Archive for June, 2008
Repackaging Globalization
The 15th World Congress of the International Economic Association (IEA) kicked off a five day convention yesterday, June 25th, entitled “The Challenge of Globalization.” Guillermo Calvo, President of the IEA, welcomed the participants by placing emphasis on the importance of the congress: “The IEA World Congress offers an ideal setup to discuss globalization issues because ...Read more.
Cousin ♥ NY Landlord
We received a long and interesting comment about our recent post, Scenes from the Class Struggle in the East Village, from a close relative of the landlord who is trying to turn the five-story tenement he owns into an 11,000-square-foot mansion. We initially posted the comment in full, but our, um, legal department is worried ...Read more.
Sexy Comrades and the City
This hilarious item is from MRZine: Sex sans the City (A Post-Marxist Preview) by Susie Day Many capitalist roaders say the Left is out of touch with popular culture. Well, I say NYET to that! Here, for instance, is an episode of Sex and the City that I translated for my Marxist-Leninist study group, so ...Read more.
Scenes from the Class Struggle in the East Village
The New York Times recently ran a story about a New York landlord, Alistair Economakis, who is trying to convert the five-story East Village tenement he owns into an 11,000-square-foot mansion for himself and his family. The building formerly housed fifteen rent-stabilized apartments, whose rents ranged from $675 to $1200 per month. So far Economakis ...Read more.
Elasticity! Why cutting gas taxes won’t lower prices, but will fatten oil companies
When Clinton and McCain proposed cutting gas taxes, I asked my environmental economics students, “So how much do you think drivers will save?” The students diligently Googled the numbers. “Well,” said one, “the federal gas tax is 18.4 cents and the average state tax is 28.6 cents, so that’s 47 cents a gallon drivers will ...Read more.
EPI urges immediate action on unemployment benefits extension
A press release from the Economic Policy Institute: This morning, EPI Vice President Ross Eisenbrey issued the following statement on pending legislation to extend unemployment benefits: “For months, as the nation’s economy has deteriorated, members of Congress have tried and failed to push through a common-sense extension of unemployment insurance benefits. Now there is another ...Read more.
Labour as a "Limited Liability Party"?!
Excerpts from a recent article from the New Statesman, about one proposal for how Britain’s Labour Party can deal with its financial woes: The party’s impending insolvency is beginning to concentrate minds, not least those of a group of previously Labour-friendly businessmen, who can spot a bargain when they see one. The New Statesman has ...Read more.
Race, Ethnicity, and the Subprime Mortgage Crisis
Presented by EPI’s Program on Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy Thursday, June 12, 2008Registration 2:30 pmProgram 3:00-5:00 pm Economic Policy Institute1333 H Street, NW, Suite 300, East TowerWashington, D.C. 20005[RSVP below] Moderated byDR. ALGERNON AUSTINDirector of the Program on Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy with presentations by GRACIELA APONTENational Council of LaRaza DEBBIE BOCIANCenter for ...Read more.
Ed McMahon May Lose Beverly Hills Home
From yesterday’s Wall Street Journal; hat tip to Doug Henwood of the Left Business Observer and lbo-talk. By JAMES R. HAGERTY and GLENN R. SIMPSON Ed McMahon, the longtime sidekick to television star Johnny Carson,faces the possible loss of his Beverly Hills home to a foreclosureaction initiated by a unit of Countrywide Financial Corp. Howard ...Read more.
As homes foreclose in U.S., squatters move in
This is from Reuters: By Jason Szep BROCKTON, Massachusetts (Reuters) – They enter through a broken first-floor window each night to sleep on a moldy bed in the abandoned four-family house at 827 Main Street, part of a new generation of squatters emboldened by America’s housing foreclosure crisis. “For squatters, foreclosed homes like this are ...Read more.
