High profits, low taxes

We now live in a country in which corporations make extraordinary profits and spend more to remunerate their CEOs and to engage in lobbying than they pay in federal taxes. source That’s the conclusion of a new report by the Institute for Policy Studies, “Executive Excess 2011″ [pdf]. Guns don’t kill people, the old saw [...]

The incredible shrinking government

source As I’ve explained before, during the Great Depression of the 1930s, the Works Progress Administration provided paid jobs for millions of unemployed men and women. Private capitalism couldn’t or wouldn’t generate enough jobs to keep the jobless ranks from swelling. Therefore, the state had to step in, in the form of the New Deal, [...]

The sorry state of mainstream economics

The usual argument is that mainstream economists, because they do science, hold the key to unlocking the gates of economic knowledge. Therefore, all of other economic theories—nonmainstream, heterodox economics—can be ignored or eliminated from the discipline. Well, to judge by the recent 4th Nobel Laureate Meeting in Lindau, Germany, mainstream economics is in a pretty [...]

Public art of the day

Robbie Conal

Cartoon of the day

Stories of Vermont

There are many stories emerging from the ongoing disaster in Vermont in the wake of Tropical Storm Irene. Here’s another of them: In Rochester: The White River washed away the town’s electric substation, cutting off power at about 3 p.m. Sunday. A mountain brook at the north end of the village turned into a torrent [...]

Stories of Vermont

There are many stories emerging from the ongoing disaster in Vermont in the wake of Tropical Storm Irene. Here’s one of them: Eric Cantor: Eric Cantor, the No. 2 House Republican, is pressing for budget cuts to cover the cost of cleaning up after Hurricane Irene and other disasters. . . “Those monies” for responding [...]

State of the day

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New Orleans—contested city

Six years after the federal levees failed and 80 percent of the city was flooded, the battle for New Orleans continues. Jordan Flaherty explains what has been happening: New Orleans has lost 80,000 jobs and 110,000 residents. It is a whiter and wealthier city, with tourist areas well maintained while communities like the Lower Ninth Ward [...]

Cartoon of the day

Special mention