economics
Introducing the Robin Hood tax
Notes from a talk at Occupy Wellington on October 29, 2011, to coincide with the #RobinHood global march
By Grant Brookes, Tax Justice Campaign (New Zealand)
The campaign for a Robin Hood tax began a little over 18 months ago with a little-noticed launch in London. Supporters from a handful of British charities, faith groups and trade unions projected images onto the Bank of England, in an effort to lobby the British government to introduce a new tax on banks to tackle poverty and climate change. Today, it has become a global movement.
It's easy to see why it has been taken up by large parts of the Occupy movement, which also began as a small gathering on Wall Street opposing US corporate greed and the role of the top 1% in dictating priorities in Washington. That too has now become a global awakening.
The euro on a knife edge: Are the Greeks to blame? What is the left position on the euro crisis?
On October 19 and 20, 2011, Greece will be stopped by the latest in a series of general strikes against austerity. Above and below: Workers march on October 19.
By Lee Sustar
Martin Hart-Landsberg: Troubling economic trends for US workers
By Martin Hart-Landsberg
John Bellamy Foster: The ecology of Marxian political economy
[This article is an extended version of a talk delivered at the Marxism 2011 Conference, University College of London, July 3, 2011.
Martin Hart-Landsberg: The troubled US economy means a shaky world economy
By Martin Hart-Landsberg
August 15, 2011 -- Reports from the Economic Front, posted at Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal with Martin Hart-Landsberg's permission -- The US economy is in trouble and that means trouble for the world economy. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s Trade and Development Report, 2010, “Buoyant consumer demand in the United States was the main driver of global economic growth for many years in the run-up to the current global economic crisis.”
Before the crisis, US household consumption accounted for approximately 16 per cent of total global output, with imports comprising a significant share and playing a critical role in supporting growth in other countries. In fact, “as a result of global production sharing, United States consumer spending increas[ed] global economic activities in many indirect ways as well (e.g. business investments in countries such as Germany and Japan to produce machinery for export to China and its use there for the manufacture of exports to the United States)”.
Iceland’s loud 'No!': Can't pay, won't pay
By Silla Sigurgeirsdóttir and Robert H. Wade