Business
On November 3, 2011, Alan Minsky interviewed me on KPFK’s program, “Building a Powerful Movement in the United States” in preparation for an Occupy L.A. teach-in. Listen to the interview. To clarify my points I have edited and expanded my answers from the interview transcript.
Alan Minsky: I am joined now by Michael Hudson. He is a distinguished research professor of economics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and also is president of the Institute for the Study of Long...
In the more than two centuries since the beginning of radical transformation of economic life that accompanied the rise of industrial capitalism, one of the most interesting trends has been the changing nature of the forms through which people have engaged in economic activities. Before the industrial revolution, an artisanal mode of production predominated, with many small work-shops producing the goods required by the largely agrarian economy. At first glance, such the existence of many small firms would suggest a highly competitive economy; however this was not the case. Rather, the high cost of transporting...
The Wall Street Journal reported on January 19 that the Obama administration was pushing heavily to get the 50 state attorneys general to agree to a settlement with five major banks in the "robo-signing" scandal. The scandal involves employees signing names not their own, under titles they did not really have, attesting to the veracity of documents they had not really reviewed. Investigation is revealing that it did not just happen occasionally, but was an industry-wide practice,...
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Defying the will of Vermonters, Entergy Nuclear has successfully won the first stage of its trial to allow it to break its word and to usurp the rights of the Vermont legislature. Judge J. Garvin Murtha effectively delivered a slap in the face to the people of Vermont by saying that [contrary to prior Supreme Court judgements] the legislature has no right to regulate the operation of the Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor. The Public Service Board is now the only state entity that has the power to decide VY's future. The judge...
An electronic database called MERS (Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems) has created defects in the chain of title to over half the homes in America. Counties have been cheated out of millions of dollars in recording fees, and their title records are in hopeless disarray. Meanwhile, foreclosed and abandoned homes are blighting neighborhoods. Straightening out the records and restoring the homes to occupancy is clearly in the public interest, and the burden is on local government to do it. But how? New legal developments are presenting some innovative alternatives
John O'Brien is register of deeds for Southern Essex County, Massachusetts. He is mad as hell and he isn't going to take it anymore. He calls his land registry a "...
Inspired by our friends at Occupy Wall Street and Dr. Cornel West, Move To Amend is planning bold action to mark the second anniversary of the infamous Citizens United v. FEC decision!
Occupy the Courts will be a one day occupation of Federal courthouses across the country, including the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on Friday January 20, 2012.
Move to Amend volunteers across the USA will lead the charge on the judiciary which created and continues...
BURLINGTON: Picking up from my post from yesterday, following a group of Occupiers from Burlington as they confront the GOP candidates and highlight the inequality of the corporate funded election system in America. The intrepid crew of Vermonters began the day by waking up at 5am and traveling to Concord to begin planning for the morning's GOP debate in that city. After scouting several buildings surrounding the debate hall, the Vermonters assisted in unfurling an Occupy banner proclaiming "THE SYSTEM IS BROKEN" that...
I just had one of those weird disconnect experiences, like HUH?? I read two entirely opposite accounts of the same time period and they can’t both be right. First I read Michael Moore’s recent book “Here Comes Trouble”, which isn’t great, but has some interesting anecdotes worth reading. The one that caught my attention was the time Moore attended “Expo Maquila ‘86', a US Commerce Department conference in Acapulco, Mexico to help US companies move jobs to Mexico and save on labor costs. He went to write an article for Nader’s Multinational Monitor. Nader’s chief of staff John Richard told him, “The Reagan...
Reposted from Counterpunch
by MIKE LOFGREN
It was in 1993, during congressional deliberation over the North American Free Trade Agreement. I was having lunch with a staffer for one of the rare Republican members of Congress who opposed the policy of so-called free trade. I distinctly remember something my colleague said: “The rich elites of this country have far more in common with their counterparts in London, Paris, and Tokyo than with their own fellow American citizens.”
That was just the beginning of the period when the realities of outsourced manufacturing, financialization of the economy, and...
On November 27, Bloomberg News reported the results of its successful case to force the Federal Reserve to reveal the lending details of its 2008-09 bank bailout. Bloomberg reported that by March 2009, the Fed had committed $7.77 trillion in below-market loans and guarantees to rescuing the financial system; and that these nearly interest-free loans came without strings attached.
The Fed insisted that the loans were repaid and there have been no losses, but the Bloomberg report said...
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