Updates on major capitalist failures, buying senators on health care, opioid addiction’s effects on insurance and on labor force participation, price gouging in emergencies, and US income inequality. Major discussion on 100th anniversary of Russian Revolution in 1917: lessons of USSR economic history for 21st century socialism. Download this episode (right click and save)
Drake Baer – What Happens When You Give Free Money to Poor People
Finland, the country that gave the world the sauna, is now experimenting with another act of radical generosity. On January 1, it became the first European country to give unemployed citizens a “basic income” — a no-strings-attached monthly payment meant to cover the basic costs of living. The Guardian reports that it will be a two-year trial of 2,000 Finns …
IMF Report Admits IMF’s Obsession with Capitalism Is Killing Prosperity – Jon Queally
In light of how the International Monetary Fund has spent most of its existence parading around the world telling governments to make their economies more friendly for multinational corporations by suppressing wages, restricting pensions, liberalizing industries, and more or less advocating they ignore the popular will of workers and the less fortunate—all in the name of market capitalism and endless …
Alternative Visions – How the Rich Get Richer in America – 04.25.15
Jack Rasmus discusses the recent report that the wealthiest 1%, who own most of the stock in US corporations, will receive more than $1 trillion in stock buybacks and dividend payouts in 2015. Buybacks-dividends delivered $3.8 trillion since the end of the recession in 2009, with another trillion coming this year.
IMF: Weaker Unions = Higher CEO Pay
As labor unions have declined in most countries around the world, CEO paychecks have ballooned. And that’s not just a coincidence, according to new research from the International Monetary Fund. In the latest issue of the IMF’s Finance & Development journal, researchers Florence Jaumotte and Carolina Osorio Buitron give a preview of their forthcoming study on the links between unionization rates and …