The events in the German Democratic Republic (GDR), as in the rest of Eastern Europe, have come at a time when the world market dominates as never before the various national economies. The reign of capital is today less open …
The “leveraged buyout,” dramatized last fall by the struggle over RJR Nabisco and the $25 billion paid by a Wall Street firm mostly through debt instruments, has been only part of the wave of mergers and acquisitions, by far the …
The more thoughtful leaders of the American establishment realize that serious economic problems will be inherited from the Reagan administration. These include enormous budget and balance-of-trade deficits; a banking structure weakened by deregulation and vast indebtedness not only of developing …
The author opposes the participation of socialists in the electoral politics of the Democratic party, arguing that such participation cannot advance socialist objectives since the Democratic party represents capitalist interests. Although it is intended to apply pressure from working people …
The “tax reform” legislation—which at this writing still awaits final approval by Congress and the president—has been acclaimed by conservatives and liberals alike. It would presumably distribute the tax burden more fairly, exempt most low-income earners or radically reduce their …
Reaganomics represents a new economic policy, one that in principle seeks to curtail or abandon public service and oversight and replace it by presumably more efficient private agents. True, the stress Reaganomics places on competitiveness and profitability as regulatory mechanisms …
Notwithstanding the vigorous economic up-swing that began early in 1983 and continues at this writing, if at a slower pace, the American labor movement remains on the defensive. Its wage settlements have shrunk—in 1984, major collective bargaining contracts provided the …
Notwithstanding the vigorous economic upswing that began early in 1983 and continues at this writing, if at a slower pace, the American labor movement remains on the defensive. Its wage settlements have shrunk—in 1984, major collective bargaining contracts provided the …
In his article, “Human Capital and Economic Policy” (Dissent, Summer 1983), Robert B. Reich offers a critique of current corporate and government programs for improving the skills of the American work force. He describes some of the impediments to the …
A central problem of the American economy has been its cyclical volatility. Swings of widening magnitude have dogged it since the mid-1960s. Industrial production—to take but one indicator— fell 12 percent in 1981-82, somewhat less than in 1974-75, but it …
The economic and social situation of American workers is deteriorating. The purchasing power of their earnings is declining, and that decline is barely offset by family incomes bolstered by the earnings of a working wife. Workers’ families thus must work …
The Carter administration, with the support of key congressional committees, has deliberately fostered recession and unemployment, and has steadily curtailed expenditures for human services. Thereby the pattern of “political business cycles,” previously associated with Republican administrations, continues. While the circumstances …
I will offer here some thoughts about a recently published book by Fred Hirsch, Social Limits to Growth. The title seems to place the book in the framework of debates over the physical “limits to growth,” but its subject bears …
Poverty in the United States remains a widespread and persistent problem. In 1975 the Census Bureau reported that nearly 26 million persons had incomes, or were living in households having incomes, that fell below the so-called poverty threshold ($5,500 for …
The idea of a potential capital shortage has been insistently argued by Administration officials and given academic respectability by Harvard professors and Brookings Institution researchers. It has also gained wide currency by alarming projections and been the subject of inquiry …
