Political Economy category archive
All That Was Old Is New Again 0
Thom and Richard Eskow discusses similarities between Donald Trump’s cabinet of deplorables and Republican cabinets of the 1920s.
Jen Sorenson has more. Here’s a snippet (emphasis added):
Trump’s version of a political and financial establishment, just forming, will be bound together by certain behavioral patterns born of relationships among those of similar status, background, social position, legacy connections, and an assumed allegiance to a dogma of self-aggrandizement that overshadows everything else. In the realm of politico-financial power and in Trump’s experience and ideology, the one with the most toys always wins. So it’s hardly a surprise that his money- and power-centric cabinet won’t be focused on public service or patriotism or civic duty, but on the consolidation of corporate and private gain at the expense of the citizenry.
Welcome to the kelptocracy.
That Pesky Dialectic of Materialism, It Just Won’t Go Away 0
At the Boston Review, Alex De Waal remembers Karl Polanyi’s The Great Transformation, which was written in 1944 and analyzed the events leading from the Napoleonic Wars to the World Wars from a social and economic perspective. De Waal applies that same analysis to the events since 1945. His conclusions do not give reason for optimism.
The article is long and densely reasoned and so depressing that it’s taken me three days to wade through it. I urge you to read the whole thing, even if it takes you three days . . . .
Here’s just a bit to either whet your appetite or scare you away (emphasis added).
(snip)
So now—a winning minority of the electorate having lodged its protest and voted for its own gravedigger—the logic of today’s political economy is laid bare. What then can we take from The Great Transformation to deepen our understanding of our predicament? Polanyi’s central conclusion is that unregulated capitalism promised a “stark Utopia” of great wealth but destroyed the social and material basis of a humane society. Just over a hundred years ago, nineteenth-century Western liberal civilization reached its apogee, which was also the moment at which it could no longer contain the forces of disorder that it had unleashed. The massive destruction of the world wars, the communist revolution, fascist imperialism, and the Great Depression followed. Capitalism was reprieved by the political dispensation that followed World War II. John Maynard Keynes provided the intellectual capital for managing the market, and the victors of the war recognized that full employment, social welfare, and a good measure of equality were necessary to save civilization. But capitalism’s dangerous tendencies remained and, once freed from the challenge of socialism, its utopian dogma was again ascendant. The inevitable crisis is now here.
Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go 0
Still under 300k.
(snip)
Claims have stayed below the 300,000 level for 92 consecutive weeks, the longest stretch since 1970 and typically consistent with an improving job market. . . .
The number of people continuing to receive jobless benefits dropped by 79,000 to 2.01 million in the week ended Nov. 26. The unemployment rate among people eligible for benefits declined to 1.4 percent from 1.5 percent.
Cabinet of Horrors 0
Will Bunch opens the door and takes a peek.
Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go 0
Sill under 300k (emphasis added).
Jobless claims increased by 17,000 to 268,000 in the week that ended Nov. 26 and included Thanksgiving, Labor Department figures showed Thursday in Washington.
(snip)
Jobless claims have been below 300,000 for 91 straight weeks — the longest streak since 1970 and a level typical for a healthy labor market. At the same time, other factors that have pushed claims down in recent years, including cuts in the duration of benefits and changes to claim-filing technology.
Estimates in the Bloomberg survey ranged from 245,000 to 265,000. The prior week’s reading was unrevised at 251,000.
The number of people continuing to receive jobless benefits increased by 38,000 to 2.08 million in the week ended Nov. 19.
Wait six months. I predict the rate will Trumple.
MIA 0
Remember all those teabaggers who demonstrated against the Affordable Care Act carrying signs that said, “Hands off my Medicare”?
Those Who Forget History . . . . 0
Dick Polman has had it with the lionizing of Fidel Castro. Even granting, as I do, that the government he overthrew was rampant with corruption and Havana was a playground run by the American mafia, Castro has many faults and, especially in the early years, was quite the despot.
A snippet:
That advice was too much even for Khrushchev, who subsequently told Fidel in writing that government leaders can’t allow themselves to be “swept away by the popular feelings of hot-headed elements…If we had refused a reasonable arrangement with the U.S., a war would have left millions of dead and survivors would have blamed their leaders.”
Afterthought:
I remember the Cuban missile crisis, the press conferences on television, the pictures of missile carriers with their missiles at rest, the contemplation of death.
Yes, even kids understand death.
Manufacturing Dreams 2
The Las Vegas Sun takes a look at Donald Trump’s promise to bring back manufacturing jobs and concludes that’s it more flim-flam. A nugget:
There is no shortage of economic experts who say it’s a fantasy.
Why?
Because U.S. manufacturers already are producing a lot of goods. They’re just doing it with fewer people due to automation and other technological advancements in manufacturing processes.
Follow the link for much, much more.
Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go 0
Still well under 300k, despite Bloomberg’s scary headline (follow the link to see it).
(snip)
The four-week average of claims, a less-volatile measure than the weekly figure, declined to 251,000 — the lowest since the first week of October — from 253,000 in the prior week.
The number of people continuing to receive jobless benefits climbed by 60,000 to 2.04 million in the week ended Nov. 12. The unemployment rate among people eligible for benefits ticked up to 1.5 percent from 1.4 percent. These data are reported with a one-week lag.
Wait six months. The unemployment rate will Trumple.
Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go 0
Still not bad.
(snip)
The four-week average of claims, a less-volatile measure than the weekly figure, declined to 253,500 from 260,000 in the prior week.
The number of people continuing to receive jobless benefits dropped by 66,000 to 1.98 million in the week ended Nov. 5. The unemployment rate among people eligible for benefits fell to 1.4 percent from 1.5 percent. These data are reported with a one-week lag.
Wait six months.
“Laboratories of Democracy” 0
It is sometimes said that, in the U. S., states are the laboratories of democracy. Peter St. Onge suggests that, if that’s the case, take a look at North Carolina.
Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go 0
Still not bad.
(snip)
The four-week average of claims, a less-volatile measure than the weekly figure, ticked up to 259,750 from 258,000 in the prior week.
The number of people continuing to receive jobless benefits rose by 18,000 to 2.04 million in the week ended Oct. 29, while the four-week average dropped by 2,250. The unemployment rate among people eligible for benefits held at 1.5 percent.
Do not expect this trend to continue once voodoo economics again casts its spell.
Image via Job’s Anger.
Vote 0
My Daddy taught me that voting is not a right; it’s a duty.
Two thoughts:
1. Not voting is a vote, perversely, mayhap, but still a vote, a vote to abdicate your responsibility to care about your neighbors, your community, and your polity.
An election at whatever level of government is not about you. It’s about the polity. Abandon it, you abandon the polity.
2. Vote in the real world, because that’s the world where we live–vote not in a fantasy world where perfection is likely or even attainable.
If you choose to vote for someone who doesn’t have a chance of winning, you are choosing option #1, but just dressing it up in Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes to make it seem palatable, but it’s merely a seeming. Behind the seeming is cowardice, fear to take a stand that matters, fear, indeed, to matter.
Your vote is your opportunity to influence. Use it wisely.
Trickle-on Economics 0
Michael Hiltzik surveys the ruin:
Follow the link for details.
Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go 0
Still well under 300k.
(snip)
Filings for unemployment benefits have been below 300,000 for 87 straight weeks — the longest streak since 1970 and a level typical for a healthy labor market. . . . .
The four-week average of claims, a less-volatile measure than the weekly figure, increased to 257,750 from 253,000 in the prior week.
The number of people continuing to receive jobless benefits dropped by 14,000 to 2.03 million in the week ended Oct. 22.
Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go 0
Still not bad.
(snip)
The four-week average of claims, a less-volatile measure than the weekly figure, increased to 253,000 from 252,000 in the prior week.
The number of people continuing to receive jobless benefits dropped by 15,000 to 2.04 million in the week ended Oct. 15. The unemployment rate among people eligible for benefits held at 1.5 percent. These data are reported with a one-week lag.
The really big news, left implicit but unstated in Bloomberg’s story, is that Bloomberg’s experts got it right. Today’s the day I buy that lottery ticket!
Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go 0
Still well under 300k.
(snip)
The four-week average of claims, a less-volatile measure than the weekly figure, increased to 251,750 from 249,500 in the prior week.
The number of people continuing to receive jobless benefits rose by 7,000 to 2.06 million in the week ended Oct. 8. The unemployment rate among people eligible for benefits held at 1.5 percent. These data are reported with a one-week lag.
Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go 0
Still not bad (and certainly not Donald Trump’s hellscape):
Jobless claims were 246,000 in the period ended Oct. 8, unchanged from the previous week’s level, which was revised lower, a Labor Department report showed Thursday in Washington.
(snip)
The four-week average of claims, a less-volatile measure than the weekly figure, declined to 249,250 from 252,750 in the prior week.
The number of people continuing to receive jobless benefits fell by 16,000 to 2.05 million in the week ended Oct. 1, the lowest since June 2000. The unemployment rate among people eligible for benefits held at 1.5 percent.
Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go 0
The last time the number was this low, I was in grad school.
(snip)
The four-week average of claims, a less-volatile measure than the weekly figure, dropped to 253,500, the lowest since December 1973, from 256,000 in the prior week.
The number of people continuing to receive jobless benefits declined by 6,000 to 2.06 million in the week ended Sept. 24. The unemployment rate among people eligible for benefits held at 1.5 percent. These data are reported with a one-week lag.