Mois : décembre 2015

Published on ZNet (first on teleSUR english ), by Arun Gupta, Dec 12, 2015.

… The greatest cost is to the countries being bombed and civil society. In November 2001 the global justice movement, which gained prominence after thwarting a free-trade agreement two years earlier, was planning to shut down seven stock exchanges in a worldwide day of protest. That was derailed by 9/11, and the global justice movement fell apart. This time climate-justice activists say the movement is stronger and wiser and the climate crisis is too profound for one episode to end it, but it has been set back.   Continuer la lecture de « The Age of Extremes »

Published on World Socialist Web Site WSWS, by Andre Damon, Dec 11, 2015.

For the first time in more than four decades, “middle-income households” no longer constitute the majority of American society, according to a study published Wednesday by the Pew Research Center. Instead, the majority of households are either low or higher-income. The study concluded, “Once in the clear majority, adults in middle-income households in 2015 were matched in number by those in lower- and upper-income households combined.” Pew called its findings “a demographic shift that could signal a tipping point” in American society … // Continuer la lecture de « The hourglass society: Middle-income households no longer the majority in the US »

Published on The Bullet, Socialist Project’s E-Bulletin No. 1195 (first on teleSUR english), by Gregory Wilpert, Dec 5, 2015.

The current economic, political, and social situation in Venezuela is very complicated, which makes it somewhat difficult for outsiders to make sense of. On the one hand there are many people who defend the Bolivarian revolution, pointing to the successes it has had in reducing poverty and inequality and in increasing citizen participation and self-governance.   Continuer la lecture de « The Roots of the Current Situation in Venezuela »

Published on RWER Blog, by Lars Syll, Dec 6, 2015.

Mainstream economists want to explain social phenomena, structures and patterns, based on the assumption that the agents are acting in an optimizing (rational) way to satisfy given, stable and well-defined goals. The procedure is analytical. The whole is broken down into its constituent parts so as to be able to explain (reduce) the aggregate (macro) as the result of interaction of its parts (micro). Continuer la lecture de « The model of all economic models (wonkish) »