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The TransPacific Partnership increasingly sounds like bad news for Main Street. Here’s the latest trickle of doom, courtesy of Real News Network…
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When 50% of young people in some countries don’t have a job, that is very dangerous.
They are going to ask themselves questions about the current economic situation and about their role in society.
Soon 25% of Europeans will be living below what we’d call the poverty line.
— Uniliver CEO Paul Polman’s current assessment of Europe and its turbulent future. Polman made the comments just before flying to Davos… -
While you look at these two St. Louis Fed graphs of historical corporate profits and wages paid while having a WTH moment, let me explain how capitalism is supposed to work.
Capitalism is not simply a business or group of businesses, it’s an ECOSYSTEM. More on that later.
The deal is simple – investors find a problem in society to be solved through a business and they invest money in that business with the justifiable requirement for a strong return for their investment and risk-taking.
Workers help to solve the problem in question by making or delivering goods and services sold by that business as part of the mission to solve this problem. In return, these workers are paid a fair wage so they can also buy goods and services within the ecosystem. These workers should also be able to save money in case they may decide to become business owners and investors one day.
Governments at various jurisdictions ensure that workers and businesses do not screw each other, but governments also encourage the growth of new businesses and industries through research, tax breaks and other incentives.
Looking at middle class incomes remain flat or decline over the past 30 years while household expenses continue to increase [PDF] tells me two things – that arguing about whether blue or red guys caused this crisis is pointless, and that policymakers and businesses had better get a clue about how capitalism works.
Which brings up the ecosystem I mentioned. Ecosystem imbalances can be more dangerous and expensive than addressing the root cause—which in this case means creating prosperous workers…
song currently stuck in my head: “don’t give up on me baby” - the dynamic superiors
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Bloomberg’s First Black President Can’t Help Blacks Stem Wealth Drop article seems incomplete at best since the issues surrounding black’s wealth disparity have deeply rooted origins, not the least of which involves decades of poor social policy.
Solving the wealth problem requires a level of painful examination that I’m not sure America is ready to take on…
song currently stuck in my head: “what’s your name” - leon ware
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If this picture is not shocking enough, consider that black incomes started their recessionary free-fall from US$ 36,567 and is sitting at $32,498 for the moment. Meanwhile, the median household income for all Americans is $50,964, down from $53,508…
Is there a post, post-racial period we can look forward to?
Source: Economix…
song currently stuck in my head: “hey joe (live)” - led zeppelin
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![We can point the election of a Black President of the United States and the increase in the number of Black millionaires as evidence of post-segregation progress, but this chart serves as one of many reminders that America has to do more to avoid a collision course with a social crisis.
Source: Schott Foundation 50 State Report on Public Education and Black Males [PDF]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m7bb8azaI81qdnnn0o1_1280.jpg)
We can point the election of a Black President of the United States and the increase in the number of Black millionaires as evidence of post-segregation progress, but this chart serves as one of many reminders that America has to do more to avoid a collision course with a social crisis.
Source: Schott Foundation 50 State Report on Public Education and Black Males [PDF]
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Not only has the rise in inequality failed to deliver on faster growth, history shows a clear association between inequality and instability.
— Townsend Centre for International Poverty Research visiting fellow Stewart Lansley in a guest post for the OECD Insights blog about how inequality is an economic danger titled Inequality, the crash and the crisis: Part 1 “The defining issue of our times.” The first entry makes me thing all three parts should be on your Election 2012 reading list… -
OECD Week Paris, 2012: From Indignation and Inequality to Inclusion and Integrity
For your radar, OECD Week runs May 22-24 in Paris. Subjects surrounding economic development and inequality always grab my attention. I’ll have to read those Skills Strategy, Gender Initiative and Development Strategy reports…
song currently stuck in my head: “speak no evil” - flora purim
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STUDY: BLACK AND LATINO KIDS LESS LIKELY TO GET MEDICATION IN HOSPITAL
[Setting: Hospital emergency room in Anytown-You-Can-Think-Of, USA]
Nurse: Doctor, we have a 7-year old with severe abdominal pain. What medicine should I dispense –
Doctor: [Interrupts] What color is the child?
Nurse: Black.
Doctor: [Silent]
Nurse: Doctor?
Doctor: [Remains silent]
Nurse: DOCTOR!
Doctor: Give the little bastard a hot water bottle…
The dialogue might be different in real life but the outcome remains the same – Black and Hispanic kids are less likely than White kids to receive medication for stomach pain in the emergency room, says a study published by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Damn, y’all – even if you doctors have insurance beef, don’t you think your collective moral judgment is on display right now?
Another part of me wonders how many persons of color would want to trust hospitals with medication given this mess.
Wait…that question has already been answered. Look here and here…
song currently stuck in my head: “solid” - mandrill -
Mark Thoma posted a couple of graphs to CBS News that shows the US leads its developed counterparts in the share of low-wage earners. And the US’ number of low-wage workers continues to grow.
Why is the US a low-wage nation? Because the other countries are a bunch of Goddamn Communists! And they’re a bunch of doody-heads! Plus they’re stupid. Where’s my gun…
song currently stuck in my head: “survival” – annette peacock
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Talk like this can get you killed…
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Long Live Welfare...Or Poor People...
The first sentence of this Economist’s View post sums it up:
Welfare reform left far too many people with nowhere to turn for help when the economy turned downward
I’ve said this numerous times - you can’t “End Welfare as we know it” by just cutting programs and willing welfare away.
An effective way to end welfare is to teach and enable folks to create wealth. Handouts would soon become obsolete.
But let’s face it…no politician is serious about ending welfare since the poor would use their new wealth to do extreme things like create new institutions, build strong communities and financially support a new slate of politicians who really care about ending inequality.
That means welfare, or whatever you want to call a scheme that is nothing more than an dressed-up institutionalized financial prison, shall continue to live in one form or another…
song currently stuck in my head: “zanzibar” - sergio mendes & brasil ‘77
(Source: The New York Times)
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OECD, INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY & FINANCIAL LITERACY
I dig the OECD Insights blog. In addition to generating fact-based policy content in a world where politicians beg you to check your brain at the entrance and [en]trust your gut to your favorite political party, OECD Insights big-ups International Women’s Day and the need for improving financial literacy in women. Crazy cool.
More women in the Western world are generating loot for their households, which makes financial literacy among women critical to a country’s economic stability, in addition to being the fair thing to do.
Read today’s OECD’s blog post, Tackling Gender Differences in Financial Literacy, and be sure to visit the International Women’s Day site…
song currently stuck in my head: “infinite possibilities” – amel larrieux
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The top 1% captured 93% of the income gains in the first year of recovery [2010]. Such an uneven recovery can help explain the recent public demonstrations against inequality.
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University of California at Berkeley Economics Professor Emmanuel Saez writes in the report “Striking it Richer: The Evolution of Top Incomes in the United States” dated March 2, 2012. [PDF]
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Draw your own conclusions.
I picked up the graphic from Economix, but you can read the source document from Pew Research…
song currently stuck in my head: “space walk” - don rendell
