Economics/True Cost – Page 24 – Public Intelligence Blog

How American and British workers can fight for a fairer economic system

The time has come for workers in the UK and US to campaign in unison for economic alternatives

The Guardian, Monday 15 October 2012

This weekend, the British labour movement will be marching in London for a future that works. Two weeks later, in the United States millions of workers and their unions will be mobilising for our national election in critical states such as Ohio, Massachusetts and Wisconsin. These mobilisations may not seem surprising, but behind them lies a serious rethinking of the economic and political strategy on labour issues in both countries.

It was the UK and the US that gave birth to the economic ideas and the financial practices that led to the global economic crisis. Five years into the crisis, workers in both countries have paid a terrible price through lost jobs and incomes, while the incomes and assets of the wealthiest in both countries have largely recovered to their pre-crisis levels. But we have learned a few things from this experience.

Continue reading “Eagle: British Labor and US Labor – Coming Together? Becoming Pirates? Arghhh.”

2012/10/14

DefDog: Reuters – Western Defense Cuts May Be Unstoppable – The Era of Rising Spending on Weapons and Wars is Over

Commerce, Economics/True Cost, Government, Military

Western defense budget cuts may be unstoppable

Companies, governments already preparing for reduced military spending

Peter Apps,, updated 10/13/2012

WASHINGTON — Whether or not America's politicians can find a way to sidestep the brutal automatic military cuts of sequestration, the era of rising Western spending on weapons and wars is over.

That reality increasingly is challenging major arms manufacturers, spurring them to look for new markets, cost cuts and mergers. It is also confronting policymakers with difficult political and strategic choices as new rivals, particularly China, spend more on their armed forces.

U.S. military spending still dwarfs that of other countries – the equivalent of the next 13 nations' spending by some estimates – but the global military balance is clearly shifting. With European states already cutting, the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies this year reported that Asian military spending outstripped Europe's for the first time in several centuries.

Read full article.

2012/10/13

Mike Lofgren: The Austerity Trap – Is Past Prologue? – Should Germany Grant Debt Relief as It Was Granted Debt Relief?

Economics/True Cost, Politics

The Austerity Trap: Is Past Prologue?

Mike Lofgren, Huffington Post, 10/11/2012 9:42 pm

A German chancellor touts austerity as the sovereign remedy for the worst global economic crisis in most people's memory. Why? The great inflation of 1923 is still so seared into the consciousness of the German political class that keeping the stability of the currency is paramount. Therefore the decree goes out: wages, salaries, and pensions must be cut, government spending slashed, taxes on the middle and working classes raised. Predictably, the unemployment rate rises above 25 percent, riots and demonstrations ensue, and an extreme right-wing party rapidly gains adherents. What this will mean for Europe's political future is unclear.

Continue reading “Mike Lofgren: The Austerity Trap – Is Past Prologue? – Should Germany Grant Debt Relief as It Was Granted Debt Relief?”

2012/10/132012/10/13

Paul Craig Roberts: IO Pulse for Thinking America – Don’t Vote for Evil in Any Form – Labor, Not Capital, Should Be the Center of Gravity

Culture, Economics/True Cost, Politics

Dr. Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal. He was columnist for Business Week, Scripps Howard News Service, and Creators Syndicate. He has had many university appointments. His internet columns have attracted a worldwide following.

Don’t Vote For Evil

Back during the George W. Bush neocon regime, President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela in his UN speech summed up George W. Bush for the world. I am quoting Chavez from memory, not verbatim. “Yesterday standing at this same podium was Satan himself, speaking as if he owned the world. You can still smell the sulfur.”

Chavez is one of the American right-wing’s favorite bogyman, because Chavez helps the people instead of bleeding them for the rich, which is Washington’s way. While Washington has driven all but the one percent into the ground, Chavez cut poverty in half, doubled university enrollment, and provided health care and old age pensions to millions of Venezuelans for the first time.

Little wonder he was elected to a fourth term as president despite the many millions of dollars Washington poured into the election campaign of Chavez’s opponent.

Continue reading “Paul Craig Roberts: IO Pulse for Thinking America – Don't Vote for Evil in Any Form – Labor, Not Capital, Should Be the Center of Gravity”

2012/10/11

Michel Bauwens: The Third Wave: Peer-to-Peer Immaterial Expansion

Economics/True Cost, P2P / Panarchy, Uncategorized

220px-Michel_Bauwens_crop — Michel Bauwens

Peer to peer and the feudal transition

Executive Summary:

First Wave: Extensive Development (Expansion across Space using Slaves)

Second Wave: Intensive Development (Material Development Upgrading Slaves to Serfs)

Third Wave: P2P Development (Immaterial Developments Upgrading Serfs to Seers)

10 September 2012

In this thought capsule, inspired by the reading of the very stimulating book Deep History by David Laibman, I’m not going to claim, as others have done, that we are going to evolve to some kind of neo-medievalism, or a new period of dark ages. But rather, that there are some interesting similarities between the slavery-to-feudal transition and the capitalism to P2P transition.

Continue reading “Michel Bauwens: The Third Wave: Peer-to-Peer Immaterial Expansion”

2012/10/09

Penguin: Military Suicides in 2012 – 1 a Day Active, 18 a Day Veterans

Economics/True Cost

Extreme Cognitive Dissonance or ECD?

Active Force

The Invisible Wounds of War: Number of Soldiers Committing Suicide Reaches Record High

U.S. military facing ‘epidemic' of suicides

U.S. military averaging a suicide a day in 2012

U.S. Army suicides reached record monthly high in July

U.S. Military Suicides in 2012: 155 Days, 154 Dead

Veterans

18 Veteran a Day Commit Suicide,This is a National Tragedy

The National Tragedy of Military and Veterans Suicides (Update)

Anthony Swofford on the Epidemic of Military Suicides

U.S. must address suicides by military veterans

18 veterans commit suicide each day

Marcus Aurelius: As Military Suicides Rise, DoD Focuses on Private Weapons

2012/10/09

Michel Bauwens: Richard Heinberg on End of Economic Growth

Economics/True Cost

YouTube (57:27) The End of Economic Growth – Richard Heinberg in Australia

Click Above to Watch Video

Published on Oct 5, 2012 by danimations80

Journalist and author Richard Heinberg has dedicated his life to understanding the notion of ‘The End of Economic Growth', why it is upon us and how humanity should best prepare and recalibrate itself for life in world beyond peak oil. Richard gave this fascinating in-depth public lecture at the University of South Australia while promoting his book ‘The End of Growth' on September 25th, 2012. It was co-presented by Sustainable Population Australia and several other dedicated South Australian grassroots social and political action groups. https://www.population.org.au

in this one hour presentation, Richard Heinberg explains the close link between the resource/environment and the social/economic components of the present disintegration. As a journalist with a keen understanding of science and maths he does it better, more comprehensively and more clearly than most others. While the conventional wisdom is that we must get ‘the economy' growing again, Heinberg shows that not only is this the wrong strategy, it is actually making the situation worse and more intractable.

Continue reading “Michel Bauwens: Richard Heinberg on End of Economic Growth”