Subjects Archives: Monopoly

  • The World Seen from the South: Interview with Samir Amin

    I would like to focus this interview on three distinct but related questions: your vision of the world and the possibilities of changing it; your conceptual and political proposal on the implosion of capitalism and delinking from it; your analysis of the global context, seen especially from Africa and the Middle East.  What is your […]

  • Colombia: Struggle for Peace, Struggle over Land

    Terror, political persecution, arbitrary detention, and militarization have long dominated Colombia.  State-mediated killings now run into the tens of thousands.  More than four million rural inhabitants have been displaced from sustenance-providing land.  In the face of seemingly endless suffering, however, there is now a better chance for peace in Colombia. Having recently announced that its […]

  • Germany: Presidents Come and Presidents Go

    Berlin and its surroundings have had plenty to keep it occupied: an airline strike, a short strike of the bus, streetcar, and subway lines, the euro crisis, and price increases.  Or, on the happier side, warmer weather and the film Berlinale, with visits by many stars and an interesting, international mix of films often by […]

  • Prison vs. Princeton

      It costs the state of New Jersey more money to hold a prisoner for one year than to fund one Princeton student’s tuition.  Here’s an overview of the disturbing trend of prioritizing prison over higher education in the US. PublicAdministration.Net was created as an online informational resource for individuals looking to pursue public administration-related […]

  • Interview with Salim Lamrani: “The Economic Sanctions against Cuba Constitute the Principal Obstacle to the Development of the Country”

      Salim Lamrani.  État de siège; les sanctions économiques des États-Unis contre Cuba(State of Siege: The United States’ economic sanctions against Cuba).  Prologue by Wayne S. Smith.  Preface by Paul Estrade.  Paris, Editions Estrella, 2011.  15 euros. CSF: You’ve just published a new book under the title État de siège.  What exactly do you cover […]

  • Message of Support to Workers in Greece on the Eve of the 48-hour General Strike

    We follow the struggle of the class-oriented labour movement in Greece. The struggle of PAME constitutes an integral part of our own struggle.  We express our solidarity with the strike of 48 hours, in this battle and struggle against the barbaric measures that are being promoted in Greece, such as the abolition of collective agreements, […]

  • Listening to What Iranians Say about Their Nuclear Program Instead of Relying on “Intelligence” and Agenda-driven “Analysis”

    As part of the current and ongoing effort to demonize further the Islamic Republic, there has been an uptick in media stories, drawing on conveniently leaked Western intelligence assessments, highlighting Tehran’s allegedly looming acquisition of nuclear weapons.  One of these stories, from the Associated Press, seems particularly emblematic, so we want to look at it […]

  • Unraveling the Unemployment Insurance Lifeline: Responding to Insolvency, States Begin Reducing Benefits and Restricting Eligibility in 2011

      Excerpt: State lawmakers enacted a range of policies in 2011 to amend their unemployment insurance (UI) programs, most of them motivated by insolvent state trust funds.  Most notably, six states passed unprecedented cuts in the duration of benefits, for the first time reducing benefit weeks to less than the decades-long accepted standard of 26 […]

  • Anonymous Leaders of the Movement of the “Indignant” in Greece

    On Friday, the blogs which are guiding the movement of “indignant” citizens published a statement of the “indignant” citizens in Syntagma Square that called on the left forces to leave the squares.  Thus, the “anonymous” leaders of the “movement of the squares,” the “non-partisan,” “spontaneous,” “non-politicized” citizens, appear to be politicized, declaring themselves “anti-left.” Perhaps […]

  • Why Washington Is Worried about Peru’s Election

    In just a few days, on June 5th, an election will take place that will have a significant influence on the Western Hemisphere.  At the moment it is too close to call.  Most of official Washington has been relatively quiet, but there is no doubt that the Obama Administration has a big stake in the […]

  • The Reactionary Bloc in Egypt

    Just as in past periods of rising struggle, the democratic social and anti-imperialist movement in Egypt is up against a powerful reactionary bloc.  This bloc can perhaps be identified in terms of its social composition (its component classes, of course) but it is just as important to define it in terms of its means of […]

  • Ohio AAUP against Senate Bill 5

      Testimony before the Insurance, Commerce, and Labor committee, 17 February 2011 Statehouse Mobilization against SB 5 and Kasich’s Anti-Worker Agenda Date: Tuesday, February 22, 2011 Time: 1 PM Location: Ohio Statehouse, 1 Capitol Square, Columbus, OH Click here for more info. Good morning Chairman Bacon, Vice Chair Farber, Ranking Member Schiavoni and distinguished Committee […]

  • Decoding Economic Ideology

    Introduction Molière’s 1670 his play, The Bourgeois Gentleman, presented before the court of Louis XIV, mocked a foolish, social-climbing merchant.  In his effort to remake himself, the merchant takes lessons to help him pass as an aristocrat.  In a basic lesson on language, he is both surprised and delighted to learn he had been speaking […]

  • Germany: Greens Rise as the Left Party Struggles . . . with Itself

    Using ropes, some young people descended halfway from railroad bridges to force the train to stop.  Others hastily grabbed stones out from under the tracks and in this way prevent their use.  Far more, young and old from all over Germany, simply sat down on the tracks until police carried them away.  Banners and witty, […]

  • Banks’ Monopoly Capital and Basel 3

    The new regulations on banks’ capital requirements known as Basel 3, made known to the public in mid-September, are a major institutional boost to the monopolistic position of the largest banks.1  In the new framework the capital that banks must hold against lending activities has been raised from a ratio of 2%, established by Basel […]

  • Pharmaceutical Industry-Funded Study Shows That Unauthorized Drug Copies Save Tens of Millions

    This is the clear implication of a new industry funded study, even if USA Today essentially ran an ad for the pharmaceutical industry by headlining its piece: “growing problem of fake drugs endangers consumers’ health.”  The article highlighted the fact that unauthorized copies of drugs sometimes do not meet the same standards as the official […]

  • Capitalism and the State

    DIE LINKE (the Left Party) has initiated a debate on its draft party program, which it wishes to officially adopt in Autumn 2011.  Neues Deutschland is joining this debate with a series of articles.  In the Neues Deutschland article published on 9 August 2010, Michael Heinrich tackles the issue of the relationship between capital and […]

  • Monopoly Capital Blocks Rational Policy of Wage-led Growth

      Paul Jay: So we’ve been talking about macroeconomic policy, the G-20, austerity.  And there was one little line in the G-20 document I thought was interesting, and it’s sort of buried in amongst everything.  It said countries could facilitate wages going up proportional to productivity, which is rather interesting, ’cause it’s the only time […]

  • The Myth of Conflict-Free Diamonds

    The issue of “blood diamonds” has once again made the news: Farai Maguwu, Director of Zimbabwe’s Mutare-based Centre for Research and Development (CRD), languishes under the long arm of Zimbabwe’s laws on alleged charges related to his research on Zimbabwe’s Marange mines.  According to a confidential 44-page report produced by investigators mandated by the Kimberley […]

  • Be Like the Rich: Why Keep Paying for What Doesn’t Pay Off?

      9 July 2010 Today’s most e-mailed article on the New York Times website is “Biggest Defaulters on Mortgages Are the Rich” — in a nutshell, homeowners with loans over $1 million are more likely to have stopped paying their mortgages than those with more modest homes.  As law professor Brent White states, the wealthy […]