In part two of this series, I examine global demographic trends and take an initial look at the implications for global GDP growth, and by extension, the outlook for the current world-system of debt-money, as defined in part 1.
The general demographic trend over the last 500 years, and particularly so since the mid 1700s has [...]

I first became aware of Ha-joon Chang’s latest book, Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism in a critique written by Edward Glaeser , a prominent economist at Harvard University, and published in the daily paper, the New York Sun. I read this review with great interest. Professor Chang, [...]

A recent headline at CNN.com said “Fed bails out GMAC with $6 billion.” Since I had heard it was the Treasury department funding the GMAC giveaway, I had to check the story to make sure this wasn’t another $6 billion being thrown down the drain. Fortunately, CNN just got it wrong: it was the feds [...]

What is the System of the World? One social scientist defines it as follows:
“…a social system, one that has boundaries, structures, member groups, rules of legitimation, and coherence. Its life is made up of the conflicting forces which hold it together by tension and tear it apart as each group seeks eternally to remold it [...]

The New York Times published an article today placing blame on the Bush Administration for the current (latest) global economic meltdown.  The staff piece recounts the actions of George Bush- in championing home ownership, in allowing banks, brokers, and finance companies to expand home lending, and in failing to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac- and [...]

One persistent problem in America’s political discourse is the misuse of the term “free market.” So-called “conservatives” like President Bush and his Republican acolytes like to claim that they support the “free market,” and liberals, normally skeptical of everything that comes out of conservatives’ mouths, take their word for it. The Right defends the system [...]

I really hate shoveling snow. I live on a large corner lot with lots of sidewalk, so the job can take me over an hour. Snowblowers, I’ve found, are overrated. I’ve had two and neither did a very good job and both had maintenance issues. I bought both used, so that might be part of [...]

International Human Rights Day is the kickoff to a year long socialist propaganda campaign by the United Nations.

The big difference between the perpetual motion “engineer” of yesteryear and the social “engineer” of today is that the former was playing with toys, things that didn’t have much effect on others. The latter is very dangerous because his or her irresponsible and ill fated experiments affect millions, even billions of people.

Some people who attack capitalism don’t realize they are capitalists themselves. Their indictment of capitalism is an indictment of themselves.