Search

THE REMARKABLE thing about the American middle class is that we still have one, given the job losses, housing bust, and 401(k) wipeout of the past three years--and considering that [...]

Whenever economies sour, politicians blame speculators. But on occasion, they are right to do so. Speculators did wreak havoc in 1630s Holland, 1720s France, and in the American stock market [...]

IN NOVEMBER 2004, Lt. General Ricardo Sanchez came to a luncheon at my professional home, the LBJ School of Public Affairs. I attended and asked some inconvenient questions. It was [...]

FROM ALAN GREENSPAN TO BENJAMIN Bernanke: The transition at the Federal Reserve is from insider to academic, from man of action to man of ideas. Greenspan's Ph.D. was awarded by [...]

IN TODAY'S GREAT God-versus-Science debate, both sides maneuver for the middle ground. Though he's otherwise tolerant of nothing, George W. Bush calls for evolution and Intelligent Design to be taught [...]

THERE ARE SOME THINGS EVERYONE KNOWS. One of them is that while modern Europe has social democracy--with generous benefits, long vacations, and short working hours--this comes at a terrible price: [...]

Is the worst over? Are we on the road to recovery? Will the next president take office against a backdrop of economic improvement, as Bill Clinton did in 19937 Or [...]

Here's A LITERARY CURIOSITY for our times. John Kenneth Galbraith was the most widely read economist of the last century, and possibly, after Karl Marx, of all time. Yet his [...]

IN HIS CONQUISTADOR AGE, King Philip II believed that the silver of Mexico and the gold of Peru would make the greatness of Spain. In this he relied, no doubt, [...]

ON MARCH 3, 2004, Senator Hillary Clinton issued a dire and now familiar warning about the deficit: 'If we look down the road, whether it is next year or two [...]

RESIDENT BUSH is selling his partial privatization plan for Social Security to young voters as a replacement for a system that 'won't be there'--so it's said--when they retire. But in [...]

Shame on Walter Russell Mead--and Mother Jones. At a time when bipartisan opposition to President Clinton's flawed international trade policies is growing in Congress, it is shocking to find progressive [...]

IT'S NOT WIDELY enough appreciated just how hard this economic crisis is going to be on the old. Why? Because unlike the working population, they are often, well, no longer [...]

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA (how sweet those words) has already transformed American politics. The GOP is in crack-up. Obama's coattails in Congress give him leverage, and his vast public support gives [...]

Eight years ago in Austin, Texas, pioneering climate economist Eban Goodstein drew a thin crowd speckled with hecklers, whose buttons demanded, 'Show Me the Science!' When he returned this year, [...]

The rise of the Democrats brings some much-needed attention to the issue of income inequality, but while most observers focus on how income is distributed among people, it is also [...]

The immigration rallies that swept the country this spring were a movement of working people. But they were expressd and represented in good part by their children, many of them [...]

WHAT IS THE REAL NATURE of American capitalism today? Is it a grand national adventure, as politicians and textbooks aver, in which markets provide the framework from which emerges the […]

This article questions the capability of Benjamin Bernanke to serve as U.S. Federal Reserve chairman. It examines some of the ideas advanced by Bernanke, especially the idea of inflation targeting or, according to the author, the notion that the Federal Reserve should set a numerical inflation objective and pursue that over all other goals. Information on Bernanke's educational and career background is provided.

The article discusses the ideas of economist Adam Smith and scientist Charles Darwin on evolutionism. Evolution meant progress. Order and progress were signs of God's plan. Darwin shifted the focus to individuals, to mutation, and to the processes of natural, sexual, and social selection. Economists, on the other hand, have been intelligent designers since the beginning. Smith was a deist and he believed in a world governed by a benevolent system of natural law. Smith's Creator did not interfere. He simply wrote the laws and left them for events to demonstrate and man to discover.

Discusses the potential effects of the proposed Social Security reform of U.S. President George W. Bush. Information on initiatives introduced for the elderly; Benefits of Social Security; Details of the proposal.

The article focuses on the financial crisis in the U.S. and questions whether leaders of the Republican Party are attempting to bolster the economy with short term measures to stave off recession until after the presidential election of 2008. It is stressed that interest rate cuts did not encourage lenders and did not stimulate construction and automobile sales. The lack of trust in lending between banking institutions is discussed.

The article considers the new economic system discusses in John Kenneth Galbraith's "The New Industrial State." When control passes to the organizational structure that combines to make companies work--the market--the economics of a small firm become obsolete and the company begins to work only for itself.

The article focuses on the reasons behind the failure of the war on terror in Iraq. U.S. military occupations in Iraq cannot prevail against determined opposition. For years, it has not prevailed simply because the economics of warfare have been in constant change. Specifically, several factors could be cited: (1.) the growth of cities which provide the terrorists with fortification and concealment; (2.) improvements on the weaponry of insurgents; and (3.) the presence of the media among others.

This article refutes some of the misconceptions about the economies of Europe and the U.S. One of them is that while modern Europe has social democracy--with generous benefits, long vacations, and short working hours--this comes at a terrible price: high and chronic unemployment, technological stagnation, and social torpor. Another is that America has a weak welfare state, with low wages for the unskilled but plenty of jobs. As everyone says, we are unequal but dynamic, entrepreneurial, and socially fluid. Left and right agree that these are facts. They disagree only on what to do about them. American progressives want us to become more European: to work less, play more, take time out for a drink. Meanwhile in Europe, conservatives want to become more American.

Argues on the military and economic threat posed by China to the U.S. Factors that led to the failure of the U.S. government to create industries and jobs for employees; Business strategy employed by the Chinese manufacturing industry in exporting goods; Role of the war in Iraq in the termination of employment programs in the U.S.; Inadequacy of the military weapons possessed by China to attack the U.S.

Looks at the political and economic implications of the increasing budget deficits of the U.S. Approaches used by former presidents to balance the budget; Role of corporations' overspending in the growth of the economy during the term of former President Bill Clinton; Advantages and disadvantages of President George W. Bush's strategy of reducing tax; Actions that must be taken to expand the country's exports to decrease budget deficits.

In this article the author considers the risks that the global economic recession pose to elderly Americans, and suggests that the benefits of the social insurance program Social Security should be increased to meet their financial needs. He criticizes former U.S. President George W. Bush for seeking to privatize Social Security. He remarks on the economic benefits of government investment in Social Security and similar programs such as Medicare and Medicaid.

The article discusses the real nature of U.S. capitalism today. Is it a grand national adtextbooks venture, as politician and textbook aver, in which markets provide the framework for benign competition, from which emerges the greatest good for the greatest number? Or is it the domain of class struggle, even a global class war, as the title of Jeff Faux's new book would have it, in which the party of Davos outmaneuvers the remnants of the organized working class?