Though the 75-year old senator played an essential role in demystifying socialism to the public and instilling a radical spirit in the progressive movement, the current resurgence of class politics on the left has been in the works for many years, going back to the 2007-08 financial crisis. It hasn’t been white-haired socialists who have provided the foundation for this resurgence, but young people who grew up in the era of neoliberalism. This was evident last week, when progressive...
Read More »“Bernie Sanders may be a White Supremacist”
Mr Quentin James weighs in and gives his expert opinion here.Also at length here:Quentin James, “The Left has a White Supremacy Problem, Too,” November 22, 2016.First, there is the vicious drive-by smear of Steve Bannon as a “white supremacist,” a slander for which the evidence is essentially zero.But what, exactly, was poor old Bernie’s crime? He had the temerity to question the cult of cultural leftist identity politics:[embedded content]Bernie’s comments were actually very mild, and the...
Read More »TRUMPBUSTERS: WHO YOU GONNA CALL?
Randall Wray, Bard College For months now, the Hillary campaign has vigorously argued that Bernie supporters have to fall in line to support the Democratic National Committee’s favorite candidate. Anyone not willing to jump to Hillary is a “Bernie Bro”—not willing to vote for anyone but Bernie. Why? Because, Trump. Forget the will of the people, the democratic process, or “voting one’s conscience”—Trump trumps all hesitation. We simply cannot afford to give Trump any chance of winning. We...
Read More »Beyond Good And Evil
It is tiring to hear voters complain about having to stump for a lesser evil. The whole notion of purity in life — but especially in politics — is Manichean at best, and sophomoric at worst. Every choice in life and politics is a shade of grey. Pretending that any political candidate is anything other than a mesh of good and ill — much of it unintentional — is facile. Bernie Sanders and Jill Stein and Gary Johnson are shades of grey. Policies that appear to be unadulteratedly pure and...
Read More »Sanders is Representing Agapé [Ag-AH-pay] Love for Millenials (and Beyond)
Michael Hoexter, Ph.D. Democrats in remaining primary states are now making decisions about whether to continue supporting and campaigning for Bernie Sanders the surprisingly successful underdog in the Democratic primary for President or line up behind the current frontrunner and Democratic Establishment candidate Hillary Clinton. Sanders still has a chance to win a majority of pledged delegates if primary voters feel positively about Sanders and negatively about his opponent Clinton,...
Read More »How Bernie’s Economic Policies Fit into Economic Theory
By William K. Black April 19, 2016 Bloomington, MN The journalist Adam Davidson has written an interesting article about economics and Bernie Sanders. As an economic adviser to Bernie I found his take on Keynesian and institutional economics of considerable interest. Institutional economics, contrary to Davidson’s take on it, is thriving and the University of Missouri at Kansas City has long been a center of institutional economics. (I am one of the scholars at UMKC that works...
Read More »CAN BERNIE DO IT? The View of a Non-Establishment Economist
By L. Randall Wray Bernie Sanders has an ambitious agenda. Too ambitious, insist his critics (including, especially, surrogates of Hillary Clinton). He would break up the big banks, reverse the redistribution of income and wealth to the top (that accelerated under the triple whammy of the Bush-Clinton-Bush administrations), restore and improve our nation’s infrastructure, and provide employment and better wages at the bottom. The critics proclaim that his programs cannot “pay for...
Read More »Clinton Vs. Sanders on Big Banks
Bill Black, adviser to Bernie Sanders, and Hillary Clinton supporter Paul Hodes appear on The Real News and discuss whether the Dodd-Frank legislation is effective at preventing systemic risk from Wall Street monopolies. You can view the video below or on The Real News‘ site with a transcript. [embedded content] [Translate]
Read More »Banking Expert Who Exposed Savings & Loan Corruption Joins Sanders Campaign
By Reno Berkeley Crossposted from Inquisitor.com An expert in banking corruption and finance has joined the Bernie Sanders campaign. William K. Black, an associate professor at the University of Missouri-KC, is Bernie Sanders’ new economic advisor. Black was one of the central figures in exposing and prosecuting corruption in the savings and loan crisis from the late 1980s and mid-1990s. His addition to the Sanders campaign brings important knowledge in laws pertaining to finance and...
Read More »Hillary and Bill and Paul Krugman Race to the Right to Stop the Bern
By William K. Black April 8, 2016 Bloomington, MN (Crossposted from Huffington Post. Postscript added for NEP) Remember several weeks ago when Hillary Clinton was complaining that Democrats did not consider her a “progressive?” Bernie Sanders’ big win in Wisconsin ended that tactic and propelled Paul Krugman and Hillary and Bill Clinton to race to the right, inadvertently proving Bernie’s point that they are not progressives on the key issues. In the last week, Hillary and her...
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