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AI is a Perfect Storm Threatening Humanity
© Getty Images/XH4D The global economy was already navigating a minefield of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA) when US President Donald J. Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs reverberated across international markets. This aggressive escalation of trade barriers, including a mélange of sudden rate hikes, retaliatory measures, and rhetorical brinkmanship, didn’t just amplify the chaos; it […]
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Economic Conditions and Hollow Victories
Among the very few things to look forward to on Labor Day is Jack Rasmus’s annual report on the state of US labor. Rasmus, an accomplished political-economist, riffs on the famous Frederick Engels book with Labor Day 2024: The Condition of the American Working Class Today. It may come as a surprise to some, but […]
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How Unelected Regulators Unleashed the Derivatives Monster and How It Might Be Tamed
It was not the highly visible acts of Congress but the seemingly mundane and often nontransparent actions of regulatory agencies that empowered the great transformation of the U.S. commercial banks from traditionally conservative deposit-taking and lending businesses into providers of wholesale financial risk management and intermediation services. — Professor Saule Omarova, “The Quiet Metamorphosis, How […]
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Unless You Have Something to “Sell” …
Let us first dispense with a misleading (and superannuated) word: “society.” You and I, mere human beings scrambling to survive, inhabit a marketplace. From the moment we step outside our door, figuratively speaking, contractual and civil laws circumscribe each and every interaction we have with our fellow citizens/consumers. (I’m mindful that, with the absolute governance […]
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How Donald Trump Worked to Destroy America’s Labor Unions
Although Donald Trump has been eager to garner support from American labor unions for his re- election campaign, there are lots of reasons he’s not going to get it. Chief among them is his record in sabotaging the nation’s labor movement. During his decades as a wealthy businessman, Trump clashed with unions repeatedly. And, upon […]
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Donald Trump’s Assault on the Wages of American Workers
Although Donald Trump, as president, proclaimed in his 2020 State of the Union address that he had produced a “blue-collar boom” in workers’ wages, the reality was quite different. Using his control of the executive branch of the U.S. government, Trump repeatedly undermined the wages of American workers by blocking raises and imposing wage reductions. […]
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Unbecoming American: Risky Business
Risk and fraudulent mutuality Thirty years ago, having just successfully completed a international congress on environmental consciousness and mass media which I had organized on behalf of the Deutsche Hygiene-Museum, Dresden, a legacy of an early German pharmaceutical magnate, the inventor of the mouthwash Odol; I was asked to prepare the framework for a subsequent […]
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Tackling California’s Budget Crisis: Raise Taxes, Cut Programs, or Form a Bank?
In 2022, the state of California celebrated a record budget surplus of $97.5 billion. Two years later, according to the Legislative Analyst’s Office, this surplus has plummeted to a record budget deficit of $73 billion. Balancing the budget will be challenging. Unlike the federal government, the state cannot just drive up debt and roll it […]
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The Public Bank That Wasn’t: New Jersey’s Excursion into Public Banking
In 2017, Phil Murphy, a former Goldman Sachs executive, made the establishment of a public, state-owned bank a centerpiece issue during his run for New Jersey governor. He regularly championed public banking in speeches, town halls and campaign commercials. He won the race, and the nation’s second state-owned bank following the stellar model of the Bank […]
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