Knosha

Well, maybe you do, but Professor Richard D. Wolf doesn’t think many people can claim to understand economics. Fortunately he is kind enough to make eight lectures on the subject available.  The Lectures are focused on the current economic crisis and work off the underlying contention that Capitalism is inherently unstable.  I became aware of Wolff’s website through an interview at Truth Driven Thinking , which provides a nice introduction to Wolff and his beliefs (worth listening to before diving into an eight lecture series).

In an exclusive joint interview on Democracy Now, Naomi Klein and Alan Greenspan spar over Bush’s tax cuts, populist vs capitalist economics, Latin America, the FED’s roll in the subprime crisis and more.  Audio, video and a transcript of the discussion are all available at Democracy Now’s website.

The Wall Street Journal reports that a study of 30 nations has found inequality to have increased over the last twenty years.  Despite strong economic growth over the 20 years the study was conducted, the middle-income earners are falling behind while the wealthy continue to amass more riches.  Bellow are two salient quotes from the article.

“The U.S. has the highest inequality and poverty rates in the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) after Mexico and Turkey, and the gap has increased rapidly since 2000, the report said. France saw inequalities fall as poorer workers are better paid.”

“In the U.S., the richest 10% earn an average of $93,000 — the highest level in the OECD. The poorest 10% earn an average of $5,800 — about 20% lower than the OECD average.”