11 Matching Annotations
  1. Apr 2023
    1. Based on yesterday's discussion at Dan Allosso's Book Club, we don't include defense spending into the consumer price index for calculating inflation or other market indicators. What other things (communal goods) aren't included into these measures, but which potentially should be to take into account the balance of governmental spending versus individual spending. It seems unfair that individual sectors, particularly those like defense contracting which are capitalistic in nature, but which are living on governmental rent extraction, should be free from the vagaries of inflation?

      Throwing them into the basket may create broader stability for the broader system and act as a brake via feedback mechanisms which would push those corporations to work for the broader economic good, particularly when they're taking such a large piece of the overall pie.

      Similarly how might we adjust corporate tax rates with respect to the level of inflation to prevent corporate price gouging during times of inflation which seems to be seen in the current 2023 economic climate. Workers have seen some small gains in salary since the pandemic, but inflationary pressures have dramatically eaten into these taking the gains and then some back into corporate coffers. The FED can increase interest rates to effect some change, but this doesn't change corporate price gouging in any way, tax or other policies will be necessary to do this.

  2. Sep 2022
    1. Indicative of howclose many Americans are to poverty, a recent study by the Federal ReserveBank found that 37 percent of Americans do not have enough savings put asideto protect them from a $400 emergency.20
      1. Federal Reserve Bank, “Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2019” (Washington DC: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 2020).
  3. Jul 2021
    1. BlackRock employs a stable of former policymakers, underscoring the importance the company occupies in both financial and policymaking ecosystems, in something akin to a shadow government entity.[157] Good government groups have documented 118 examples of “revolving door” activity by the company—cases in which a government official joined BlackRock’s roster, or vice versa.[158] In one particularly troubling example of how Washington’s revolving door operates, in 2017, a former BlackRock executive was put in charge of reviewing the FSOC’s work for the Treasury Department.[159] Unsurprisingly, the Department’s conclusion was that FSOC should “prioritize its efforts to address risks to financial stability through a process that emphasizes an activities-based or industry-wide approach,” the company’s preferred position.[160] This conclusion all but ensures that BlackRock will not be designated for greater regulation by the FSOC under the Trump administration.

      To Big To Fail? Above The Law? Shadow Government?

      The term "shadow government" comes up often when investigating Revolving Door partnerships between corporations and former government policymakers. One particular public corporation, BlackRock Investments is the poster child of revolving door activity and comparisons to a shadow government.

      BlackRock is front and center in the manipulation of todays Real Estate bubble.

      BlackRock should be marketed as;*The Largest Asset Manager and Keeper of The Neo-liberal Flame; We Kill Children to Make You Money and We Enjoy Doing It!*

  4. Aug 2020
  5. Apr 2016
  6. Oct 2015
    1. The parallels with the 1970s are uncanny—including the immediate easy-money response of the Federal Reserve in 2007–08, which will almost certainly generate strong currents of uncontrollable inflation,

      Sometimes there isn't an easy fix for the repercussions of an easy fix we made before to a previous issue.. Instead of a band aid, we need to input the necessary monetary/other resources to completely fix the issue, or it will be a constantly recurring issue

  7. Jul 2015