I've followed the so-called "alternative" news media for some time now. In recent years, as the global economic crisis has grown in severity and the "War on Terror" has morphed into "the Arab Spring", this segment of the news media has really exploded in popularity. Unfortunately, a lot of alternative news sites are presenting information that is often poorly-sourced, exaggerated, based on pure speculation, useless, or otherwise less-than-credible. However, there are a few genuine sources of un-compromised, independently produced, serious news that far exceeds in quality anything published by the corporate, mainstream media.
ALTERNATIVE FINANCIAL NEWS
ZeroHedge -- The best financial news on the internet. The unvarnished, inconvenient truth. Frequent topics of discussion include: the European sovereign debt crisis, the US's trade and budget deficits, the development of the Chinese economy, major geopolitical events, and the US employment situation (among many, many others). Updated continuously throughout the day. Published anonymously. The articles here usually require some prerequisite knowledge of finance and economics. A great place to get an insider look at the global financial markets and learn how the global economy really works.
Max Keiser -- The best financial commentary & opinion on the net. Max Keiser pioneered the technology behind virtual equity exchanges like the Hollywood Stock Exchange. Today he is a financial activist and broadcaster who has been featured on Russia's English-language RT network, Iran's Press TV, Qatar's Al-Jazeera English, and BBC World News. Max exposes the fraudulent, broken financial markets and the financial aristocracy that has led the world into economic depression. Max is also a huge advocate of investment in precious metals.
ALTERNATIVE HEALTH NEWS
Gary Null & the Progressive Radio Network -- Gary Null is an author and talk radio host who focuses on alternative health topics. He frequently discusses alternative therapies for disease-treatment, the use of vitamins and health supplements, diet and nutrition. Many of his views are controversial and he sometimes veers into "Snake Oil Salesman" territory -- advertising supplements with wide-ranging claims of being able to cure serious ailments. Nonetheless, much of the information he presents on the relationship between diet and health is very valuable. He began the Progressive Radio Network (PRN) in order to promote other progressive thinkers through a talk radio format. Popular transmissions include Gary Null's own Gary Null Show and Progressive Commentary Hour, Michael Ruppert's Lifeboat Hour, the Bioneers, and KPFK's Sonali Kolhatkar.
ALTERNATIVE INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Land Destroyer Report -- An in-depth analysis of modern imperialism and resource geopolitics. Exposes the reality of US-sponsored "color revolutions" and the subversion of democracy in the Third World / Global South. Particular focus on the Middle East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Latin America. Argues for self-sufficiency as a political and economic strategy.
Global Research: The Center for Research on Globalization -- A Canadian-based site that consistently puts forth analysis and opinion on global current events from a progressive, anti-globalization, anti-imperialist, anti-war point-of-view. Published by Michel Chossudovsky, an economics professor from the University of Ottawa. Publishes articles from a variety of contributors.
ALTERNATIVE U.S. NEWS
Infowars / Prison Planet -- Alex Jones publishes these enormously popular twin news sites. Their content usually overlaps. Frequent topics include global geopolitics, holistic and "alternative" health, surveillance and the police state, economic collapse, the Second Amendment and gun rights, and strategic relocation. The epicenter of the Patriot Movement. Alex is very close to Ron Paul and the Liberty Movement.
Chris Hedges on Truthdig -- Arguably, the heart and soul of progressivism in the United States today. One of the few genuine, un-compromised progressives left in the Obama era. Mr. Hedges has proven himself unafraid to challenge the Democratic Party and President Obama over their hypocritical continuation of the "War on Terror", their support of the PATRIOT Act and state surveillance, and their total sell-out to the forces of Wall Street. His column and books are must-reads for any self-identified progressive or leftist.
Showing posts with label debt crisis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label debt crisis. Show all posts
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Monday, June 11, 2012
'The Nation' Is Clueless About The Economy, Shills For Obama
The Nation's Bryce Covert argues that "public sector job loss is at the heart of our stagnant economy and is a big reason why the recovery can't get real lift-off."
Underlying Covert's argument is the false assumption that all jobs are made equal. Any economist with even a modicum of sophistication understands that certain types of labor contribute far more to Gross Domestic Product, money circulation, goods output and other productivity metrics than do others. Traditionally, economists have looked upon government as non-productive labor. Government workers do not "add value" in the same way that, say, workers in the primary sector (mining, agriculture) or secondary sector (manufacturing, industry) of the economy do. This is not an alien concept to social democrats or leftists -- most Western European nations utilize a Value Added Tax that is fundamentally tied in to this concept.
Think of the national economy as a factory floor. You have a manufacturing workforce on the assembly line that produces the actual product and you have white-collar administrators who ensure that production is managed efficiently. The administrators are usually a small minority. They represent the so-called "overhead." The Nation would like us to believe that productive and administrative jobs are interchangeable and equally beneficial to the economy. They are not. The Nation would like us to believe that a nation of administrators is no different from a nation that actually produces goods and services. They are wrong on this point as well.
As long as Covert refuses to acknowledge these truths, her economic analysis will remain at the elementary level.
Furthermore, Covert argues that public sector job cuts are the result of an ideological agenda led by the right-wing in the United States. How does she account for the austerity being undertaken across Europe, where leftist governments enjoy far more support? What advice does she have for a nation like Greece, which has very limited access to the bond markets and no budgetary surplus thereby making deficit spending or public sector employment growth a near impossibility? What assurances does she have that the debt crisis afflicting Southern Europe won't soon engulf the U.S., the U.K. and Japan? Why is it that the social democratic premiers of Spain and Greece and former the Mayor of London, the self-declared socialist "Red" Ken Livingstone, all admit that the debt crisis is real and that spending, especially deficit spending, must be limited?
Covert pretends as if Europe does not exist. She pretends as if Scott Walker's victories over public sector unions in Wisconsin are an isolated product of American "ultraconservative Republicans".
The reality is that the events in Wisconsin are intimately tied to the events in Greece, Portugal, Spain, Ireland, and Iceland (and soon Italy). The Keynesian model of endlessly borrowing from the future in order to create make-work jobs (jobs for the sake of jobs, that don't create real physical value) and spur ever-greater consumption is fundamentally unsustainable and has reached a tipping point.
Governments across the so-called 'developed world' are waking up to this and taking action. Governments that act prudently and enforce budgetary discipline will be rewarded. In fact, they already have been to some degree. Germany and Netherlands have both severely limited their government spending. Germany is committed to a balanced budget. Germany's health care system is far more "free-market" than that of most of its Western European neighbors. As a result, they enjoy low unemployment, high income and purchasing power, and governments often run surpluses that allow for generous social benefits. In contrast, countries that are reckless and imprudent with their spending will see themselves slip into vicious cycles of wealth destruction. This has already happened in Greece. The public sector plays a far greater role in the economy in Greece than it does in Northern Europe. Structurally, social welfare schemes are far more generous in Greece than in Northern Europe. Yet Greece has one of the highest unemployment rates in the 'developed world', a declining quality of life (including health-wise), and low purchasing power.
This is the inconvenient truth that The Nation refuses to confront.
Underlying Covert's argument is the false assumption that all jobs are made equal. Any economist with even a modicum of sophistication understands that certain types of labor contribute far more to Gross Domestic Product, money circulation, goods output and other productivity metrics than do others. Traditionally, economists have looked upon government as non-productive labor. Government workers do not "add value" in the same way that, say, workers in the primary sector (mining, agriculture) or secondary sector (manufacturing, industry) of the economy do. This is not an alien concept to social democrats or leftists -- most Western European nations utilize a Value Added Tax that is fundamentally tied in to this concept.
Think of the national economy as a factory floor. You have a manufacturing workforce on the assembly line that produces the actual product and you have white-collar administrators who ensure that production is managed efficiently. The administrators are usually a small minority. They represent the so-called "overhead." The Nation would like us to believe that productive and administrative jobs are interchangeable and equally beneficial to the economy. They are not. The Nation would like us to believe that a nation of administrators is no different from a nation that actually produces goods and services. They are wrong on this point as well.
As long as Covert refuses to acknowledge these truths, her economic analysis will remain at the elementary level.
Furthermore, Covert argues that public sector job cuts are the result of an ideological agenda led by the right-wing in the United States. How does she account for the austerity being undertaken across Europe, where leftist governments enjoy far more support? What advice does she have for a nation like Greece, which has very limited access to the bond markets and no budgetary surplus thereby making deficit spending or public sector employment growth a near impossibility? What assurances does she have that the debt crisis afflicting Southern Europe won't soon engulf the U.S., the U.K. and Japan? Why is it that the social democratic premiers of Spain and Greece and former the Mayor of London, the self-declared socialist "Red" Ken Livingstone, all admit that the debt crisis is real and that spending, especially deficit spending, must be limited?
Covert pretends as if Europe does not exist. She pretends as if Scott Walker's victories over public sector unions in Wisconsin are an isolated product of American "ultraconservative Republicans".
The reality is that the events in Wisconsin are intimately tied to the events in Greece, Portugal, Spain, Ireland, and Iceland (and soon Italy). The Keynesian model of endlessly borrowing from the future in order to create make-work jobs (jobs for the sake of jobs, that don't create real physical value) and spur ever-greater consumption is fundamentally unsustainable and has reached a tipping point.
Governments across the so-called 'developed world' are waking up to this and taking action. Governments that act prudently and enforce budgetary discipline will be rewarded. In fact, they already have been to some degree. Germany and Netherlands have both severely limited their government spending. Germany is committed to a balanced budget. Germany's health care system is far more "free-market" than that of most of its Western European neighbors. As a result, they enjoy low unemployment, high income and purchasing power, and governments often run surpluses that allow for generous social benefits. In contrast, countries that are reckless and imprudent with their spending will see themselves slip into vicious cycles of wealth destruction. This has already happened in Greece. The public sector plays a far greater role in the economy in Greece than it does in Northern Europe. Structurally, social welfare schemes are far more generous in Greece than in Northern Europe. Yet Greece has one of the highest unemployment rates in the 'developed world', a declining quality of life (including health-wise), and low purchasing power.
This is the inconvenient truth that The Nation refuses to confront.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)