Category Archives: Banana republic

Trump CFPB Appointees Use COVID-19 Crisis as Rationale to Weaken Consumer Protection

Trump appointees use the COVID-19 crisis to rollback consumer protections against financial predation put in place by the CFPB.

Big Oil Taking $1.9 Billion in CARES Act Tax Breaks Aimed at Helping Small Businesses in ‘Stealth Bailout’: Report

$1.9 billion in CARES Act tax breaks intended to allow small businesses to keep people employed are instead being funnelled to fossil fuel executives.

Contact Tracing Via Old Shoe-Leather Epidemiology While Spurning the Techno-Fix Fairy: How Hong Kong Quells COVID-19 Without Killing Civil Liberties

Countries jostle to surrender civil liberties to a techno-fix app to quell COVID-19, but should instead heed Hong Kong’s low-tech lesson.

Reminder: When the Very Very Rich Are Done With Us, They Plan to Leave Us Behind

More evidence, as if you needed it, that the super rich are not your friends.

America’s Chilling Experiment in Human Sacrifice

The US is willing to practice human sacrifice, rather than explore a way of defining wealth outlined by 19th-century thinker John Ruskin.

Reopening Isn’t Reopening—It’s Cutting Off Unemployment

In case you wondered why conservative states are all gung ho about reopening….

Public Pension Plans in a World of Hurt; Even Loyalists Warning of Grim Prospects

Not surprisingly, public pension fund economics look pretty sick.

Congress and Corporations Join Forces To Crush American Small Business

Funny how that small business bailout worked…..

The Wealth Effects of Bailouts: A Quantitative Assessment

Once again, income earned by the many is used to save the wealth of the few.

Waiting for “Rooseveltian Relief”: An Oversimplified Framework for the Employment Situation

“Nothing fundamental will change.” –Joe Biden

Coronavirus Magical Thinking, US Style: Contact Tracing Versus Masks

With bad coronavirus outcomes, America seems set on continuing to do dumb things.

Neoliberalism Is Over. Welcome to the Era of Neo-Illiberalism!

Big tech, nationalist politics, and the billionaire class have propelled a novel political economy. What impact will the virus have on this new status quo?

Tom Ferguson: Big Business Takes Cash as Workers Laid Off, States and Cities Go Bust

Tom Ferguson and Paul Jay discuss how Democrats and Republicans distaste for accountability by finance and big corporations is playing out in the coronacrisis

Some Communities Are Being Forced to Fight School Closures and Privatization in the Midst of the Pandemic

Citizens opposing a school restructuring plan in Minneapolis remind local officials: “The educational system actually belongs to us.”