April 7th, 2013 at 11:18AM
At the moment, probably the most pressing need is simply to slow down the engines of productivity. This might seem a strange thing to say—our knee-jerk reaction to every crisis is to assume the solution is for everyone to work even more, though of course, this kind of reaction is really precisely the problem—but if you consider the overall state of the world, the conclusion becomes obvious. We seem to be facing two insoluble problems. On the one hand, we have witnessed an endless series of global debt crises, which have grown only more and more severe since the seventies, to the point where the overall burden of debt—sovereign, municipal, corporate, personal—is obviously unsustainable. On the other, we have an ecological crisis, a galloping process of climate change that is threatening to throw the entire planet into drought, floods, chaos, starvation, and war. The two might seem unrelated. But ultimately they are the same. What is debt, after all, but the promise of future productivity? Saying that global debt levels keep rising is simply another way of saying that, as a collectivity, human beings are promising each other to produce an even greater volume of goods and services in the future than they are creating now. But even current levels are clearly unsustainable. They are precisely what’s destroying the planet, at an ever-increasing pace. —

A Practical Utopian’s Guide to the Coming Collapse

David Graeber

(via bostonreview)
241 notes Source: bostonreview #economics
December 12th, 2012 at 11:42AM

theatlantic:

A Giant Statistical Round-up of the Income Inequality Crisis in 16 Charts

Too see the other 14 charts, click here.

[Images: EPI]

399 notes Source: The Atlantic #income inequality#economics
December 11th, 2012 at 8:30AM
Robert Reich: As Washington Fiddles over the Fiscal Cliff, the Real Battle Over Inequality Is Happening in the Heartland

robertreich:

Washington has a way of focusing the nation’s attention on tactical games over partisan maneuvers that are symptoms of a few really big problems. But we almost never get to debate or even discuss the big problems because the tactical games overwhelm everything else.

The debate over the…
119 notes Source: robertreich #economics#politics
December 10th, 2012 at 1:03PM
Wait — are we really back to talking about capital versus labor? Isn’t that an old-fashioned, almost Marxist sort of discussion, out of date in our modern information economy? Well, that’s what many people thought; for the past generation discussions of inequality have focused overwhelmingly not on capital versus labor but on distributional issues between workers, either on the gap between more- and less-educated workers or on the soaring incomes of a handful of superstars in finance and other fields. But that may be yesterday’s story. — Paul Krugman reviving Marx in today’s column (via bostonreview)
10 notes Source: bostonreview #economics
October 5th, 2012 at 9:09AM

This morning, Romney is a 2-1 dog to win the election. I wonder what impact the jobs report will have.

#politics#economics#Election2012
August 29th, 2012 at 7:22PM
emergentfutures: Unilever sees ‘return to poverty’ in Europe Unilever will adopt marketing strategies used in developing countries in order to drive future growth in Europe, as the head of its European business warned that poverty will rise in the region as a result of the debt crisis. Full Story: the Telegraph

emergentfutures:

Unilever sees ‘return to poverty’ in Europe

Unilever will adopt marketing strategies used in developing countries in order to drive future growth in Europe, as the head of its European business warned that poverty will rise in the region as a result of the debt crisis.

Full Story: the Telegraph

13 notes Source: emergentfutures #economics
August 7th, 2012 at 5:48AM
tobiasmar: I would have expected the Mars mission to be slightly more.

tobiasmar:

I would have expected the Mars mission to be slightly more.

(via tobiasmar-deactivated20121011)

3,104 notes Source: luminousenchiladas #Economics
July 31st, 2012 at 12:38PM
untitled-mag: If US land were divided like US wealth Isn’t that red dot Galveston?

untitled-mag:

If US land were divided like US wealth

Isn’t that red dot Galveston?

3,067 notes Source: azspot #Economics
June 9th, 2012 at 12:39PM
All the world is watching. The pressure is on.

All the world is watching. The pressure is on.

1 note #Economics
May 15th, 2012 at 12:59PM
planetmoney: Of each dollar the federal government spends, how much goes to defense? How much goes to Social Security? How much goes to interest on the debt? And how has this sort of thing changed over time? This graphic answers these questions. It shows the major components of federal spending 50 years ago, 25 years ago, and last year.  Read more here.

planetmoney:

Of each dollar the federal government spends, how much goes to defense? How much goes to Social Security? How much goes to interest on the debt? And how has this sort of thing changed over time?

This graphic answers these questions. It shows the major components of federal spending 50 years ago, 25 years ago, and last year. 

Read more here.

(via npr)

435 notes Source: planetmoney #Economics