US Economy Collapses Again – 4th Time in 4 years By: 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 virtual halt or actually declined. Four times in four years it has stalled out. So what’s going on?

In 2011, the U.S. economy collapsed to 0.1 percent in terms of annual growth rate. At the end of 2012, to a mere 0.2 percent initial decline. In early 2014, it actually declined by -2.2 percent.

And now in 2015, it is essentially flat once again at 0.2 percent. The numbers are actually even worse, if one discounts the redefinitions of GDP that were made by the US in 2013, counting new categories as contributing to growth, like R&D spending, that for decades were not considered contributors to growth – in effect creating economic growth by statistical manipulation. Those highly questionable 2013 definitional additions to growth added around US$500 billion a year to U.S. growth estimates, or about 0.3 percent of U.S. GDP. Back those redefinitions out, and the U.S. experienced negative GDP four times in the last four years. We get -0.2 percent in 2011, 0 percent in 2012, -2.5 percent in 2014 and -0.1 percent earlier this year.

It is therefore arguable that the U.S. has also experienced at least one mild ‘double dip’ recession, and perhaps two, since 2010.

Economic Update – Profit-Driven Capitalism – 05.17.15

In this edition of Economic Update, we look at Verizon’s purchase of AOL, why Facebook’s “contribution” to ending inequality falls so short, how latest $$ gift to Yale increases inequality, how UK elections reflect “scapegoat economics, and why deadly Mediterranean migrations reflect capitalism’s globally uneven development. We also respond to listener questions on (1) Americans’ attitudes toward income and wealth inequality by our analysis of recent Gallup Polls and (2) whether student debts can lead to reduced Social Security benefits and what that means. This edition’s major discussions (1) build on “sharing unemployment” to show how we can combine respect for our natural environment with a fair sharing of the leisure that could result, and (2) analyze the significance of recent guilty pleas by major banks for manipulating currency exchange rates for their private profit.

Alternative Visions – US Economy Stalls Again-4th Time in 4 years! – 05.01.15

Dr. Jack Rasmus analyzes US 1st Quarter GDP numbers, where US economic growth flattened out to a mere 0.2%–the fourth such collapse in the US economy in as many years. Is it due to the weather, as some argue? Is there something wrong with US statistics, showing four collapses since 2009 all occurring in the winter? Or are there real economic explanations for why the US economy periodically surges in the summer then stalls out in the winter, as it has since 2011? Will this winter 2015’s stall be followed by another ‘temporary surge’ in growth this summer?

How the Rich Get Richer by: Jack Rasmus

Since the official end of the last recession in June 2009, the wealthiest 1% households in the U.S. have captured 91% of all the net income gains, according to university studies based on US income tax records. At the same time, median family real incomes have consistently fallen 1%-2% every year since 2009 in the US—and that’s at the median …

Economic Update – Capitalism and War – 04.26.15

Updates on UK elections, crisis’s long-term effects, Kansas demonizes the poor, and the mustard-ketchup economic war. Responses to listeners on child-support economics and car production moving to Mexico. Major discussions: capitalism and war – a history, new stages of Cuban socialism and US Cuba-policy, the high stakes of Greece’s economic situation.

It’s Our Money with Ellen Brown – Next! – 04.22.15

In the world of monetary reformists, there’s a clear understanding that things not only shouldn’t continue as they are, they can’t continue as they are – that systemic failure is upon us as current social and political outcomes tear at the fabric of civil life. Ellen speaks with Gar Alperovitz, one of America’s most venerable reformist thinkers and policy experts, about his new “The Next System Project” to help design and precipitate what should happen next.