Download or read book America at the Precipice Restoring the Plummeting Middle Class Standard of Living written by Gary R. Patterson and published by . This book was released on 2014-07-21 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Neither political party has been able to stem the plummeting fall in the Middle Class Standard of Living that has occurred since the Economic Meltdown of 2008. Moreover, in recent years, the average 1%-2% annual Cost of Living Index (CPI) calculated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics only belies, masks and understates the frightful upsurge in the dominant CPI Index cost components of Health Care, College Tuition, Energy, as well as Federal income tax hikes, which have economically devastated Middle Class Americans over the last five years. Innovative, yet pragmatic and equitable solutions must be formulated to not just stem the rise of these four major CPI cost factors, but go beyond and strive to achieve justifiable, permanent "rollbacks" and cost decreases as well. Together these four specific CPI cost factors have incrementally contributed to an actual, staggering 19% plunge in the American Middle Class Standard of Living just since 2009. And, even though Barack Obama, as President, has presided over this precipitous Middle Class economic decline, alternatively, the Republican Party has, for years, been successfully portrayed by Democrats as being "tone deaf" and indifferent to the plight of Middle Class America. Rightly or wrongly, perceived as primarily safeguarding the financial interests of the Wealthy, the GOP is further regarded by many as failing 1) to elevate and give priority emphasis to the dire economic straits that the Middle Class in America is currently facing and 2) to pro-actively devise specific common sense and apolitical solutions (as presented herein) that are, indeed, justifiably equitable and meant to rectify and justly remediate the disproportionate economic burden that Middle Class Americans have been relegated to endure. Unless and until the Republican Party is perceived as pro-actively adopting a Middle Class priority emphasis, it will continue to struggle to alter its elitest perception in the minds of a wide swath of Middle Class an

Download or read book Bobos in Paradise written by David Brooks and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2010-05-11 with total page 361 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In his bestselling work of “comic sociology,” David Brooks coins a new word, Bobo, to describe today’s upper class—those who have wed the bourgeois world of capitalist enterprise to the hippie values of the bohemian counterculture. Their hybrid lifestyle is the atmosphere we breathe, and in this witty and serious look at the cultural consequences of the information age, Brooks has defined a new generation. Do you believe that spending $15,000 on a media center is vulgar, but that spending $15,000 on a slate shower stall is a sign that you are at one with the Zenlike rhythms of nature? Do you work for one of those visionary software companies where people come to work wearing hiking boots and glacier glasses, as if a wall of ice were about to come sliding through the parking lot? If so, you might be a Bobo.

Download or read book The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report written by Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission and published by Cosimo, Inc.. This book was released on 2011-05-01 with total page 692 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report, published by the U.S. Government and the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission in early 2011, is the official government report on the United States financial collapse and the review of major financial institutions that bankrupted and failed, or would have without help from the government. The commission and the report were implemented after Congress passed an act in 2009 to review and prevent fraudulent activity. The report details, among other things, the periods before, during, and after the crisis, what led up to it, and analyses of subprime mortgage lending, credit expansion and banking policies, the collapse of companies like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the federal bailouts of Lehman and AIG. It also discusses the aftermath of the fallout and our current state. This report should be of interest to anyone concerned about the financial situation in the U.S. and around the world.THE FINANCIAL CRISIS INQUIRY COMMISSION is an independent, bi-partisan, government-appointed panel of 10 people that was created to "examine the causes, domestic and global, of the current financial and economic crisis in the United States." It was established as part of the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act of 2009. The commission consisted of private citizens with expertise in economics and finance, banking, housing, market regulation, and consumer protection. They examined and reported on "the collapse of major financial institutions that failed or would have failed if not for exceptional assistance from the government."News Dissector DANNY SCHECHTER is a journalist, blogger and filmmaker. He has been reporting on economic crises since the 1980's when he was with ABC News. His film In Debt We Trust warned of the economic meltdown in 2006. He has since written three books on the subject including Plunder: Investigating Our Economic Calamity (Cosimo Books, 2008), and The Crime Of Our Time: Why Wall Street Is Not Too Big to Jail (Disinfo Books, 2011), a companion to his latest film Plunder The Crime Of Our Time. He can be reached online at www.newsdissector.com.

Download or read book The Global Financial Crisis and Its Aftermath written by A. G. Malliaris and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2016 with total page 521 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Introduction -- The global financial crisis of 2007-09 : an overview of neglected ideas from economics, psychology, and values / A.G. Malliaris, Leslie Shaw, and Hersh Shefrin -- The global financial crisis of 2007-09 and economics -- From asset price bubbles to liquidity traps / A.G. Malliaris -- A minsky meltdown: lessons for central bankers / Janet Yellen -- Modeling financial instability / Steve Keen -- Assessing the contribution of hyman minsky's perspective to our understanding of economic instability / Hersh Shefrin -- The Great Recession of 2008-09 and its impact on unemployment / John Silvia -- Mathematical definition, mapping, and detection of (anti)fragility / Nassim Taleb and Rafael Douady -- The global financial crisis of 2007-09 and psychology -- The varieties of incentive experience / Robert Kolb -- Goals and the organization of choice under risk in both the long run and the short run / Lola Lopes -- Topology of greed and fear / Graciela Chichilnisky -- A sustainable understanding of instability in minds and in markets / Leslie Shaw -- Existence of monopoly in the stock market : a model of information-based manipulation / Viktoria Dalko, Lawrence R. Klein, S. Prakash Sethi, and Michael Wang -- Crisis of authority / Werner DeBondt -- Social structure, power, and financial fraud / Brooke Harrington -- The global financial crisis of 2007-09 and values -- Economics, self psychology, and ethics : why modern economic persons cheat and how self psychology can provide the basis for a trustworthy economic world / John Riker -- Finance professionals in the market for status / Meir Statman -- Why risk management failed: ethical and behavioral explanations / John Boatright -- The global financial crisis and social justice : the crisis seen through the lens of Catholic social doctrine / Paul Fitzgerald, S.J -- The moral benefits of financial crises: a virtue ethics perspective / John Dobson -- Three ethical dimensions of the financial crisis / Antonio Argandonan -- Epilogue -- Lessons for future financial stability / A.G. Malliaris, Leslie Shaw, and Hersh Shefrin

Download or read book Manufacturing a Better Future for America written by Richard McCormack and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Precipice written by Toby Ord and published by Hachette Books. This book was released on 2020-03-24 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This urgent and eye-opening book makes the case that protecting humanity's future is the central challenge of our time. If all goes well, human history is just beginning. Our species could survive for billions of years - enough time to end disease, poverty, and injustice, and to flourish in ways unimaginable today. But this vast future is at risk. With the advent of nuclear weapons, humanity entered a new age, where we face existential catastrophes - those from which we could never come back. Since then, these dangers have only multiplied, from climate change to engineered pathogens and artificial intelligence. If we do not act fast to reach a place of safety, it will soon be too late. Drawing on over a decade of research, The Precipice explores the cutting-edge science behind the risks we face. It puts them in the context of the greater story of humanity: showing how ending these risks is among the most pressing moral issues of our time. And it points the way forward, to the actions and strategies that can safeguard humanity. An Oxford philosopher committed to putting ideas into action, Toby Ord has advised the US National Intelligence Council, the UK Prime Minister's Office, and the World Bank on the biggest questions facing humanity. In The Precipice, he offers a startling reassessment of human history, the future we are failing to protect, and the steps we must take to ensure that our generation is not the last. "A book that seems made for the present moment." —New Yorker

Download or read book The National System of Political Economy written by Friedrich List and published by . This book was released on 1904 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book What Social Classes Owe Each Other written by William Graham Sumner and published by Ludwig von Mises Institute. This book was released on 1966 with total page 149 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Crash Course written by Chris Martenson and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2011-02-14 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The next twenty years will be completely unlike the last twenty years. The world is in economic crisis, and there are no easy fixes to our predicament. Unsustainable trends in the economy, energy, and the environment have finally caught up with us and are converging on a very narrow window of time—the "Twenty-Teens." The Crash Course presents our predicament and illuminates the path ahead, so you can face the coming disruptions and thrive--without fearing the future or retreating into denial. In this book you will find solid facts and grounded reasoning presented in a calm, positive, non-partisan manner. Our money system places impossible demands upon a finite world. Exponentially rising levels of debt, based on assumptions of future economic growth to fund repayment, will shudder to a halt and then reverse. Unfortunately, our financial system does not operate in reverse. The consequences of massive deleveraging will be severe. Oil is essential for economic growth. The reality of dwindling oil supplies is now internationally recognized, yet virtually no developed nations have a Plan B. The economic risks to individuals, companies, and countries are varied and enormous. Best-case, living standards will drop steadily worldwide. Worst-case, systemic financial crises will toss the world into jarring chaos. This book is written for those who are motivated to learn about the root causes of our predicaments, protect themselves and their families, mitigate risks as much as possible, and control what effects they can. With challenge comes opportunity, and The Crash Course offers a positive vision for how to reshape our lives to be more balanced, resilient, and sustainable.

Download or read book Take a Walk on the Dark Side written by R. Gary Patterson and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2008-06-16 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Take a Walk on the Dark Side is the ultimate book for today's rock and roll fan: a fascinating compendium of facts, fictions, prophecies, premonitions, coincidences, hoaxes, doomsday scenarios, and other urban legends about some of the world's most beloved and mysterious pop icons. Updating, revising, and expanding on material from his cult classic Hellhounds on Their Trail, Patterson offers up a delectable feast of strange and occasionally frightening rock and roll tales, featuring the ironies associated with the tragic deaths of many rock icons, unsolved murders, and other tales from the "fell clutch of circumstance." Beginning with the fateful place where it all started -- a deserted country crossroads just outside Clarksdale, Mississippi, where Robert Johnson made his deal with the devil -- through the Buddy Holly curse (rock and roll's first great tragedy) and beyond, this incredible volume uncovers some of rock and roll's most celebrated murders, twists of fate, and decades-long streaks of bad luck that defy rational explanation. Inside you'll find: Facts about Jimmy Page and the Zeppelin Curse. Chilling quirks of fate in the fatalities in the Allman Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Facts about Jimmy Page and the Zeppelin curse Chilling quirks of fate surrounding the deaths of musicians in the Allman Brothers Band and Lynyrd Skynyrd A provocative look at "The Club," membership in which requires an untimely death at age twenty-seven and whose inductees include Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, and Janis Joplin Cryptic messages in song lyrics that have proved eerily prophetic Carefully researched, wildly enjoyable, and often harrowing, Take a Walk on the Dark Side takes the reader on a mysterious ride through rock and roll history.

Download or read book The Walrus Was Paul written by R. Gary Patterson and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 1998-10-29 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A guide to the hoax that Paul McCartney was killed in an automobile accident in 1966 and replaced by a look-a-like.

Download or read book The Great Transformation written by Karl Polanyi and published by Penguin Classics. This book was released on 2024-06-20 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'One of the most powerful books in the social sciences ever written. ... A must-read' Thomas Piketty 'The twentieth century's most prophetic critic of capitalism' Prospect Karl Polanyi's landmark 1944 work is one of the earliest and most powerful critiques of unregulated markets. Tracing the history of capitalism from the great transformation of the industrial revolution onwards, he shows that there has been nothing 'natural' about the market state. Instead of reducing human relations and our environment to mere commodities, the economy must always be embedded in civil society. Describing the 'avalanche of social dislocation' of his time, Polanyi's hugely influential work is a passionate call to protect our common humanity. 'Polanyi's vision for an alternative economy re-embedded in politics and social relations offers a refreshing alternative' Guardian 'Polanyi exposes the myth of the free market' Joseph Stiglitz With a new introduction by Gareth Dale

Download or read book Global Waves of Debt written by M. Ayhan Kose and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2021-03-03 with total page 403 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The global economy has experienced four waves of rapid debt accumulation over the past 50 years. The first three debt waves ended with financial crises in many emerging market and developing economies. During the current wave, which started in 2010, the increase in debt in these economies has already been larger, faster, and broader-based than in the previous three waves. Current low interest rates mitigate some of the risks associated with high debt. However, emerging market and developing economies are also confronted by weak growth prospects, mounting vulnerabilities, and elevated global risks. A menu of policy options is available to reduce the likelihood that the current debt wave will end in crisis and, if crises do take place, will alleviate their impact.

Download or read book China s Economic Rise written by Congressional Research Service and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2017-09-17 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Prior to the initiation of economic reforms and trade liberalization 36 years ago, China maintained policies that kept the economy very poor, stagnant, centrally-controlled, vastly inefficient, and relatively isolated from the global economy. Since opening up to foreign trade and investment and implementing free market reforms in 1979, China has been among the world's fastest-growing economies, with real annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth averaging nearly 10% through 2016. In recent years, China has emerged as a major global economic power. It is now the world's largest economy (on a purchasing power parity basis), manufacturer, merchandise trader, and holder of foreign exchange reserves.The global economic crisis that began in 2008 greatly affected China's economy. China's exports, imports, and foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows declined, GDP growth slowed, and millions of Chinese workers reportedly lost their jobs. The Chinese government responded by implementing a $586 billion economic stimulus package and loosening monetary policies to increase bank lending. Such policies enabled China to effectively weather the effects of the sharp global fall in demand for Chinese products, but may have contributed to overcapacity in several industries and increased debt by Chinese firms and local government. China's economy has slowed in recent years. Real GDP growth has slowed in each of the past six years, dropping from 10.6% in 2010 to 6.7% in 2016, and is projected to slow to 5.7% by 2022.The Chinese government has attempted to steer the economy to a "new normal" of slower, but more stable and sustainable, economic growth. Yet, concerns have deepened in recent years over the health of the Chinese economy. On August 11, 2015, the Chinese government announced that the daily reference rate of the renminbi (RMB) would become more "market-oriented." Over the next three days, the RMB depreciated against the dollar and led to charges that China's goal was to boost exports to help stimulate the economy (which some suspect is in worse shape than indicated by official Chinese economic statistics). Concerns over the state of the Chinese economy appear to have often contributed to volatility in global stock indexes in recent years.The ability of China to maintain a rapidly growing economy in the long run will likely depend largely on the ability of the Chinese government to implement comprehensive economic reforms that more quickly hasten China's transition to a free market economy; rebalance the Chinese economy by making consumer demand, rather than exporting and fixed investment, the main engine of economic growth; boost productivity and innovation; address growing income disparities; and enhance environmental protection. The Chinese government has acknowledged that its current economic growth model needs to be altered and has announced several initiatives to address various economic challenges. In November 2013, the Communist Party of China held the Third Plenum of its 18th Party Congress, which outlined a number of broad policy reforms to boost competition and economic efficiency. For example, the communique stated that the market would now play a "decisive" role in allocating resources in the economy. At the same time, however, the communique emphasized the continued important role of the state sector in China's economy. In addition, many foreign firms have complained that the business climate in China has worsened in recent years. Thus, it remains unclear how committed the Chinese government is to implementing new comprehensive economic reforms.China's economic rise has significant implications for the United States and hence is of major interest to Congress. This report provides background on China's economic rise; describes its current economic structure; identifies the challenges China faces to maintain economic growth; and discusses the challenges, opportunities, and implications of China's economic rise.

Download or read book The End of Poverty written by Jeffrey D. Sachs and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2006-02-28 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Book and man are brilliant, passionate, optimistic and impatient . . . Outstanding." —The Economist The landmark exploration of economic prosperity and how the world can escape from extreme poverty for the world's poorest citizens, from one of the world's most renowned economists Hailed by Time as one of the world's hundred most influential people, Jeffrey D. Sachs is renowned for his work around the globe advising economies in crisis. Now a classic of its genre, The End of Poverty distills more than thirty years of experience to offer a uniquely informed vision of the steps that can transform impoverished countries into prosperous ones. Marrying vivid storytelling with rigorous analysis, Sachs lays out a clear conceptual map of the world economy. Explaining his own work in Bolivia, Russia, India, China, and Africa, he offers an integrated set of solutions to the interwoven economic, political, environmental, and social problems that challenge the world's poorest countries. Ten years after its initial publication, The End of Poverty remains an indispensible and influential work. In this 10th anniversary edition, Sachs presents an extensive new foreword assessing the progress of the past decade, the work that remains to be done, and how each of us can help. He also looks ahead across the next fifteen years to 2030, the United Nations' target date for ending extreme poverty, offering new insights and recommendations.

Download or read book American Stutter 2019 2021 written by STEVE. ERICKSON and published by Zerogram Press. This book was released on 2022-04-05 with total page 170 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As Jonathan Lethem put, Steve Erickson's journal of the last 18 months of the Trump Presidency "sears the page." Erickson, one of our finest novelists, has long been an astute political observer, and American Stutter, part political declaration, part humorous account of more personal matters, offers a particularly moving reminder of the democratic ideals that we are currently struggling to preserve. Written with wit, eloquence, and a controlled fury as event unfold, Erickson has left us with an essential record of our recent history, a book to be read with our collective breath held.* Steve Erickson is the author of ten novels and two books about American culture. For 12 years he was founding editor of the national literary journal Black Clock. Currently he is the film/television critic for Los Angeles magazine and a Distinguished Professor at the University of California, Riverside. He has received a Guggenheim fellowship, the American Academy of Arts and Letters award, and the Lannan Lifetime Achievement award.

Download or read book The American Yawp written by Joseph L. Locke and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2019-01-22 with total page 670 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "I too am not a bit tamed—I too am untranslatable / I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world."—Walt Whitman, "Song of Myself," Leaves of Grass The American Yawp is a free, online, collaboratively built American history textbook. Over 300 historians joined together to create the book they wanted for their own students—an accessible, synthetic narrative that reflects the best of recent historical scholarship and provides a jumping-off point for discussions in the U.S. history classroom and beyond. Long before Whitman and long after, Americans have sung something collectively amid the deafening roar of their many individual voices. The Yawp highlights the dynamism and conflict inherent in the history of the United States, while also looking for the common threads that help us make sense of the past. Without losing sight of politics and power, The American Yawp incorporates transnational perspectives, integrates diverse voices, recovers narratives of resistance, and explores the complex process of cultural creation. It looks for America in crowded slave cabins, bustling markets, congested tenements, and marbled halls. It navigates between maternity wards, prisons, streets, bars, and boardrooms. The fully peer-reviewed edition of The American Yawp will be available in two print volumes designed for the U.S. history survey. Volume I begins with the indigenous people who called the Americas home before chronicling the collision of Native Americans, Europeans, and Africans.The American Yawp traces the development of colonial society in the context of the larger Atlantic World and investigates the origins and ruptures of slavery, the American Revolution, and the new nation's development and rebirth through the Civil War and Reconstruction. Rather than asserting a fixed narrative of American progress, The American Yawp gives students a starting point for asking their own questions about how the past informs the problems and opportunities that we confront today.