The American economy has been driven by waves of technological change and the successful adoption of ideas from elsewhere. Michael Lind, the author of “Land of Promise,” tells us how it happened, and what history teaches us about the way ahead.
The BrowserYour latest book is a sweeping economic history of America. In a nutshell, how did America become such an economic powerhouse?
Well, it did so as a result of collaboration between the government and the private sector and, increasingly in the 20th century, the nonprofit, academic research sector. It’s quite a different story in reality from the tale that is sometimes told of how capitalism grew up without controls in the United States, and then with the New Deal it came under regulation. In fact, the government both at the federal and the state level was deeply involved with projects for promoting the industrialization of the United States and the creation of a capitalist market from the administration of George Washington onward.
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Government Must Play Role in Reviving the American Economy
CEO Pay Grew 127 Times Faster Than Worker Pay Over Last 30 Years: Study
American CEOs saw their pay spike 15 percent last year, after a 28 percent pay rise the year before, according to a report by GMI Ratings cited by The Guardian. Meanwhile, workers saw their inflation-adjusted wages fall 2 percent in 2011, according to the Labor Department.
That's in line with a trend that dates back three decades. CEO pay spiked 725 percent between 1978 and 2011, while worker pay rose just 5.7 percent, according to a study by the Economic Policy Institute released on Wednesday. That means CEO pay grew 127 times faster than worker pay.
Income inequality between CEOs and workers has consequently exploded, with CEOs last year earning 209.4 times more than workers, compared to just 26.5 times more in 1978 -- meaning CEOs are taking home a larger percentage of company gains.
That trend comes despite workers nearly doubling their productivity during the same time period, when compensation barely rose. Worker productivity spiked 93 percent between 1978 and 2011 on a per-hour basis, and 85 percent on a per-person basis, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
Illinois: Feds say city official actually stole $53M
Federal prosecutors say in an indictment that a former financial officer for the small northern Illinois city of Dixon stole millions more in public funds than an initial investigation had uncovered.
Tuesday’s indictment accuses Rita Crundwell of stealing more than $53 million from the city since 1990. An initial criminal complaint filed upon her April 17 arrest had accused her of siphoning $30 million in public funds to a secret account she controlled.
Crundwell is accused of using the money to fund horse-breeding operations that brought her national fame and a lavish lifestyle that included expensive jewelry and luxury vehicles.
The former comptroller will be arraigned May 7 in U.S. District Court in Rockford.
Factory Orders Post Biggest Decline in Three Years
Doesn't sound to me like the economy is getting any better as the Obama apologists keep insisting.
Factory Orders Post Biggest Decline in Three Years
Billions Of Dollars, Thousands of Lives Lost In Afghanistan War
Why isn't Obama being criticized for losing the war. He expanded it and now he wants to pull out. He didn't run on ending the war. He should be held responsible for the losses.
Billions Of Dollars, Thousands of Lives Lost In Afghanistan War
Facebook users heap baggage on Spirit Airlines after dying vet refused refund
People power. We wont be ripped off any longer. Big business has to respect its customers.
Facebook users heap baggage on Spirit Airlines after dying vet refused refund
Occupy Wall St. activists in N.Y. join May Day protest
The press essentially missed the real story of the May Day rallies. They instead focused on a few trouble makers. The press is all about sensationalism. The coming together of thousands to protest injustice in America is of little concern. That is why we must depend on the people's media. So keep tweeting, blogging, video recording, photographing. The people we be victorious in the end.
This article is an example. They took the exception and made it the rule:
In the birthplace of last year's nationwide Occupy movement, the campaign that had seemed to drop from sight after being evicted from its New York City encampment surged back into the public eye Tuesday with a series of May Day protests, the largest drawing thousands of people to Union Square in Lower Manhattan.
There were no immediate signs of clashes, but tensions were apparent as the afternoon wore on and police erected metal barricades around most of the sprawling square to hem in protesters. Local media reports said 30 people had been arrested, mostly for disorderly conduct.
About 5:30 p.m. EDT protesters began marching down Broadway, headed by a man carrying a large American flag hanging upside down. Crowds waving posters bearing pictures of Che Guevara and banners of labor unions taking part in the march moved slowly down Broadway, which police had closed to traffic at the height of rush hour.
"The workers united will never be defeated," chanted one group walking with a large banner that read: "Smash the 1 percent with communist revolution."
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