Contents of this Blog

Dear Reader,

Contents of this web site:

I write essays on economics. This listing of the Contents is in reverse numbered order, the most recent at the top.

All these essays are mind-wrenching. I recently saw Mohammed Ali shout, "I am the greatest," and the prettiest. It's great to be great, and mind-wrenching. I hope someday to communicate as well as he. Enjoy.

The Dalai Lama says that he is a Marxist Buddhist. He takes an ethical position. There is more fairness in a social and humanitarian perspective of economics. “From each according his ability, to each according to his needs,” is a higher ethical standard than the capitalist ethos of Adam Smith’s invisible hand of the market, each economic actor pursuing his own self-interest and all benefitting thereby. Also, the spiritual teacher Meher Baba commented about the two ethical standards, stating that the Marxist ideal was a higher ethos. A higher ethos is driving world history and personal destiny.

19. To Buy or to Bail, that is the Question
Should the public buy bad assets from moribund banks or buy bad banks? Do you allow the nuts who brought you the crisis to continue, or do you show them the door? This analysis is supported by many economists, Nouriel Roubini who first predicted the meltdown, and by Paul Krugman of the N.Y. Times. September, 2008

18. Understanding the Crisis
How distribution of income and wealth have shaped the basics of the financial meltdown that engulfs AIG, Merrell Lynch, Countrywide, Fannie Mae, and so on.
The head of economics at Howard University, William Spriggs, had the same basic understanding. September, 2008

17. The Justice Revolution
This deals with the fairness of distribution of profits. I am happy with it. Both domestic and international solutions are presented. It is a complex stew of numbers, but the broad outlines are accessible and I hope prescient। I present the systemic solution to the systemic problems of badly distributed profits। August 31, 2008

16. The Bottom Half Own 2.5%, Earn 15% Annually, Wealth and Income Distribution in the U.S.A.
Stark inequality. August, 2008

15. Infectious Greed Overwhelms the U.S. Economy August, 2008
A simpler essay, full Marriner Eccles quotation।

14. Celebrate $100,000 Average Annual Income Nationwide.
August, 2008
Yet the median income still is below $33,000 a year. Top Heavy?

13. Economic Rights for the Two Out of Seven Who Are Not Making It

Inequality, weak purchasing power, Roosevelt’s State of the Union, ‘44,
and much more. Not too pessimistic. About 3,000 words.
Really interesting says the author. July 22, 2008

12. What the Government Can Do
May 1, 2008
A two page reduction of the essay There Are Solutions. A quick read on
ways to increase employment and incomes without stalling the economy.
Maybe my ‘Best.’ Short, to the point.

11. Three Short Pieces June, 2008
June 15, 2008. To the KPFA Morning Show, The Next Wave of Political Reform, and another review of Robin Hahnel’s book Economic Justice and Democracy.

10. My Second Letter to Pete Stark, Congressman
A little note about shrinking aggregate demand, how to grow an economy,
and why worldwide depression is possible। May, 2008

9. There Are Solutions April, 2008
This 4,000 word essay details and reviews three plans for revitalizing the American economy.
First, I take a look at Frank Stricker’s book Why America Lost the War on Poverty --- and How to Win It, and his 17 point plan called What Needs to Be Done.
Second I look at the Center for American Progress’ plan “From Poverty to
Prosperity.”
Finally, I review “Decent Work and Public Investment,” a plan authored by members of the National Jobs for All Coalition, Helen Lachs Ginsburg and Gertrude Shaffner Goldberg.
The economist Doug Dowd gave me a compliment on this essay. Doug lives in Bologna, Italy, now enjoying his 89th year and still writing. He will call his next book Rampant Inequality.

8. White Birds --- a poem not about economics। About love। April, 2008

7. A Wealth Tax to Eliminate Poverty
This may be my best effort। It is a reduction of my original essay A Modest Proposal to Tax Wealth Annually in the U.S.A. April, 2008

6. The Art of Living Together
A short vagrancy, a fissure, an errant meander, a lunacy। Something burst।
March, '08

5. A Letter to My Congressman, Pete Stark. February 5, 2008
He should read it। But I doubt he or any one will। March, 2008

4. A book review of Robin Hahnel’s Economic Justice and Democracy
This essay was published in the Alameda County Green Party News in
October, 2007. March, 2008

3. Odd, Very Odd. March, 2008. A recapitulation of old ideas. Nothing special.
March, 2008
2. Is There a Middle Class?
The 40 to 1 ratio between two halves of the U।S। population impressed me। I was listening to Michael Krasny on KQED FM radio talk about the middle class। He did not take my e-mail, so I wrote this essay and sent it to him। February, 2008

1. Progressive Economic Reform, 2008
January, 2008
This essay was posted at Econo-atrocity, the commentary site at Center for
Popular Economics. No one left a comment. I think that means no one read
through to the end. It is good. It contains evidence marshalled and supported for the argument that the economy serves only a minority.
It’s my third favorite after What Government Can Do, and
A Wealth Tax to Eliminate Poverty, second best.