Category Archives: Free markets and their discontents

Coronavirus-Induced Food Supply Disruptions Hitting Farmers, Poor Consumers

Food scarcity is already starting to bite in the US and is likely to become a serious problem in much of the world.

Become a Manufacturing Powerhouse in 2020—An Economic Recipe for Our Times

On bringing manufacturing back home.

Inequality and the Coronavirus: Destroying American Society From the Top Down

Coronavirus is exposing the severity of inequality in the US, particulary limited access to health care and the health costs of poverty.

Replacing Workers Has Many Costs

Companies remains short-sighted about the cost of ditching workers.

Who Benefits When the Price of Insulin Soars?

Contrary to pharmaceutical company claims, revenue from high insulin prices are going to shareholders, not R&D

How COVID-19 Showed America’s Dependence on Blue-Collar Workers

The outbreak of “hero” talk is a long-overdue admission that blue-collar workers are the backbone of the US economy. Time to pay them more.

Lockdown Rebelliousness: Denying that Coronavirus Is in Charge

The supposed irresistable force of the economy is losing out to the immovable object of the coronavirus.

Taleb: The Only Man Who Has A Clue

A recap of what Taleb and his fellow complex systems analysts have been saying about coronavirus. Not pretty.

The New Fault Lines in a Post-Globalized World

Coronavirus is smashing up the economic and political order. What sort of world comes next?

Some Comments on the Sanders Campaign

Thoughts on the Sanders kneecapping.

Mark Blyth and Jeffrey Sommers: Austerity – A Dangerous Idea Returns

Why more austerity is one of the worst possible responses to the pandemic….yet the US is seeing even more of it.

The Coming Battle for the COVID-19 Narrative

Will the disruption of Covid-19 deal a major blow to market ideology?

The Use and Abuse of MMT

Using government spending power to bail out financiers and rentiers makes a travesty of MMT.