Policy & Values
Is California Really Broke?
Submitted by AlexWalker on Tue, 05/20/2008 - 10:46pm.FREE PUBLIC HEARING
ON THE CALIFORNIA STATE BUDGET
Thursday, May 22, 2008
7:00 pm – 8:30 PM
Holy Faith Episcopal Church
260 N. Locust Street, Inglewood, CA
SPEAKER:
Nancy Berlin, Director, California Partnership
CAP is a coalition of over 40 Californian anti-poverty grassroots organizations
GUEST OF HONOR:
Curran Price, CA State Assembly
QUESTION AND ANSWER:
Walter Johnson, Holy Faith Episcopal
Justice and Mercy Commission
ACTION STEPS:
Cathy Deppe, 9to5 Los Angeles
National Association of Working Women
For More Info: Walter Johnson 310-450-5017
Technorati Tags: Comic relief... and a 2nd more serious video
Submitted by Steve.Loebs on Mon, 03/31/2008 - 12:01pm.Here is a funny video of Robert Reich expressing his views on the economy. He will be one of the guests on "Real Time with Bill Maher" next Friday.
Although he is a loyal Democrat (nobody is perfect), he is one of the brightest of the mainstream voices.
The next video is 3 years old next Saturday, but Reich describes the cause of the economic problem from another angle.
The "I" word before the "D" word...then comes the "F" word
Submitted by Steve.Loebs on Thu, 03/27/2008 - 3:08am.This Reuters article does a pretty good job explaining the likely scenario that will set off the rapid rise of inflation that I predict will be stage #1 of the economic melt down.
However, if I am wrong, then stage #1 will be skipped and we will likely experience stage #2 sooner. Stage #2 being rapidly deflating asset prices -- i.e., economic depression.
Bruce Perens for OSI board
Submitted by Cameron on Fri, 03/21/2008 - 8:38pm.Bruce Perens is running for the board of the Open Source Initiative. OSI is one of the principal guardians of software and information freedom. Its board is tilted towards companies that profit from open source products they control. Bruce will balance that tilt by representing us. He did a damn good job as leader of the Debian organization.
money
Submitted by PKrumm on Thu, 03/20/2008 - 11:08pm.With the current instability in the national money system, we have to understand that it is the structure of how money is created that has led to this state of affairs. First we must recognize what money is. It is not stuff in the usual sense. It is an agreement to use an accounting system as a means of exchange.
Money is presently created out of nothing by the Federal Reserve (a super bank, owned by the banking industry, not the Federal Government) and within guidelines set by the Federal Reserve by commercial banks.
What's wrong with a 'missile shield'
Submitted by Cameron on Sat, 02/09/2008 - 3:24pm.Kent Mesplay asked for policy advice about the current "star wars" weapons proposal.
"Missile shields" are an economic, technological, and foreign policy disaster.
Ecology and Green Politics Part III - Choose your future
Submitted by wrolley on Fri, 02/08/2008 - 11:29pm.This is not what I intended to write next. However, when I ran across the webcast the Ed Mazria did this past week, I have no option but to focus the rest of this on just that It only takes 30 minutes to watch, but you could learn how to save a planet.
Economy Forecast - Feb Update
Submitted by Steve.Loebs on Mon, 02/04/2008 - 2:27pm.Yesterday, Fortune Magazine published an article about the latest views from Jim Rogers. You may recall that I mentioned Rogers in an earlier blog post . His forecast for the US economy has become even gloomier. It, once again, explains why he chose to move his family out of the country to Singapore.
California's "Green" Governor
Submitted by wrolley on Sat, 01/26/2008 - 12:44am.I find it amazing just how often Ahnuld is held up as the Green governor example for all to see. Well, maybe in comparison to some that might be the case. However, I would like the rest of the world to see what one California thinks of T3. The author of this is the editor of a West Coast magazine dedicated to fishing. I just recieved a press release in my email.
About "free speech" in a limited medium
Submitted by Cameron on Thu, 01/24/2008 - 2:53pm.Most Greens are fairly new to email. Not only did they miss the orientation, but they've never known a mailbox without spam. Hardly any of us have used Usenet News. Over half of us use corporate "free" email which is provided to deliver advertisements and collect consumer information for data mining, and have never known professional email, but don't realize how bad the service we've chosen is.
Balanced Budget Amendment
Submitted by Steve.Loebs on Tue, 01/22/2008 - 1:24am.It has been suggested by some that the Green Party ought to support an amendment to the US Constitution requiring the federal government to balance the budget each fiscal year. Although I appreciate the application of fiscal responsibility and I can understand the appeal, forcing a balanced budget is not sound policy and precludes the use of Keynesian fiscal policy prescriptions.
The Paradox of Taxation?
Submitted by Steve.Loebs on Mon, 01/21/2008 - 11:46pm.In another blog installment today titled Corporate Tax Jujitsu I advocated a tax reform that would increase personal income taxation on the high-income earners in a progressive fashion.
The current orthodox economic view of increasing taxation on the wealthiest is that it will harm the economy and paradoxically lower total tax receipts. Their assertion is that growth solves all economic problems; savings provides the engine for growth; and that the wealthiest save the most of their incomes. They conclude that lowering the taxes of rich people actually enables the Treasury to collect more taxes from a larger economy.
Corporate Tax Jujitsu
Submitted by Steve.Loebs on Mon, 01/21/2008 - 8:37pm.The business conservatives are screaming for a corporate income tax cut. They claim that the tax rate that US corporations must pay is far higher than their overseas competitors. They are right...kind of. Some are screaming for the rate to be dropped to 25%. We should publicly agree and take it to the extreme by calling for the rate to be cut to 0%.
The Green Party ought to apply a surprising jujitsu move by coming out strongly in favor of the complete elimination of corporate income taxation. After you lift your jaw up off the floor, hear me out.
Ecology and Politics Part I.
Submitted by wrolley on Sun, 01/20/2008 - 8:12pm.I have given a lot of thought about the relationship between the ideas of deep ecology and the politics of the Green Party. I have never before tried to put my ideas down in a concrete statement as to why I believe that this relationship is critical to the success of the party.
This is rather long, but probably needs to be. I will need to follow it up with further explorations of the topic over the next several weeks.
Short-term Fiscal Stimulus Frenzy on the HIll
Submitted by Steve.Loebs on Thu, 01/17/2008 - 2:18pm.Washington is a buzz with the idea of providing a short-term fiscal policy stimulus. The rhetoric regards "concern for Americans" and "doing the right thing for America." The reality is that this gimmick is about vote buying.
This tiny demand-side stimulus is far too small to have any lasting impact, likely to be taken back via the inflationary effect, and fails to address the real problem at hand: long-term income distribution.
