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America’s Broken Democracy

Jeffrey Sachs Project Syndicate
Behind the formal structures of a once-functioning democracy is a political system run by corporate interests with the cynical aims of cutting taxes on the rich, selling weapons, and polluting with impunity. In Trump, they have found a shameless frontman.

books

Why Are Economists Giving Piketty the Cold Shoulder?

Marshall Steinbaum Boston Review
Piketty's radical and largely on-target critique of contemporary capitalism, the reviewer says, was mostly greeted with hostility by the economics establishment, when not simply ignored, stonewalling Capital in the Twenty-First Century, so it would not have the impact on economics research agendas that it merits, particularly in explaining inequality — in effect a dead zone in mainstream economic analysis. The reviewer thinks much can be gleaned from Piketty's work.

Friday Nite Videos -- March 10, 2017

Portside
No, Ben Carson, Slaves Weren't 'Immigrants'. The State That Beat Trump's Travel Ban Is Back in Court. The Dalai Lama: John Oliver. How Jails Extort the Poor | Salil Dudani. The Doomsday Clock, Explained.

What Explains the Racial Wealth Divide?

Josh Hoxie Inequality
A new study shows the legacy of racism far outweighs individual financial decisions in driving the growing gap between black and white families.

Stiglitz: Trumpian Uncertainty

Joseph E. Stiglitz Project Syndicate
Fire-breathing rhetoric, or raving three a.m. tweets, may assuage the anger of those left behind by the Reagan revolution, at least for a while. But for how long? And what happens then?
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