By Nancy Spannaus Nov. 29, 2018—Forget the stock market, inflation, and the jobs figures. According to the most vital measures of the U.S. economy, the fundamentals are very unsound. U.S. life-expectancy at birth decreased again in 2017, according to statistics released today by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). This […]
Nov. 14, 2018—U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), who was re-elected on Nov. 6, has put himself on record calling for the creation of a national infrastructure bank. According to an Oct. 19 report on WJLS News, a Beckley radio station, Manchin raised the issue during a candidates’ forum with his […]
Nov. 14, 2018—Delegate Sam Rasoul, who represents the 11th District in the Virginia House of Delegates, penned an oped in the Roanoke Times Nov. 11, in which he sought to direct attention to one of the fundamental economic crises facing the state, and implicitly the nation. Under the title “The […]
Nov. 9, 2018—Speaking to CNBC on Nov. 8, former U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood laid out his current thinking on the prospects for a bipartisan Federal infrastructure plan. LaHood, a former Transportation Secretary and long-time proponent of major federal infrastructive spending, pinned his hopes on President Trump supporting an increase […]
October 20, 2018—On October 16, a huge step forward was taken for the African continent, with the signing of an agreement between Italy and the Lake Chad Basin Commission to fund a feasibility study of the Transaqua water project. Francesco La Camera, director general of the Italian Environment ministry, and […]
Oct. 18, 2018—To the chagrin of the international financial institutions, the FDR tradition is showing itself to be alive and well in Italy. Most upsetting to the powers-that-be has been the Italian government’s determination to break the EU’s budget austerity rules, in the interest of fulfilling some of its promises […]
Oct. 4, 2018—Passage of the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act, an omnibus bill purported to deal with the acknowledged public health emergency known as the opioid epidemic, with overwhelming bipartisan support in both Houses of Congress, is being heralded as a great achievement. In fact, from every point of […]
Sept. 21, 2018—An article in the monthly magazine Industry Week came across my desk this morning, and it was a pleasure to read. Under the title “How Financialization Is Starving Manufacturing,” author Michael Collins reviews the work of Rana Faroohar, who, in her book Makers and Takers, systematically laid out […]
Sept. 8, 2018—The National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions (NAFCU) makes a strong case for reinstating the Glass-Steagall Act, as a means of protecting their institutions and the U.S. economy in a policy paper released earlier this week. “Modernizing Financial Services: The Glass-Steagall Act Revisited” reviews the way in which […]
August 17, 2018—Once again, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has issued a report which should shake Americans to the core. On Aug. 15 the CDC issued a preliminary estimate that 72,000 people died of opioid overdoses in 2017, a figure which represents a 7 to 10% increase over 2016. […]
