Hope and Ka-ching

Finance, as Martin sees it, is the key to getting significant control of wealth into workers’ hands. “There is this myth of capitalism that says that the 1 percent invest productively, but the fact is, we don’t need them,” Martin explains. “They said, ‘If you don’t bail us out, there won’t be jobs.’ But their aim isn’t to ... Read more

The Real ‘Real’ GDP

This past Friday, May 30, 2014, the US government released its revised estimates for the first quarter 2014 US Gross Domestic Product. The initial April estimate of GDP for the first quarter showed the US economy stagnating, at only a 0.1% growth rate. Last week’s revised data showed, however, a significant further downward ... Read more

The Real U.S. Crisis Is Not a Debt Downgrade but a Growth Crisis

By Simon Johnson Bloomberg, August 14, 2011 The U.S. has a fiscal crisis, but not the one that everyone is talking about. Standard and Poor’s proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the U.S. still has the world’s preeminent reserve currency. When shocks hit — and investors ... Read more