Econamici blog

Why I’m Supporting Micah Lasher for Congress

Like his mentor Jerry Nadler, Micah is a professional politician in the best sense: personally unpretentious, deeply concerned with advancing the public interest, skilled in designing legislation and organizing support to get it passed. In short, he is a true leader.
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Mamdani Needs to Catch the Value Capture Bus

Mamdani is already targeted by big real estate. He has nothing to lose from proposing a tax on properties near bus stops to cover the $800 million cost of free bus fares.
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Thomas Haines, Biochemist Who Founded the CUNY Medical School, Dies at 90

He overcame a childhood in an orphanage and personal tragedies to found an innovative medical school to affordably educate minority and other disadvantaged students. In 2020, he was recognized for his achievement by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
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True Affirmative Action: Give Those Without Privilege a Fighting Chance to Get Privilege

Among successful people who start from nothing, some take all the credit themselves and despise those left behind. Witness that member of the Horatio Alger Club, Justice Clarence Thomas. Others acknowledge the help they received and devote themselves to giving back. Witness investigative journalist Greg Palast, scourge of vote-suppressing politicians.
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Debt Relief for Whom? Part II

Christopher Leonard explains how Federal Reserve bailouts “went to large corporations that used borrowed money to buy out their competitors; it went to the very richest of Americans who owned the majority of assets; it went to the riskiest of financial speculators on Wall Street, who use borrowed money to
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Debt Relief for Whom? Part I

The student debt burden has grown from about $481 billion in 2006 to $1,476 billion in 2022. Just wiping it all out would be unfair, because more than half is owed to relatively-high income professionals. Richard Vague proposes that the federal government should expand an existing program, to allow such
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The Last Tour Guide to Leave Cuba

Mike in hand, our tour guide stands at the front of the bus. “This will be my last tour,” she announces. “I am not the same person I was six years ago. Then I was hopeful. There was so much work I didn’t have time for a break. Now it’s
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Survival of the Richest Turfholders, Not the Fittest Individuals

In any species, occupants of superior habitats enjoy extra food, or better shelter, or better mating opportunities. This reduces survival pressure,allowing many varieties to thrive despite apparently "unfit" features. Only recently have ecologists recognized the impact of inherited wealth in animal societies.
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Henry George: Prophet of the Gilded Age

In 1873, Mark Twain published his satirical novel, The Gilded Age, an era magnificently recreated in all its greed, ruthlessness and ostentation in the new HBO series of the same name. Railroads were the hot investment of the day, fueling a frenzy of land speculation. In September of that year,
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Tom Haines Jay Walks Again

I have reluctantly placed Tom at 305 West End Assisted Living on the locked 6th floor.
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