Economy

United States is Now the Most Unequal of All Industrialized Nations

July 28, 2012

Jon Stewart spoke with Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz about how the extreme concentration of wealth in the hands of a few plutocrats is destroying the very principles upon which our country was founded:
“It seems like people are not angry at wealth or success, they get frustrated by what appears to be an entirely different set of rules put in place by the wealthy, who then say: ‘Hey man, I’m just playing by the rules’, as though those rules were an arbitrary design of the free market.”

Sure, in My Backyard (SIMBY): The Toxic Politics of Ship-dismantling

July 24, 2012

The Exxon-Valdez is in the news again — this controversial ship is set to be disassembled, and its scheduled dismantling is bringing light to important issues such as how to preserve the health of workers and how to protect the environment from the ships toxic elements.

Global Elites Hide Trillions in Secret Offshore Economy Each Year

July 23, 2012

A new report has been published which compiles detailed information about the enormous amount of money that is being hidden by billionaires in offshore accounts. The research, The Price of Offshore Revisited, shows that over 21 trillion dollars, more than the total combined GDPs of both the United States and Japan, are being sequestered out of sight into the legally murky offshore economy. The super elite are using every available resource to exploit loopholes in cross-border tax rules to avoid paying their fair share.

LIBOR Scandal Exposes Systematic Corruption throughout Banking Industry

July 21, 2012

The most egregious criminal financial fraud of all time is now unfolding before our eyes. A handful of corrupt banks have been intentionally manipulating global interest rates, also known as LIBOR, which stands for London Interbank Offered Rate. When it is not being illegally twisted by bankers for their own monetary gain, LIBOR is meant to gauge the average interest rate that banks charge each other to borrow money. The measure is also used as the basis for nearly all other lending rates, from what we pay for student loans to home mortgages.

How to Turn an Illegal Garbage Dump into a Local Fresh Food Hub

July 17, 2012

A polluted 28 acre site in New York was once a massive illegal dump, but has now been cleaned up and transformed into a local food hub distribution center.

For-Profit Probation Services are Jailing People for Being Poor

July 6, 2012

As our nation’s economy continues to flounder, an increasing number of municipalities are incarcerating people who can not afford to pay for tickets and misdemeanor fines. Some regions have turned over government services, such as probation, to private for-profit companies. Their court systems are attempting to raise income by imprisoning the most vulnerable — trying to balance their budgets on the backs of the poorest and most disenfranchised people in our society.

Streetbank Makes Sharing with Your Neighbors Easy

June 19, 2012

Streetbank is a free website that helps you to more easily share and borrow things or skills from your neighbors. It connects you to a local network of other people who are also interested in lending, sharing their abilities and building regional community — it is meant for anyone to use for free, and is specifically not about making money or a profit, or for any professionals to sell their services. It exists simply to help promote the common good.

Money is Fiction: Working to End the Monetary System

June 3, 2012

Imagine a world where money does not exist; it’s not difficult, if you try. Money itself is useless — you can not eat a twenty-dollar bill sandwich, or live in a house constructed entirely of silver dollars — all that we need are the things that money can buy for us. Now is the time to re-imagine how our lives would look without wages, debt, interest or any form of money.

Explore Important Media’s Weekly Link Party

May 15, 2012

Each week the Important Media blog collective features a list of featured articles from across our diverse network, including interesting posts from Eat Drink Better, Green Building Elements, Crafting a Green World, CleanTechnica and Planetsave. Please take a moment to read some of this week’s highlighted articles, and you might learn something new.

Maddow & Krugman Explain Link between Wealth Disparity & Economic Disaster

May 2, 2012

Paul Krugman, the Nobel prize winning economist and author of the new book, End This Depression Now!, spoke with Rachel Maddow about the direct correlation between expanding income inequality and the increasingly divisive political polarization present in the United States. The wealth disparity between the rich and poor has been historically shown to greatly increase just prior to a severe economic crisis, as it did before the Great Depression; and the wealth gap in our country has never been as extreme as it is right now.

Richest 1% Continue to Fuel Even Greater Income Inequality in U.S.

March 21, 2012

The United States is becoming an increasingly severely stratified plutocracy. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities just released a new study proving that the richest 1% are continuing to amass greater and greater amounts of wealth, while the rest of the population is still struggling financially.

Student Loan Forgiveness Act Introduced into Congress by Hansen Clarke

March 10, 2012

This week Michigan Representative Hansen Clarke introduced the Student Loan Forgiveness Act, HR4170, into Congress. Hansen’s proposed bill will allow for all student loans to be forgiven if the borrower can make payments equivalent to 10% of their discretionary income for 10 years. After that point in time, the entire remaining balance of their federal student loan debt would then be expunged.

Sacred Economics: Money is a Societal Construct with No Inherent Meaning

March 1, 2012

My sustainable economics reading group recently finished Charles Eisenstein’s seminal book, “Sacred Economics: Money, Gift and Society in the Age of Transition”. Everyone should read this amazing book. The text is very accessible, engrossing and compelling; the concepts that it raises may radically change how you perceive the concept of money, community, scarcity, the world that we live in, and your own personal identity.

Ujamaa: Cooperative Economics on the Fourth Day of Kwanzaa

December 29, 2011

Today is the fourth day of the Kwanzaa season, when we all join to celebrate the principle of Ujamaa, focusing on the important economic benefits garnered from working together. The principle highlighted on today’s holiday encourages people to seize the means of production and create our own new innovative community based business models.