The Field Guide to the U.S. Economy identifies over 160 important issues, holding a magnifying glass to trends affecting our everyday lives. Short, easy-to-follow presentations take you off the beaten track, well beyond Washington and Wall Street. Graphs and cartoons liven up the facts. For ordering and additional infromation click here
Econ-atrocity: Do The Worlds
Poor Countries Finance the Rich Ones?
By Amit Basole, Staff
Economist at the Center for Popular Economics
Wednesday, Jan 23, 2008
In the year 2000, the richest 10 per cent of the world’s
population held 85 percent of its total income and wealth.
The bottom half owned a mere 1 percent. Such glaring global
asymmetries have long justified redistribution of wealth
from the “Global North” to the “Global South”....read
more
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2010 Fall Popular Economics Institute
Beyond the Economic Fright Fest: Building a sustainable and just economy
October 26-31, 2010 (through Halloween weekend)
Highlander Research And Education Center, New Market, TN
The economy is looking pretty scary these days. Think Zombie banks, climate change, the disappearing middle class and the looming double dip recession.
How did we get here and how do we get out of this mess?
The Center for Popular Economics and Highlander Center invite you to join us for a 5-1/2 day Popular Economics Institute where we will explore the roots of the current economic crisis. Don't worry, we won't leave you in a fright - we will also look at concrete ways that people and communities are building a more just and sustainable economy.
This intensive
training in economics is for activists, educators,
and anyone who wants a better understanding of
economics.
(Click here for more).
CPE Special Topic Online Course
Econ 197: The Economic Crisis and the Case for a Solidatiry Economy (click on the flyer below for details)
CPE forums on the financial crisis
December 12, 7:00: "Why We Need a People's Bailout" Pioneer Valley Central Labor Council, 640 Page Blvd (Route 2A), Springfield. Beginning this week, Jobs with Justice launches an emergency campaign over the next 2½ months to get Congress and the new administration to enact a People's Bail-Out. Prof Gerald Friedman and Helen Scharber, of the UMass Economics Dept and the Center for Popular Economics will lead off a discussion of: What caused the economic meltdown? What should a recovery plan or People's Bailout include? and What strategies and tactics should we in Western Mass use to win? Info: Jobs with Justice, 827-0301, wmjwj@wmjwj.org, www.jwj.org/bailout/index.html.
October 30, 6:30-8:30: "Boom, Bust and Bailout: What happened and what to do about it" with CPE economists James Crotty and Gerald Friedman. Unitarian Universalist Meetinghouse, 121 N. Pleasant St, Amherst.
October 23, 7:00-8:30:"The Financial Crisis: Implications for the Labor Movement" with CPE economist David Kotz. First Congregational Church, 43 Silver St., Greenfield.
CPEers on the current economic crisis
Gerald Epstein | Truthout: Bad Bank: Bad Idea
"The irresponsible, and even fraudulent, behavior of bankers and the financial regulators we trusted to monitor them have left the rest of us in deep trouble with no good financial options. Major banks, including Citibank, Bank of America and others, are on the verge of bankruptcy, if not already insolvent, despite the commitment already made on behalf of US taxpayers to pend or guarantee billions of dollars to rescue them. Meanwhile, the economic vortex is dragging the rest of us down."
The Center for Popular Economics and the U.S. Solidarity Economy Network (SEN-US)
The U.S. Solidarity Economy Network grew from a series of meetings that were held at the U.S. Social Forum. The Solidarity Economy offers an alternative economic framework to that of neoliberal globalization - one that is grounded in solidarity and cooperation, rather than the pursuit of narrow, individual self-interest.The Solidarity Economy is a rather recent idea, but the practice has been around for some time now. We see it at work in labor-run cooperatives, the use of local currency, participatory budgeting, and land trusts (just to name a few). SEN-US, along with the CPE, sees the concept as an important tool in promoting economic justie. Creating a Solidarity Economy network will help foster a sense of common identity, purpose, and support those participating the array of projects that comprise the Solidarity Economy movement. Around the world such networks have been succesful in forging national policy framework, as in the case of networks in Brazil and Canada. The Center for Popular Economics is serving as a fiscal sponcer and providing core staffing for the start-up of SEN-US (The Solidarity Economy Network).