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Week-end Wrap – Political Economy – January 22, 2023

by Tony Wikrent

 

Strategic Political Economy

How Much Income Do You Need to Be Rich? 

[Of Dollars And Data, The Big Picture 1-19-2023]

Based on the 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances, what are the top 10%, top 5%, and top 1% of household incomes in the U.S.? We take a high level overview of how much income the highest earning households make so that you can determine for yourself what it means to be rich…

A new book from Edward Elgar Publishing in association with GIMMS

The Gower Initiative for Modern Money Studies
Modern Monetary Theory: Key Insights, Leading Thinkers

The right wing media is making a huge deal out of Chief of Staff Ron Klain’s resignation, insisting that it has something to do with the document pseudo-scandal. The mainstream media hasn’t gone there yet, merely juxtaposing the two events in ways that insinuate without saying it. As a matter of fact, Klain had said he was resigning some months back and then they agreed that he would stay on for a while longer. It has nothing to do with the documents. And let’s be clear about something, if we’re going to compare Biden and Trump, take a look at the turnover, particularly how many of his top staff resigned under pressure, in the first two years of his administration: Set out below is a list of the senior level departures from the executive office of the president since the beginning of the Trump administration (each of the 65 “A Team” positions is only counted once toward the turnover rate, thus, this chart only includes the first person to hold/depart a given position).

Contemporary Australia is not the wayward step-child of Britain. It was created in our own country. Is it time to establish an Australia Day freed from the dark shadows cast by the now discredited British Empire? Debate about Australia Day began early this year. The Albanese government rescinded the regulations which forced local government to Continue reading »

An extremist Israeli government insists that apartheid policies will be permanent, that the 2022 slaughter of Palestinians will be repeated, that settler stealing and violence will be ignored and international law derided. In these circumstances, surely no Australian citizen, let alone a politician, could justify such policies? Incredulity about Israeli army, police and settler impunity Continue reading »

In recent months, Sinophobia in the mainstream media in the West, in particular in the United States, has resulted in widespread condemnation of China for its undemocratic and repressive social credit system. Never mind America has something similar. There are also big dissimilarities between China and the U.S. in this realm that beg to be Continue reading »

It’s time for the Australian Republic Movement to move on from the minimalist campaign of the 1990s and embrace reform of our archaic constitution. In 1999 those who campaigned for a Republic during the 1990s were at pains to point out that nothing else would change. Only the Head of State would be an Australian Continue reading »

As some gather to honour the passing of Cardinal George Pell, I lament what the Church has become under clerics like him. When I was a priest (1975-1980), the Church had a credible voice, and priests were respected as pastoral leaders. With some hope for the future, my feelings lately are of sadness. The recent Continue reading »

The connection between economic integration and political security has long attracted attention. Integration through intensive trade and investment relations has led to greater interdependence and made conflict more costly, helping states to maintain peace and stability. But interdependence can also increase the risk that geopolitical tensions might turn into open conflict. The situation in East Continue reading »

For those of you who remember the embarrassment of the Times coverage of the “Whitewater” scandal, it must seem like déjà vu all over again. It does to me. The paper’s editors are trying, and I mean really trying, to make the Biden classified documents issue a thing. And I mean a grave thing. The stage was ably set by the subject line of the email I received blasting out their latest deep dive on the story: “Inside Biden’s 68 days of silence.” It’s this like a Gabriel García Márquez homage? I mean good lord. Are we really doing this again? Of course we are. It’s how they roll. I took the liberty of a short set of annotations. That’s from Josh Marshall who does an excellent job of analyzing the rapidly escalating hysteria around Joe Biden’s classified documents. I, of course, remember Whitewater as I’m sure quite a few of you do too.

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I know no reads this blog, but I just wanted to paste the shockingly positive reviews Bea Wolf has gotten so far. More are on the way, but are under wraps for now. Thanks unending to all of you for putting me in a position to have the intellectual time to develop the skills to create such a risky book, and for the financial and career stability to then actually take the risk.

The Stable Diffusion version of “The Death of Sardanapalus”

Remember the fuss over a different one? The twice-impeached, much-investigated instigator of the Jan. 6 insurrection was in North Carolina on Saturday for the memorial service of Ineitha Lynette Hardaway, a.k.a. “Diamond” of the right-wing political duo Diamond and Silk. The memorial service at Fayetteville’s Crown Theater was not the political rally for himself that Donald Trump had hoped. Size matters to him. He didn’t get it. The Fayetteville Observer reports that just over 150 people attended the event in the theater that holds 2,400. Donald Trump’s audience was smaller and the event took longer than he’d expected. Still, the memorial service did resemble a Trump rally. Yes, the pillow guy was at Hardaway’s funeral … to praise Donald Trump. Trump’s eulogy had plenty of his usual shtick. Those of a certain age will recall what a fuss Republicans and conservative pundits raised in 2002 over the memorial service for Sen. Paul Wellstone of Minnesota.

By Nancy Snyder / CounterPunch On Tuesday, January 10,  the United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the matter of Glacier Northwest, Inc. v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local Union 174. If Glacier Northwest prevails, the Supreme Court ruling will make it far easier for alleged labor disputes that result in damage to company property, to […]

The post Is SCOTUS on the Verge of Dismantling Labor and the Administrative State in One Blow? appeared first on scheerpost.com.

Reducing a humanitarian crisis to an issue of “border security” puts real solutions out of reach.

The post Beyond the ‘Border Crisis’ appeared first on scheerpost.com.

Peru has large reserves of copper, gold, zinc, silver, lead, iron, and natural gas. After a coup overthrew left-wing President Pedro Castillo, the US ambassador, CIA veteran Lisa Kenna, met with mining and energy ministers to discuss “investments”. Europe is importing Peruvian LNG to replace Russian energy.

The post Peru’s Natural Resources: CIA-Linked US Ambassador Meets With Mining and Energy Ministers to Talk ‘Investments’ appeared first on scheerpost.com.

Will Labour dare to throw out child Holocaust survivor from Starmer’s own constituency for speaking about his experience? The Socialist Labour Network is holding a Zoom event this Friday to discuss ‘reclaiming the memory’ of all who died in the Holocaust. The event will feature survivors and authors – including a child survivor of the […]

Scotland has no shortage of dreadful right wing judges, but as the very epitome of reactionary conservatism, one gobsmacking judgment from Perth Sheriff Michael Fletcher stands out. In a major rowing back of Scotland’s right to roam legislation contained in the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003, Sheriff Fletcher ruled that plebs must not be allowed […]

The post Ann Gloag and Human Traffic appeared first on Craig Murray.

Citizen Bezos’ latest visit to the Washington Post newsroom explains why independent media is so necessary.

Every Sunday evening I blog about the geek-friendly radio shows the BBC are putting out in the forthcoming week! All of the following can be either listened to live or downloaded afterwards on the BBC Sounds app, no matter where you are in the world. Here we go! Monday 23rd January 9am/9.30pm: Start the Week ... Read More

The evil genius of clown politics George Santos (if that is his name) is more than a Strangelovian political farce. More than a Republican “How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love a Bum.” Merely laughing at him, writes The Atlantic‘s David Graham, is missing the darker implications for our politics. Do not let your amusement, he warns, “eclipse the horror of such a candidate reaching office and the consequences for Congress and the American political system’s remaining shreds of repute.” Yes, Santos (if that is his name) duped voters in his district. Yes, he ought to be investigated for laws he may have broken in running. But the fact of his being elected just two years after a violent insurrection instigated over bogus allegations of a stolen election adds an element of tragedy. The fact that Santos (if that is his name) ran and won election to the U.S. House as an even phonier business success than Donald J.

In today's BCTV Daily Dispatch: Jeremy Renner, Doctor Who, James Gunn/DC Studios, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, The Three-Body Problem & more!

The Supreme Court investigation report on how the Dobbs draft got out offers lessons for future leakers everywhere.

The post How to Leak From the Supreme Court appeared first on The Intercept.

The World Economic Forum, which concluded on Friday, provides clues as to why European leaders would sacrifice their national economies for the war in Ukraine.