Economy and Society

• 2013-01-01: Reconcile or bust;
• 2013-01-02: 2013: What’s in Store? (Op-Ed);
• 2013-01-03: A Generation of Uncertainty;
• 2013-01-04: RSA Animated videos;
• 2013-01-05: remaining economics on my dashboard;
• 2013-01-06: America’s deceptive fiscal cliff;
• 2013-01-07: Late Stage Capitalism and the Shame Haunted Life;
• 2013-01-08: The Fall of America and the Western World;
• 2013-01-09: Egypt: Heading south;
• 2013-01-10: around Economy, Cuts, Taxes ;
• 2013-01-11: Ken Robinson: RSA Animate – Changing Education Paradigms;
• 2013-01-12: Swiss boutique sets up responsible farmland investment hub;
• 2013-01-12: 10 raisons de sortir de l’Union Européenne;
• 2013-01-13: RSA Animate: The Truth About Dishonesty;
• 2013-01-13: Reportage: Coca-Cola La Formule Secrète;
• 2013-01-14: Cartoon Economics;
• 2013-01-14: Des avancées concrètes pour la Responsabilité Sociale d’Entreprise;
• 2013-01-14: Idle No More: the rise of an indigenous movement;
• 2013-01-15: Can the Left Save Greece?
• 2013-01-16: Social Enterprises: new face for impacting the Society;
• 2013-01-17: More Whistleblower Leaks on Foreclosure Settlement;
• 2013-01-18: How to Mobilise $2.8tr to Finance the Global Sharing Economy;
• 2013-01-19: world banker makes stunning confession;
• 2013-01-20: Republicans Backing Away from Debt Ceiling Brinksmanship;
• 2013-01-21: Barclays staff told to sign code of conduct or quit;
• 2013-01-22: Bankers must behave, or be shackled;
• 2013-01-23: Why financial markets are inefficient;
• 2013-01-23: economie et crise;
• 2013-01-24: Videos in HD;
• 2013-01-25: Round Table, November 12 2012;
• 2013-01-26: IOPS: Michael Albert in Paris, December 2012;
• 2013-01-27: Global Food Crisis 2012;
• 2013-01-28: Economic Hypocrisy;
• 2013-01-29: Why the World Economic Forum and Goldman Sachs are Capitalism’s Worst Enemies;
• 2013-01-30: Anonymous takes down US Sentencing Commission website;
• 2013-01-31: Drug traffic fuels addiction in Sierra Leone.

As the global narcotics trade expands in West Africa, it leaves a trail of addicts in its wake – Published on AlJazeera, Jan 26, 2013.

Freetown, Sierra Leone – Leaning against a wall, his eyes red and glazed over, Patrick Hindowa described how he spends his days getting high. “I got no job here,” he explained. “Whatever [drugs] I’m going to be able to do, I’m going to do. Because I really don’t have nothing.”   Continue Reading…

Hacking collective threatens to make public classified material and that when Aaron Swartz killed himself a line was crossed – Published on The Guardian, by Paul Harris in New York, Jan 26, 2013.

… Swartz killed himself just over two weeks ago as he faced trial for hacking an online collection of academic journals linked to MIT with the intent of releasing millions of research papers on to the internet.   Continue Reading…

Published on naked capitalism, by Bill Black, JANUARY 26, 2013.

… Criminogenic environments for Accounting Control Fraud:

1. The dogma that control fraud cannot be material
2. The three “de’s” – deregulation, desupervision, and de facto decriminalization
3. Modern executive and professional compensation
4. The ability to grow quickly       Continue Reading…

Published on Real-World Economic Review Blog, by Peter Radford, Jan 26, 2013.

It takes a particular type of gall for someone hiding behind the comfort of a cozy tenured professorship to yelp about the way in which unions distort the otherwise – presumably – smooth operation of a mainstream style economy. Apparently one person’s guarantee is another’s structural impediment.

This really stinks. It reeks of hypocrisy. It is devoid of ethical self-understanding. It is just rotten.

But it happens all the time. Far too often.  Continue Reading…

• How does the Global Financial Crisis End: Michael Maloney explains, 14.50 min, uploaded by Global Economic News, Dec 8, 2012;
  
• The World Food Crisis Special Report, 51.38 min, uploaded by TheAlexJonesChannel, Sept. 14, 2012: Security against rising inflation and recession. With global warming, unstable economies, food rations, and other unknown factors, food prices may increase, which means your dollar power will be much less when you purchase from the store. We purchase our ingredients directly from our suppliers and aim to keep prices as low as possible for as long as we can; efoods Direct.com;
• Will You Survive Food Crisis That’s Coming – Tips, 1.11 min, uploaded by Charles White, Dec 23, 2012;
• US Poverty Increasing: Survive the Food Crisis, 3.58 min, uploaded by Dave Tozier, Jan 7, 2013 min;
• Global Food Crisis while Goldman Sachs cashes in …, 2.34 min,uploaded by youniquegoldman, January 23, 2013.

Watch these videos, uploaded by chris thorpe, Dec 2012, … on the concept of “Participatory Economics” and the recent creation of the International Organization for a Participatory Society (IOPS), given at the University of Paris Nanterre 2012-11-12, as part of the community organising conference at the University of Nanterre Paris 2012-11-12: Part 1, 45.56 min, Part 2, 43.10 min, Part 3, 40.14 min.

Links:

An Introduction to IOPS, the International Organization for a Participatory Society, 15.49 min, on IOPS.org, founded on Jan 6, 2012: Homepage; about; projects; join; contact;

In the new Mexican revolution, resistance is fertile, on ROARMAG, by Jen Wilton, January 21, 2013;

The Next War? on TomDispatch (also on ZNet), by Michael Klare, Jan 22, 2013.

Gefunden auf Neues Geld.net, von Wolfgang Berger, nicht datiert, jedoch neu.

Es gibt Phasen in der Geschichte, die die Historiker als Zeitenwende bezeichnen. Die Regeln, nach denen das Gemeinwesen funktioniert, ändern sich. Kein Stein bleibt auf dem anderen. Die Lebensumstände der Menschen werden umgekrempelt.   Continue Reading…

… at the University of Paris X-Nanterre

Watch these videos, uploaded by chris thorpe, December 2012: Thinking Globally and Acting Locally, the art and science of community organizing, from the Intifada and the Indignados to the Arab Spring, the Greek Resistance and Occupy Wall Street in New York City and beyond:

Part 1, 157.14 min, Part 2, 106.49 min, Part 3, 97.57 min.

Links:

Noam Chomsky and The Roots: Hip Hop Government in the Future, 3.44 min, uploaded by sticksorstones, Aug 21, 2012: Hip-hop Mashup of Noam Chomsky’s “Government in the Future” (1970) and The Roots “Concerto of the Desparado”. If you dig this, then share it and join the new visionary organization Noam Chomsky is working with, The International Organization for a Participatory Society, Music from Division by Zero (Mixtape #1);

Zero, 12.33 min, uploaded by zealouscreative, May 25, 2011.

uploaded by GoProCamera (in HD):

• Director’s Cut: Shark Riders, 8.08 min, an 9, 2013;
• Swimming with Dolphins (in Santa Cruz, CA), 1.41 min, August 21, 2012;
• Mavericks Invitational 2013 Teaser, ‌2.39 min, Jan 18, 2013;
• Vertical Skydiving World Record 2012, 1.14 min, Jan 8, 2013;
• Skiing with Julian Carr, 0.43 min, Jan 17, 2013.

Pierre Hillard: L’effondrement est pour bientôt …, 20.01 min, mise en ligne par Le Sage HENOC, le 26 décembre 2012;

Pierre Hillard sur Jacques Attali, 5.10 min, mise en ligne par Minimar solder, le 25 novembre 2012: Le Mystère des 316 propositions de Jacques Attali pour libérer la croissance;

Nicolas Dupont-Aignan était l’invité de TV5 Monde, 35.15 min, mise en ligne par PaneteInfoTV, le 17 sept. 2012.

Published on naked capitalism (originally published at VoxEU), by Roger E. A. Farmer, Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Economics Department, UCLA, JANUARY 22, 2013.

The efficient market hypothesis – in various forms – is at the heart of modern finance and macroeconomics. This column argues that market efficiency is extremely unlikely even without frictions or irrationality. Why? Because there are multiple equilibria, only one of which is Pareto efficient.   Continue Reading…

Published on Mail Online, January 20, 2013.

It is surprisingly hard to change human behaviour. Most of us would have thought the last few years had taught bankers their ugly culture of heedless greed must stop.

Yet, as The Mail on Sunday reveals today, even the near-collapse of the world financial system and a general public revulsion at their excesses have not curbed this  sector’s bad habits.  Continue Reading…

New chief executive plans to overhaul Barclays’ culture – Published on Which.co.uk, January 17, 2013.

Staff at Barclays bank have been told they must sign an ethical code of conduct. Which? has been calling for banks to put customers first in our Big Change campaign by insisting bankers comply with a fully independent code of conduct backed by statute.  Continue Reading…

… to Hold Line on Sequestration and Budget – published on naked capitalism, by Yves Smith, Jan 17, 2013.

A important shift in the Republicans’ negotiating stance over the austerity fight (do we go Dem lite or Republican high test?) was duly noted in the Financial Times a day ago, but a search in Google News (“debt ceiling”) suggests a lot of other commentators have not yet digested its significance, so it seemed worthy of a short recap here.   Continue Reading…

Watch this video on YouTube, 19.0o1 min, uploaded by PremierLegend, May 31, 2011: Confession [k?n'f???n] n 1. the act of confessing 2. something confessed 3. an acknowledgment or declaration, esp of one’s faults, intentions, misdeeds, or crimes.
THE FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE WORLD BANK, JAMES WOLFENSOHN, MAKES STUNNING CONFESSIONS AS HE ADDRESS GRADUATE STUDENTS AT STANFORD UNIVERSITY. HE REVEALS THE INSIDE HAND OF WORLD DOMINATION FROM PAST, TO THE PRESENT AND INTO THE FUTURE. Continue Reading…

Published on Dissident Voice, by Adam Parsons and Rajesh Makwana, January 15, 2013.

… There is plenty of research available that demonstrates how governments could harness more than enough money to reverse policies of economic austerity, prevent life-threatening deprivation and mitigate the human impacts of climate change. By utilising just the policy options summarised below, governments could mobilise over $2.8 trillion every year to scale up and strengthen the ‘sharing economy’ – systems of welfare and redistribution that have been progressively established across the world to protect the poor and vulnerable.   Continue Reading…

… show both suppression of evidence and gross incompetence – published on naked capitalism, by blog owner Yves Smith, January 15, 2013.

No wonder the Fed and the OCC snubbed a request by Darryl Issa and Elijah Cummings to review the foreclosure fraud settlement before it was finalized early last week. What had leaked out while the Potemkin borrower reviews were underway showed them to be a sham, as we detailed at length in an earlier post. But even so, what actually took place was even worse than hardened cynics had imagined.   Continue Reading…

Published on SRR-Foundation Blog, by blog owner, Jan 9, 2013.

Social Enterprises are becoming more and more popular as means of bringing changes in the society. These enterprises work by identifying a social need and provide service on low cost basis. Thus fulfilling a demand and meeting the costs of service from the user of service. Their model is always a low cost one and have no qualms for being ‘For Profit’. Here is an example to illustrate what is making these popular.  Continue Reading…

Published on ZNet (first on New Left Project), Interview with Yiannis Milios by Yiannis Baboulias, January 12, 2013.

… For an answer, we spoke with SYRIZA’s head of economic strategy Yiannis Milios, a professor of economics at the Polytechnic University of Athens known for his often controversial policy proposals (including a 1% flat tax rate imposed on all suffering Greek businesses). He heads a group of economists including Yiannis Dragasakis, Giorgos Stathakis and Efklidis Tsakalotos, who collectively shape SYRIZA’s economic policy.   Continue Reading…

Can you hear that sound deep beneath the malls and streets? It is the voice of our ancestors reminding us that we have the power to heal this planet – Published on ROARMAG, by Nozomi Hayase, January 5, 2013.

At the end of 2012, the sounds of drumming began to resound in an unexpected place — in an American shopping mall. On Saturday in Minneapolis, the usual scenery of typical consumer life was interrupted for a moment.  Continue Reading…

Publié dans la ligue des droits de l’homme ldh-france, par Jean-Louis Galzin, le 7 janvier 2013.

Un colloque s’est tenu le 13 décembre 2012 à l’Assemblée Nationale, sous la présidence de Danielle Auroi (député EELV, présidente de la commission des Affaires Européennes de l’Assemblée nationale) et Dominique Potier (député PS, Membre de la commission des Affaires économiques). Il était organisé par le Forum Citoyen pour la Responsabilité Sociale des Entreprises FCRSE, et le collectif Ethique sur Etiquette.  Continue Reading…

Published on RWER Blog, by Peter Radford, Jan 11, 2913.

… Perhaps we should all just laugh. Economics is so far away from what its most ardent practitioners think it is that it has become a cartoon. Enjoyable, but not to be taken seriously. And I say this as someone who has a passion for the subject. Imagine my despair at what its leading thinkers have wrought.     Continue Reading…

Watch this video on YouTube, 65.11 min, mise en ligne par DocumentaryFrenchTV, le 10 janvier 2013: Olivia Mokiejewski est accro au Coca-Cola depuis 25 ans. Elle en a bu près de 7 000 litres, 20 000 canettes.   Continue Reading…

watch these videos, uploaded by theRSAorg:

• in the short version, 11.08 min: Sept. 14, 2012: Are you more honest than a banker? Under what circumstances would you lie, or cheat, and what effect does your deception have on society at large? Dan Ariely, one of the world’s leading voices on human motivation and behaviour is the latest big thinker to get the RSA Animate treatment …;
• in the longer version, 28.46 min: August 15, 2012: Dan Ariely, bestselling author and professor of psychology and behavioural economics at Duke University visits the RSA to examine the mechanisms at work behind dishonest behaviour, and the implications this has for all aspects of our social and political lives;
• Listen to the podcast of the full event including audience Q&A: Free beer: The truth about dishonesty.

Video avec Étienne Chouard, 59.05 min,  mise en ligne par Raw Dogg, le 18 août 2011: Étienne Chouard est enseignant en économie-gestion et droit fiscal il nous expose 10 bonnes raisons de sortir de l’Union Européenne :

1. L’Union Européenne encourage le chômage de masse
2. La création monétaire est abandonnée aux banques Continue Reading…

See EBG Capital on Food Crisis’ website and also on it’s official website – Published on Food Crisis and the Global Land Grab, by by Jan Wagner, Jan 9, 2013.

EBG Capital, a Swiss environmental investment boutique led by two former Credit Suisse executives, has launched an “information hub” for asset owners and managers that want to invest in farmland responsibly.   Continue Reading…

yes, again, I hope you don’t want escape this video – Published on YouTube in several languages

Ken Robinson – RSA Animate – Changing Education Paradigms:

• in english only, 11.41 min, uploaded by theRSAorg, Oct. 14, 2010: This animate was adapted from a talk given at the RSA by Sir Ken Robinson, world-renowned education and creativity expert and recipient of the RSA’s Benjamin Franklin award;  Continue Reading…

Watch these videos:

How Did the Fiscal Cliff Get Resolved? The U.S. Economy, Finance and Tax, 37.26 min, uploaded by electioneeringpoliti, Jan 5, 2013;

The U.S. Economy, Middle-Class Tax Cuts and the Fiscal Cliff (2012), 81.06 min, uploaded by electioneeringpoliti, Dec 23, 2012;

BBC News: DPAC interviewed about cuts, oct 20, 4.31 min, uploaded by latentexistence, Oct 20, 2012.

The Egyptian pound ended the year at its lowest level since 2004, raising fears about possible repercussions – Published on Al-Ahram weekly online, by Sherine Abdel-Razek, Jan 2, 2013.

Devaluation has always been the Egyptian economist’s greatest fear. However, this is no longer the case, since it is already happening.

The Egyptian pound lost almost three per cent of its value during the first two days of this week to reach LE6.39 against the US dollar on Monday. This was after it had survived a post-revolutionary drain of foreign currency resources that had stripped it of six per cent of its value to the beginning of December.  Continue Reading…

published on YouTube, uploaded by Rise Aquarius, Aug. 15, 2012:

01 – The Economic Crisis, 62.14 min, 02 – Financial Armageddon, 46.13 min, 03 – The Police State, 53.09 min, 04 – The End of the World, 72.35 min, 05 – The Power Elite, Part 1,  37.39 min, 06 – The Power Elite, Part 2, 21.22 min, 07 – Our American Nightmare, 37.55 min, 08 – America’s Collapse, 45.39 min, 09 – Survival Guide, 62.11 min.

You Can’t Kill Trauma With A Gun – Published on Dissident Voice, by Phil Rockstroh, January 4, 2013.

In an era of corporate-state colonization of both landscape and mental real estate, when the face of one’s true oppressors is, more often than not, hidden from view, thus inflicting feelings of anxiety borne of powerlessness over the criteria of one’s life and the course of one’s fate, often, to retain a sense of control, people will tend to displace their anger and shame.  Firearms provide the illusion of being able to locate and bead down on a given target. (How often does a person without wealth, power, and influence have any contact with — or even a glimpse of — the financial and political elite whose decisions dictate the, day by day, criteria of one’s existence?).  Continue Reading…

Part IV: Why tax the economy at all? And why financial and tax reform should go together – Published on Real-World Economics Review RWER Blog, by Michael Hudson, Jan 5, 2013.

Taxes pay for the cost of government by withdrawing income from the parties being taxed. From Adam Smith through John Stuart Mill to the Progressive Era, general agreement emerged that the most appropriate taxes should not fall on labor, capital or on sales of basic consumer needs. Such taxes raise the break-even cost of employing labor. In today’s world, FICA wage withholding for Social Security raises the price that employers must pay their work force to maintain living standards and buy the products they produce … // Continue Reading…

• The Greece of Asia: Japan’s Growing Sovereign Debt Time Bomb, on Spiegel Online International, by Anne Seith, January 3, 2013;
• The Economist/economics, editor’s review 2012: The widening gap, video about rising inequality, 1.20 min;
• Video: American Dynasties Perpetuated, by “Cliff” Estate Tax Deal, 9.12 min, on TRNN, Jan 4, 2013;
• IMF Admits More Mistakes, on naked capitalism, by Yves Smith, Jan 4, 2013, by Delusional Economics, who is determined to cleanse the daily flow of vested interests propaganda to produce a balanced counterpoint. Cross posted from MacroBusiness …   Continue Reading…

find many on YouTube-search, uploaded by theRSAorg. Here 3 of my favor:

• The Empathic Civilisation, 10.40 min: Bestselling author, political adviser and social and ethical prophet Jeremy Rifkin investigates the evolution of empathy and the profound ways that it has shaped our development and our society … or: La Civilización Empática (spoken in english, Subtitulada Español), 10.40 min;
• Left brain, right brain, 10.29 min: In this early RSA Animate Matthew Taylor explores how brain and behaviour research is increasingly being incorporated into political and policy debate;
• The Economic Consequences of Mr Brown, 10.44 min: On 14 September 2009, Stein Ringen, Professor of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Oxford, gave his assessment of the New Labour government and the state of the British constitution. In the first of the RSA’s new animation series, visual scribe Andrew Park presents his interpretation of the event.

Links:   Continue Reading…

Part 1: Companies Prepare for Future that Can’t Be Predicted – Published on Spiegel Online International, by Dietmar Hawranek, Martin Hesse and Alexander Jung, Dec 31, 2012 (Photo-Gallery).

… The Age of Unpredictability:

Wolfgang Reitzle, CEO of the Munich-based Linde Group, agrees that the age of predictability is over. His company, which produces gases for the petroleum, chemical and food industries, has continuously increased its profits — and its stock market value has jumped six-fold over the past 10 years. But Reitzle says: “It has never been more difficult than today to give a precise prediction of future economic development.”   Continue Reading…

Published on Russia Today RT, by Adrian Salbuchi, December 31, 2012.

• World Government stepping onto sovereign Nation-States, puppet politicians unable to cope with social challenges, chaos in the Middle East and ever increasing global crises – all this awaits us in 2013. Is it time for ‘We the People’ to wake up? …
• … // …
• … Let’s look at half a dozen Key Issues:

Where’s the pilot?   Continue Reading…

Published on Al-Ahram weekly online, by Niveen Wahish, Dec. 27, 2012.

It never rains but it pours. This week the economy has been plagued with one piece of bad news after another. It is as if, following the completion of the referendum, officials have suddenly woken up to the gravity of the economic problems Egypt is facing. That, or they now feel able to come clean about the situation.   Continue Reading…