You may recall how in 2013 — and then again in 2015 — President Obama tried to give his economic vision a snazzy name, something to compete with “trickle-down economics” in terms of memorability and pith. What he came up with, and has stuck with since, is “middle-out economics,” or sometimes “middle-class economics,” which is supposed to communicate his and …
GDP Is An Insufficient Measure Of True Economic Growth By Luis Miranda
Economic growth has bee at zero percent or lower for two or three years in a row in most of the western world. Cooked government numbers say that most so-called western powers have grown at 0.2% and that the recession that began in 2009 is over. In Europe, the Spanish government has been short of organizing a parade, because according …
Why the TPP Is a Terrible Deal for Most Americans – Rep. John Conyers
Earlier this year, former Florida governor Jeb Bush travelled to my hometown of Detroit to explain his political philosophy. In a speech before local business leaders, Bush argued that the aim of government should be to promote “economic growth above all.” “If a law or a rule doesn’t contribute to growth,” he asked, “why do it?” If a law subtracts …
OECD report: Global social inequality hits new record – Gabriel Black
Income inequality in many developed countries has reached an all-time high, according to a report released Thursday by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The report also notes that growth of social inequality has been accompanied by the growth of part-time and contingent labor, particularly for younger workers. The wealthiest tenth of the population in OECD member countries now earn …
Growing Global Inequality Gap ‘Has Reached a Tipping Point’ – Nadia Prupis
With the gap between the rich and poor growing worldwide, a new study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) published Thursday suggests that the only way to reverse such rampant inequality is by implementing government measures aimed at balancing the playing field Chief among those measures: Tax the rich and push for gender equality. In its 34 …
Wall Street Just Got More Pessimistic About the U.S. Economy. Will the Fed Follow Suit? – Matthew Boesler Catarina Saraiva
Federal Reserve officials will probably cut their forecasts for economic growth when they gather again next month, though not enough to deter their intent to raise interest rates later this year. The median respondent to a survey of 79 economists conducted by Bloomberg from May 8 to May 13 said U.S. gross domestic product would grow 2.3 percent in the final quarter of 2015 …
US Economy Collapses Again – JACK RASMUS
Data released last week by the U.S. government showed the U.S. economy came to a near halt in the first three months of 2015, falling to nearly zero – i.e. a mere 0.2 percent annual growth rate for the January-March quarter. The collapse was the fourth time that the U.S. economy in the past four years either came to a …
Economic Disinformation Keeps Financial Markets Up – Paul Craig Roberts
Today’s payroll jobs report is more of the same. The Bureau of Labor Statistics claims that 223,000 new jobs were created in April. Let’s accept the claim and see where the jobs are. Specialty trade contractors are credited with 41,000 jobs equally split between residential and nonresidential. I believe these are home and building repairs and remodeling. The rest of …
Refugee Numbers Break New Record With ‘Millions Trapped in Conflict Zones’ – THOMAS ADAMS
The United States war mongering, supported by Israel, are responsible for all these displacements of peoples; you can take that to the Bank. Please! why does everyone refuse to see the wood in the trees? There is one, and only one, cause of all our economic woes. During the early 1900’s our stupid/corrupt politicians signed away our Sovereign “rights” , …
Could Fracking Spark a Modern-Day Dust Bowl? – Tim Radford
Oil wells and natural gas may have made individual Americans rich, but they have impoverished the great plains of North America, according to new research. Fossil fuel prospectors have sunk 50,000 new wells a year since 2000 in three Canadian provinces and 11 U.S. states, and have damaged the foundation of all economic growth: net primary production—otherwise known as biomass, or …