Watch my January 18, 2021 half hour Video Presentation to the Green Party of Alameda County, California on the US economic crises over the past year, and future possible scenarios in 2021. Why the current economic crisis is best understood as the Great Recession 2.0–and a more serious repeat of the 2008-15 prior Great Recession 1.0. Why the economic crisis is not a V-Shape, or strictly Covid driven crisis, but rather a long duration W-shape recovery marked by a partial recovery of last spring’s deep crash (March-May), followed by short and shallow rebound (July-September) and periodic relapses in turn (November-February 2021). The current situation is best understood as well as a ‘Triple Crisis’–covid/health crisis, economic insufficient stimulus, and political crisis–determining the trajectory of today’s Great Recession 2.0.
Excellent program. This one hour recapitulation of the U.S. economy as of Feb. 2021 is excellent. It was far easier to follow than I ever expected. The economy has been stumbling, no doubt, and just how bad, and what happened to whom, the analysis is clear and non-confusing. But complex, have to follow closely. We need a paradigm shift, an awareness of governments’ (federal, state, local) role in creating economic activity, meaningful work. Unless the new Biden administration makes a public relations effort, a series of “fire-side chats” ongoing to urge the public to support such investments, then we’ll go down the depressing road Rasmus predicts, and it’s not pretty. But very convincing. The Green Party of Alameda County for decades now has made powerful contributions to the community, and as a resident of San Leandro, Oakland, for most of my life, I thank them. Trying to sort out the spaghetti-like strands of stimulus and events is daunting, and this hour disembowels or dissects the heap of information so complex that no one would want to begin to tackle. Thanks, good work! The Fed’s Flow of Funds report says total “household net worth” is $123.520 trillion. It was $48 trillion in Jan. 2009, so it’s doubled in 12 years. If I remember correctly, “average weekly earnings” for non-supervisory workers (82% of all workers) increased by 8%, the GDP increased by 23%, and wealth by 113%, adjusting for inflation. It’s a oligarchy we are dealing with.
While the capitalist system has undergone numerous restructurings throughout its history, capitalist elites purpose in restructuring has remained the same: to restore and/or extend their hegemony. The current restructuring, operative since 1978, is called Neoliberalism. The book examines Neoliberalism as both an Idea and an historical practice composed of a particular mix of fiscal-monetary-trade-industrial policies that began with the latest US capitalist restructuring in the late 1970s, continuing to evolve to this day. The book further explains the deeper material forces giving rise to - as well as now undermining - the Neoliberal policy regime, with special focus given to the crisis of Neoliberalism in the wake of the 2008-09 global crash, Obama's failure to resurrect it, and Trump's current doomed effort to restore it in a new, more aggressive form. Evidence why Neoliberalism is destroying US Democracy concludes the book's analysis.
NEW BOOK
Describes how US federal governments, often in cooperation with the largest US private banks, introduced and expanded central banking functions from 1781 through the creation of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. Based on an analysis of the evolution of the US banking system - from pre-1781, through the 1787 US Constitutional Convention, Congressional debates on Hamilton's reports to Congress, the rise and fall of the 1st and 2nd Banks of the United States, and through the long period of the National Banking System form 1862-1913, the book shows how central banking in the US evolved out of the private banking system, and how following the financial crash of 1907 big New York banks pushed through Congress the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, creating a central bank which they then managed for their interests.
BOOK
(Click on image) CENTRAL BANKERS is a comprehensive critique of central banks’ policies in the 21st century, explaining why the massive injections of free money to the banking system since the 1970s enabled the creation of excess corporate debt that has led to financial bubbles and repeated crises. The book addresses the growing contradictions of central banking, why they are failing in their functions, targets and tools, and proposes a radical democratization and restructuring to transform them to serve the public interest and not the private banks.
Book:
(Click on image) LOOTING GREECE, A New Financial Imperialism Emerges. This book - Reveals clearly who calls the shots in the Eurozone—the hardliners, not the remnants and political residue of what was once European social democracy, - Follows the negotiations in their excruciating detail as the Troika tightens the screws from 2009 to the present, - Shows how Europe’s financial elite enriches itself on Greek debt, privatizations and financial manipulations, turning Greece into an Economic Protectorate.
Book:
(Click on image): This book offers a new approach to explaining why mainstream economic analyses have repeatedly failed and why fiscal and monetary policies have been incapable of producing a sustained recovery. It explains why the global economy is slowing long term and becoming more unstable, why policies to date have largely failed the trend, and why the next crisis may therefore prove even worse than that of 2008-09.
Book plus DVD and Powerpoint slideshow
(Click on image) Obama's Economy: Recovery for the Few, explains how the weakest and most lopsided economic recovery since 1947 has been the direct outcome of failed economic policies of the Obama administration and US Federal Reserve bank since February 2009. Includes a detailed 'alternative program' in the final chapter. Includes the book, a video DVD presentation, and 66-slide PPT slideshow.
Book
(Click on image) Obama's Economy: Recovery for the Few, explains how the weakest and most lopsided economic recovery since 1947 has been the direct outcome of failed economic policies of the Obama administration and US Federal Reserve bank since February 2009. Includes a detailed 'alternative program' in the final chapter.
Book
(Click on image) A theoretical analysis, with historical case examples, of origins, causes and future evolution of the recent--and continuing--economic crisis in the U.S. and global economy. Includes predictions in 2009 of the inevitable failure of Obama policies and more serious crisis to come, 2013-15.
Book
(Click on image) Seven specific reasons why economic recovery under Obama since 2009 has failed for all but the wealthiest few and largest corporations. The book spells out eight specific areas as an Alternative Economic Recovery Program.
Book
(Click on image) The War At Home: The Corporate Offensive From Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush, is a 534 page, extensively researched, nonfiction book that describes the evolution of corporate-government policies from 1980 to 2005 that have shifted more than a $1 trillion dollars a year, every year, from 90 million American middle and working class households to the wealthiest 10% and corporations.
Excellent program. This one hour recapitulation of the U.S. economy as of Feb. 2021 is excellent. It was far easier to follow than I ever expected. The economy has been stumbling, no doubt, and just how bad, and what happened to whom, the analysis is clear and non-confusing. But complex, have to follow closely. We need a paradigm shift, an awareness of governments’ (federal, state, local) role in creating economic activity, meaningful work. Unless the new Biden administration makes a public relations effort, a series of “fire-side chats” ongoing to urge the public to support such investments, then we’ll go down the depressing road Rasmus predicts, and it’s not pretty. But very convincing. The Green Party of Alameda County for decades now has made powerful contributions to the community, and as a resident of San Leandro, Oakland, for most of my life, I thank them. Trying to sort out the spaghetti-like strands of stimulus and events is daunting, and this hour disembowels or dissects the heap of information so complex that no one would want to begin to tackle. Thanks, good work! The Fed’s Flow of Funds report says total “household net worth” is $123.520 trillion. It was $48 trillion in Jan. 2009, so it’s doubled in 12 years. If I remember correctly, “average weekly earnings” for non-supervisory workers (82% of all workers) increased by 8%, the GDP increased by 23%, and wealth by 113%, adjusting for inflation. It’s a oligarchy we are dealing with.