Subscribe to Dollars & Sense magazine. Recent articles related to the financial crisis. Online Course on the Crisis (UMass/CPE)We just received this from the folks at the Center for Popular Economics:If you have ever asked yourself...
...then this course is for you! The Economic Crisis and the Case for a Solidarity Economy An Online Course offered by the Center for Popular Economics Summer Session I (June 1 - July 9, 2009) Course Fee: $900 for THREE Univ. of Massachusetts Credits or $400 for non-credit students. 40-60 Professional Development Points (in MA) or 3.6 Continuing Education Credits (outside MA) available. Limited scholarships available for non-credit students. The Center for Popular Economics, in collaboration with the Forum on Social Wealth and the Political Economy Research Institute at Univ. of Massachusetts, Amherst is offering a special topics 3-credit online course (Econ 197) this Summer. The course runs from Monday, June 1st till Thursday July 9th. No background in Economics is required. The course is suited for students as well as activists and community members who want to learn more about the current economic crises, its causes and its solutions. Click here for more information. You can also contact Amit Basole at abasole[ @ ]gmail.com or Emily Kawano at emily[ @ ]populareconomics.org for more details. Overview: The current economics crisis has once again raised the question with great urgency: what purpose do we want our economy to fulfill? Is it fulfilling this purpose today? If not, what can we do about it? In this course we will place special emphasis on the ongoing economic and financial crisis and its long-term and short-term causes and consequences. We will also discuss various alternative economic models rooted in principles of economic democracy, cooperation and sustainability. Finally, we will talk about a vast store of wealth that communities everywhere possess and on which they can draw for constructing alternatives. The course is comprised of two main parts. Part One takes a look at how 30 years of neoliberal economic policy created the conditions for the present crisis, which threatens to be the most severe since the Great Depression. Falling or stagnant wages for the majority of Americans, rising and unsustainable levels of debt in the economy, and a poorly regulated financial sector all played a part in precipitating the crisis. We will also go beyond the crisis and attempt fo understand how our economic model has allowed unprecedented accumulation of wealth by a few and while bringing low wages, longer work hours, and rising healthcare and education costs for the many, in addition to a deterioration of our natural and social environment. We start with a look at the historical roots of neoliberalism and then try to understand the economics behind it. In Part Two, we will talk about how some of the things that we saw going wrong in Part One can be set right. Building a just economy that is not prone to repeated crises depends on the efforts we make. In the midst of growing inequality and corporate power, many grassroots economic alternatives have been springing up throughout the U.S. as well as the rest of the world. This is the new "Solidarity Economy." Grounded in principles of economic democracy, social solidarity, cooperation, egalitarianism, and sustainability, this is an alternative to the Neoliberal vision of the economy. In this part of the course we will look at some examples of such alternatives, including alternatives to the current financial system, as well as understand the economics behind them. We will also see how an economy organized around solidarity principles can tap into reservoirs of social wealth, assets that all communities possess; our cultural and ecological commons and our capacity to work for those we care. Labels: Center for Popular Economics, financial crisis, recession, solidarity economics Please consider donating to Dollars & Sense and/or subscribing to the magazine (both print and e-subscriptions now available!). The People's Agenda (NYC event)Linda Pinkow and I (Chris Sturr) have been out in Amherst, Mass. for the Forum on the Solidarity Economy, which has been great, and inspiring. It has been great to see lots of comrades and meet new ones. We will aim to blog about it more extensively early this week.Below is an announcement for an event to be held next week. One or the other of the hosts of this event, Mimi Rosenberg and Ken Nash (hosts of Building Bridges on WBAI) will be part of the panel we have put together for this year's Left Forum, along with one or the other of the D&S co-editors (me or Amy Gluckman), Jerry Friedman (UMass-Amherst economist and D&S author, with whom we had a great chat over coffee yesterday), and Cecilia Rio, of Towson University and the Center for Popular Economics. But here's that annoucement—looks like a great event: WBAI Radio and the New York Society for Ethical Culture present The People’s Agenda: Working For An Economy By The People, For The People! Produced by WBAI’s Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor Report Hosted by Mimi Rosenberg and Ken Nash Wednesday, April 1, 2009, 7:00 – 9:30 PM (doors open at 6:30pm) NY Society for Ethical Culture, 2 W. 64th St (at Central Park West) An examination of the present crisis of capitalism and peoples’ demands that the road to economic recovery lies in directly increasing their living standard and abandoning trickle down economics. In the words of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. who gave his life fighting for the rights of the Memphis sanitation workers and for a poor people’s movement for economic rights, "A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth…and say: 'This is not just.'" The program (partial list): . Ajamu Sankofa, Private Health Insurance Must Go Coalition . Lillian Roberts, Ex. Dir. DC 37, American Federation of State County & Municipal Employees (AFSCME) . video message from U.S. Representative Dennis Kucinich . Dean Baker, Co-Director, Center for Economic and Policy Research; author of Plunder and Blunder: The Rise and Fall of the Bubble Economy . Stanley Aronowitz, Prof. of Sociology, & Urban Education, CUNY Graduate Center; author of Left Turn: Forging a New Political Future ; University Wide Officer, Professional Staff Congress, AFT . Representatives of the April 3 and 4 marches on Wall Street Coalitions . presenters from housing and community service coalitions Suggested donation $10, (no one will be turned away) To Benefit for WBAI and the NY Society for Ethical Culture Further information: buildingbridgesradio--at--gmail.com Labels: bailout, Center for Popular Economics, financial crisis, Left Forum, WBAI Please consider donating to Dollars & Sense and/or subscribing to the magazine (both print and e-subscriptions now available!). Banks Rob People (Jim Crotty)This is from Jim Crotty of the UMass-Amherst econ department and the Center for Popular Economics (who has written for D&S a number of times over the years). It is from a few days ago, but still timely and interesting.The Great Switch: Banks Rob People Professor Jim Crotty Dept. of Economics, UMass, Amherst and Center for Popular Economics September 24, 2008 The US government is on the verge of making an unprecedented financial commitment, likely to cost $700 billion, to buy the bad securities held by large US and foreign financial institutions. Having driven our economy to the edge of financial destruction, the Lords of Finance now want the public to put up the money needed to save them and their firms from collapse. Maybe men don’t bite dogs, but banks do rob people. Read the rest of the article. Labels: bailout, Center for Popular Economics, financial crisis, Henry Paulson Please consider donating to Dollars & Sense and/or subscribing to the magazine (both print and e-subscriptions now available!). Jim Crotty on Market MeltdownHat-tip to Emily Kawano of the Center for Popular Economics for this item:"Market Meltdown": Listen to an interview with Professor Jim Crotty, Center for Popular Economics and Econ. Dept., UMass. Amherst. Great interview with Jim on the financial meltdown, what caused it, a historical perspective, and what should be done. Short and extended versions available. Blog: Corporate Watchdog Radio Post: Market Meltdown Labels: Center for Popular Economics, financial crisis, Jim Crotty Please consider donating to Dollars & Sense and/or subscribing to the magazine (both print and e-subscriptions now available!). |
