socialist-economics

Inside the huge, low-profile alliance fighting to save thes FCC's net neutrality rules https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2018/02/28/the-unusual-alliance-fighting-to-save-net-neutrality-in-congress/  -- via my feedly newsfeed

John Case has sent you a link to a blog: Blog: Enlighten Radio Podcasts Post: Podcast: The Moose Turd Cafe: Guv Jackass Promises 5% for teachers. Link: http://podcasts.enlightenradio.org/2018/02/podcast-moose-turd-cafe-guv-jackass.html -- Powered by Blogger https://www.blogger.com/

21 States See Decline in Well-Being in 2017 http://ritholtz.com/2018/02/21-states-decline-2017/ Record 21 States See Decline in Well-Being in 2017 by Dan Witters STORY HIGHLIGHTS For the first time, zero states saw statistically significant improvement from prior year South Dakota and Vermont top nation for the first time, followed by Hawaii West Virginia has lowest well-being, followed by Louisiana WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Nearly half of U.S. states saw their well-being scores decline by a statistically significant margin in 2017, according to the Gallup-Sharecare Well-Being Index. And, for the first time in nine years of tracking changes in state well-being, no state saw statistically significant improvement from the year before. The 21 U.S. states that saw their well-being drop in 2017 shattered the previous record set in 2009 amidst the Great Recession, when 15 states had lower well-being than the year before. The large number of states with declines in well-being in 2017 is particu...

John Case has sent you a link to a blog: Blog: Enlighten Radio Post: The Moose Turd Cafe: Teachers Score Chinese Victory -- Dr. Lechter MOVES to IHOP Link: http://www.enlightenradio.org/2018/02/the-moose-turd-cafe-teachers-score.html -- Powered by Blogger https://www.blogger.com/

Who's Behind the Janus Lawsuit? http://prospect.org/article/whos-behind-janus-lawsuit T oday, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear argument in   Janus v. AFSCME Council 31 . The case will likely have the most significant impact on workers' freedom to organize and bargain collectively since our nation's basic labor law was radically amended by the Taft-Hartley Act in 1947. Unlike the political battle surrounding the passage of that legislation, this fight is taking place largely out of the public eye and with little opportunity for public debate. Instead,   a small group of foundations with ties to the most powerful corporate lobbies have financed litigation attacking public-sector unions . These organizations operate with little public scrutiny, enabling wealthy interests to exert unprecedented private influence over matters of public policy, advancing an agenda that weakens the bargaining power of working people and shifts an ever-greater share of economic gains to corpora...

Enlightenment & the capitalist crisis http://stumblingandmumbling.typepad.com/stumbling_and_mumbling/2018/02/enlightenment-the-capitalist-crisis.html In his latest book,   Enlightenment Now , Steven Pinker   claims   that the Enlightenment has worked, and that "health, prosperity, safety, peace, knowledge, and happiness are on the rise." I have a problem with this. I don't doubt at all that life has become vastly better in the last couple of centuries, perhaps especially for oppressed groups such as workers, women and ethnic minorities. Instead, my question is: what progress has there been in the last ten years? None at all, by one important measure in the UK. Real wages are now   lower   than they were ten years ago, and younger people have far less   hope   of ever owning property.   Of course, as Mill wrote, a stationary state of incomes need not imply stagnation in other aspects of human flourishing. But what progress have we had here recently? Yes,   crime   ...

Why There Is No "Beijing Consensus" https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/china-development-beijing-consensus-by-andrew-sheng-and-xiao-geng-2018-02  ANDREW SHENG ,  XIAO GENG China observers can't seem to agree on the underlying logic of the country's development model. But, with faith in the West's long-dominant Washington Consensus breaking down, both sides may be in a similar position – a reality that could facilitate cooperation to deliver global public goods. HONG KONG – Four decades would seem to be plenty of time to identify the underlying logic of China's development model. Yet, 40 years after Deng Xiaoping initiated the country's "reform and opening up," a "Beijing Consensus" – that is, a Chinese rival to the Western neoliberal Washington Consensus – has yet to be articulated. Over the years, China has worked to transform its closed, planned economy into a more open, market-based system. Industry and, increasingly, s...