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  • Monthly Review Essays

About Martin Hart-Landsberg

Martin Hart-Landsberg is Professor Emeritus of Economics at Lewis and Clark College, Portland, Oregon; and Adjunct Researcher at the Institute for Social Sciences, Gyeongsang National University, South Korea. His areas of teaching and research include political economy, economic development, international economics, and the political economy of East Asia. He is also a member of the Workers' Rights Board (Portland, Oregon) and maintains a blog Reports from the Economic Front where this article first appeared.
  • WAMU Coronavirus Latest: Maryland's Unemployment Insurance Portal Again ...

    Victory: Ohio’s plan to deny workers their unemployment insurance is shelved

    Originally published: Reports from the Economic Front on May 18, 2020 (more by Reports from the Economic Front)

    In early May, Ohio Republican Governor Mike DeWine began reopening the state economy. And to support business and slash state expenses, both at worker expense, he had a “COVID-19 Fraud” form put up on the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services website where employers could confidentially report employees “who quit or refuse work when it is available due to COVID-19.”

  • jan saudek Follow Fire Married Women The Great Depression ( 1929 -1938 ) had devastating effects in both rich and poor countries. There were few women in the labor force in 1929, but those that did work were typically found in light manufacturing work. However, across America, because of an acute shortage of this kind of work, there was a widespread popular movement which sought to limit families to one paid job and to reserve all these jobs for men ( thanks to Jeff Wharton for re enactor photo and Shorpy for background photo )

    The 1930s and now: Looking back to move forward

    Originally published: Reports from the Economic Front on May 1, 2020 (more by Reports from the Economic Front)

    While there are great differences between the crises and political movements and possibilities of the 1930s and now, there are also important lessons that can be learned from the efforts of activists to build mass movements for social transformation during the Great Depression. My aim in this paper is to illuminate the challenges faced and choices made by these activists and draw out some of the relevant lessons for contemporary activists seeking to advance a Green New Deal.

  • Wikimedia Commons File:Columbus, OH - COVID 02.jpg - Wikimedia Commons

    Coronavirus: a return to normal is not good enough

    Originally published: Reports from the Economic Front on April 18, 2020 (more by Reports from the Economic Front)

    We shouldn’t be satisfied with a return to normalcy. We need a “new normal.”

  • 'Make Detroit the engine of the Green New Deal' (Photo: Wikicommons)

    The Green New Deal and the State: Lessons from World War II—Part I

    Originally published: Reports from the Economic Front on April 7, 2020 (more by Reports from the Economic Front)

    There is growing interest in a Green New Deal, but far too little discussion among supporters about the challenging nature of the required economic transformation, the necessary role of public planning and ownership in shaping it, or the strategies necessary to institutionalize a strong worker-community voice in the process and final outcome.

  • Cheapism Blog 76 Quality Products That Are Still Made in the USA | Cheapism.com

    Health check: U.S. manufacturing is in trouble

    Originally published: Reports from the Economic Front on February 18, 2020 (more by Reports from the Economic Front)

    President Trump is all in, touting his success in rebuilding U.S. manufacturing.  For example, in his state of the union address he claimed: We are restoring our nation’s manufacturing might, even though predictions were that this could never be done. After losing 60,000 factories under the previous two administrations, America has now gained 12,000 new […]

  • Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

    Climate change, the Green New Deal, and the struggle for climate justice

    Originally published: Reports from the Economic Front on January 27, 2020 (more by Reports from the Economic Front)

    Most calls for a Green New Deal correctly emphasize that it must include a meaningful commitment to climate justice. That is because climate change—for reasons of racism and capitalist profit-making—disproportionately punishes frontline communities, especially communities of color and low-income.

  • Income Inequality | 4 Ways Government Policy Favors the Rich

    When it comes to pay, U.S. business leaders are world champs

    Originally published: Reports from the Economic Front on January 17, 2020 (more by Reports from the Economic Front)

    U.S. CEOs not only draw the highest salaries (including bonuses and equity awards, etc.), but they are king of the hill when it comes to lording it over their employees, as illustrated by the high ratio of CEO to worker earnings.

  • Oldest living American alive when Roosevelt was US President

    Another sign of the deepening social crisis: The decline in U.S. life expectancy

    Originally published: Reports from the Economic Front on January 2, 2020 (more by Reports from the Economic Front)

    U.S. life expectancy is on the decline, falling from 2014 to 2017—the first years of decline in life expectancy in over twenty years.

  • Job quality index

    The harsh reality of job growth in America

    Originally published: Reports from the Economic Front on December 17, 2019 (more by Reports from the Economic Front)

    There are many reasons for those at the top of the U.S. income distribution to celebrate the performance of the U.S. economy and tout the superiority of current U.S. economic and political institutions and policies.  Unfortunately, there is a strong connection between the continuing gains for those at the top and the steadily deteriorating employment conditions experienced by growing numbers of workers.

  • Working America Photo credit: Julie Hunter

    Overworked America

    Originally published: Reports from the Economic Front (more by Reports from the Economic Front)

    Those living in the U.S. are encouraged to think that they live in the best country in the world with little to learn from the experiences of working people in other countries. This sense is reinforced by the fact that the mainstream media generally discusses U.S. problems without reference to developments or trends in other developed capitalist countries.

  • TAX “There are only two things worse then an empty canvas: death and taxes.” ― Ragnar Tornquist

    A wealth tax: because that’s where the money is

    Originally published: Reports from the Economic Front on November 12, 2019 (more by Reports from the Economic Front)

    The bank robber Willie Sutton, when asked by a reporter why he robbed banks, is reputed to have answered, “Because that’s where the money is.” Which brings us to a wealth tax.

  • Fuel convoy on fire

    Flying above the clouds: the U.S. military and climate change

    Originally published: Reports from the Economic Front on October 25, 2019 (more by Reports from the Economic Front)

    Climate change is occurring, highlighted by dramatically shifting weather patterns and ever more deadly storms, floods, droughts, and wildfires. And the evidence is overwhelming that it is driven by the steady increase in greenhouse gases in our atmosphere, especially carbon dioxide and methane, produced by our fossil fuel-based economic system.

  • Green New Deal

    What the New Deal can teach us about winning a Green New Deal: Part V—summing up the New Deal experience

    Originally published: Reports from the Economic Front on October 13, 2019 (more by Reports from the Economic Front)

    Growing awareness of our ever-worsening climate crisis has boosted the popularity of movements calling for a Green New Deal. At present, the Green New Deal is a big tent idea, grounded to some extent by its identification with the original New Deal and emphasis on the need for strong state action to initiate social-system change on a massive scale. Challenges abound for Green New Deal activists.

  • the First New Deal

    What the New Deal can teach us about winning a Green New Deal: Part III—the First New Deal

    Originally published: Reports from the Economic Front on August 24, 2019 (more by Reports from the Economic Front)

    If we hope to win a Green New Deal we will have to build a movement that is not only powerful enough to push the federal government to take on new responsibilities with new capacities, but also has the political maturity required to appreciate the contested nature of state policy and the vision necessary to sustain its forward march.

  • women's march, Melbourne, Florida

    What the New Deal can teach us about winning a Green New Deal: Part II—Movement building

    Originally published: Reports from the Economic Front on August 13, 2019 (more by Reports from the Economic Front)

    The multifaceted crisis we face today is significantly different from the crisis activists faced in the first years of the Great Depression. But there is no question that, much like then, we will need to build a powerful, mass-movement for change if we hope to harness state power to advance a Green New Deal.

  • Salon.com What Ocasio-Cortez's Green New Deal can learn from Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal

    What the New Deal can teach us about winning a Green New Deal: Part I

    Originally published: Reports from the Economic Front on August 2, 2019 (more by Reports from the Economic Front)

    The New Deal has recently become a touchstone for many progressive efforts, illustrated by Bernie Sanders’ recent embrace of its aims and accomplishments and the popularity of calls for a Green New Deal.

  • Retire

    Growing old in America: Baby Boomer nightmare

    Originally published: Reports for the Economic Front on July 5, 2019 (more by Reports for the Economic Front)

    Despite its reputation as the wealthiest generation, baby boomers (generally considered to be those born between 1946 and 1964) are facing a retirement nightmare.

  • The U.S. dollar worth (Flickr: TaxCredits.net)

    Portrait of the 2009-2019 U.S. expansion

    Originally published: Reports from the Economic Front on June 18, 2019 (more by Reports from the Economic Front)

    June 2019 marks the 10th anniversary of the current U.S. economic expansion. If it makes it through July it will surpass the 1991-2001 expansion as the longest on record. But while expansions are to be preferred over recessions, there are many reasons to view this record-breaking expansion critically. In fact, the nature of this expansion, hopefully captured in the following portrait, highlights the growing inability of the U.S. economic system, even when performing “well,” to meet majority needs.

  • Photo by Sharon McCutcheon

    Making excuses for unemployment: The myth of a “skills gap”

    Originally published: Reports from the Economic Front on May 12, 2019 (more by Reports from the Economic Front)

    The current labor force participation rate of prime age workers, those 25-54 years, is a case in point. It remains below the previous peak rate in 2008, and even further below the peak rate at the turn of the century. We would need an additional 1.2 million employed prime age workers to match the 2008 labor force participation rate and 2.5 million more to match the turn of the century rate. Still it appears that at the present moment unemployment is no longer a major political issue.

  • NAFTA and the North American Auto Indu

    They’re at it again: selling the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement

    Originally published: Reports from the Economic Front on April 25, 2019 (more by Reports from the Economic Front)

    The headlines once again misrepresent the aims and consequences of a U.S. free trade agreement, in this case repeating the International Trade Commission’s claim that President Trump’s U.S.-Mexico-Canada agreement (USMCA) will boost U.S. growth and employment.

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Also By Martin Hart-Landsberg in Monthly Review Magazine

  • Planning an Ecologically Sustainable and Democratic Economy: Challenges and Tasks July 01, 2023
  • U.S. Economic Planning in the Second World War and the Planetary Crisis February 01, 2023
  • Lessons from Iceland October 01, 2013
  • ALBA and the Promise of Cooperative Development December 01, 2010
  • The U.S. Economy and China: Capitalism, Class, and Crisis February 01, 2010
  • Learning from ALBA and the Bank of the South: Challenges and Possibilities September 01, 2009
  • The Promise and Perils of Korean Reunification April 01, 2009
  • China, Capitalist Accumulation, and Labor May 01, 2007
  • Neoliberalism: Myths and Reality April 01, 2006

Books By Martin Hart-Landsberg

  • Capitalist Globalization: Consequences, Resistance, and Alternatives May 31, 2009

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    1. Introduction The predominance of US economic, political and military power in the world was established at the end of the Second World War.1 With just 6.3 percent of global population, the United States held about 50 percent of the world wealth in 1948. As the only power which had used nuclear weapons on civilian […]

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