάρθρωση του χρέους θα είναι η επόμενη πράξη του δράματος για την Ελλάδα» λέει μιλώντας στο «Βήμα» ο διακε&kapp

No one in the US government campaigns these days for the direct government hiring of our many millions of unemployed and underemployed people. That is despite the fact that those millions suffer the resulting losses of income and self-esteem, despite the fact that they become burdens on their families, friends, and neighbors, and despite the fact that their reduced purchasing hurts countless others who work to produce what the unemployed and underemployed can no longer afford.

Muchos economistas hablan del final de “la gran recesión” basados en la recuperación del producto interno bruto (PIB) en Estados Unidos (EU). ¿Qué piensa sobre este tipo de análisis?  

So, now we know about the $15bn-plus 2010 pay package for Goldman Sachs partners and employees. The top rungs will get their many millions each, with lesser and lesser amounts going down the GS hierarchy. The mass of its more than 35,000 employees will, as usual, get much, much less than the top. In addition, the appreciation of Goldman's share prices likewise adds billions to employees who got stock options, which were likewise distributed very unequally throughout the firm.