Rethinking the Economy

Two interesting clips from Rachel Maddow’s show last week on talking about government.
From an attack ad by Republican Sue Lowden, who’s trying to unseat Harry Reid:
Harry Reid‘s big government health care plan will raise taxes, put a bureaucrat between you and your doctor, weaken Medicare, kill jobs, push us further into debt. [...]

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If Adam Smith’s “Invisible Hand” obscures how much the market is actively shaped by players, what’s a better metaphor?
How about the Visible Toes?
Visible — we actively shape the market…
Toes — but only somewhat. You can close — or nudge — a door with your toes. But drawing an accurate plan of a [...]

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My Latest shot at a framework:
The economy is like a game where players get to set some of the rules.
Let’s break it down.
Rules: either through the government or through other forms of power, players can set/change some of the rules of the game. Some of these rules benefit small sets of players, like [...]

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[Part 6 of the Beyond the Underpants Gnomes series, a response to Bill McKibben]
Taking on corporations around the globe may sound insanely ambitious, but boring it’s not. But using local/state government? It’s more Kumbaya than Mortal Kombat. Sure, there’s evil here — just ask the environmental justice groups who fight [...]

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One of the many benefits of playing big on the Corporate Accountability Board is that it gives an assist to other players. Take Newsweek’s interview with 5 of the 800 CEOs who’ve signed the Copenhagen Communiqué on Climate Change. Newsweek asked:
Isn’t there an inherent contradiction between the interests of business and the environment?
Reinoldo [...]

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Can we create rules to stop Wall Street from ripping us off? No, says Wall Street. You aren’t smart enough to understand what we do. Your rules and regulators will just get stomped by traders. All your pathetic attempt to keep up with us will do is stifle innovation. So shut up and let [...]

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According to Wired’s Spencer Reiss, Copenhagen is too little too late:
The really inconvenient truth: We’re toast. Fried. Steamed. Poached. More so than even many hand-wringing carbonistas admit. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, C02 that’s already in the air or in the pipeline will stoke “irreversible” warming for the next 1,000 years. [...]

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Speaking of thieves, it’s not everyday that a former CEO lays out how stacked the deck has become against working families. Atlantic blogger Mike Konczal on a recent Frontline special on the credit card industry:
[It] traces a narrative of the changing nature of credit and debit cards, where services and goods became [...]

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Normally I’m too cynical to get pissed off when I read the news. But reading about how Wall Street’s looting local taxpayers made me so furious I’ve been stewing over how we let ourselves get so screwed. What would’ve happened if Obama had cut a tougher deal right at the start?
Take the bailout of [...]

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From inside US Trade, courtesy of David Sirota:
Business groups are worried by the potential effects of provisions banning the import of all goods made with convict labor, forced labor, or forced or indentured child labor that were included in a customs bill sponsored by Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) and Ranking Member Charles [...]

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