Η Standard & Poor's υποβαθμίζει το χρέος των ΗΠΑ, τα κυριότερα χρηματιστήρια στον κόσμο κάνουν βουτιά.

Updates focus on (1) appointment of Prof Alan Krueger as Obama's chief economic advisor in relation to continuing high unemployment, (2) a medical study on the deaths resulting from poverty, and (3) the history of US national debt. In-depth analysis: how the economic crisis is affecting both private and Social Security pensions and how to improve Social Security's finances. Question answered focused on why the economics profession - with few exceptions - failed to anticipate the crisis or find effective policies to overcome it.

This program focuses first on newly released information about major banks subsidized by the Federal Reserve since the 2008 crash; it shows the hitherto secret largesse and exceptional terms given the banks for their "recovery." Updates also concern tax cuts for corporations and the rich and US multinationals investing overseas rather than in US. We interview Bhairavi Desai, Executive Director of New York City's Taxi Workers Alliance, a new, unusual and successful labor organization that now represents 15,000 of the city's 25,000 active taxi drivers.

Appeared originally on Truthout.org on August 27th, 2011

In the context of deepening economic decline, Richard Wolff analyzes and attempts to  answer these questions:

What were the causes and the results of the recent political theater focused on raising the US debt ceiling? What does the "deal" between President Obama and the Republicans mean economically and politically? What are the alternatives that Congress never explored? What can and should now be done, economically and politically?

Appeared originally in The Guardian on August 22nd, 2011

In the US, as in the UK, public sector unions are facing cuts to their wages, pensions and benefits to pay for budget cuts. Photograph: Sang Tan/AP

Last week, Democratic governors in New York and Connecticut repeated the austerity politics of Greece's Prime Minister Pappandreou and Portugal's former Prime Minister Socrates. In doing so, they likewise imitated the austerity politics of their Republican and Democratic counterparts across virtually all 50 states.

This episode focused on the previous weeks' major events, including the S&P downgrade of US debt, extreme stock market gyrations, and major signs of broad economic decline. Visiting guest, Professor Immanuel Ness, touches on the history and current prospects of worker-controlled enterprises as alternatives to capitalist enterprises.

Standard and Poor’s downgrades US debt, stock markets gyrate around the world, Sarkozy and Merkel perform yet another empty summit, the Chinese and Japanese economies look worrisome. Serious commentators worry about global recession, another global banking collapse, eurozone dissolution, and austerity programs that only make matters worse. Nouriel Roubini, famed Professor at NYU’s Stern School of Business asks this month, “Is Capitalism Doomed?” His answer: maybe.

On Economic Update with Professor Richard Wolff, Wolff and guests will discuss the current state of the economy, both locally and globally in relation to the economic crisis.We will focus on wages, jobs, taxes, and debts - and on interest rates, prices, and profits. We aim to explain why certain economic changes are happening and other changes get postponed or blocked and we will explore alternative ways to organize enterprises, markets, and government policies.

Richard Wolff joins Thom Hartmann on The Big Picture to discuss the recent downgrading by Standard and Poor's and the resulting plummet in the stock market (634 points) that occurred soon after - the largest one-day loss since the financial crisis began in 2008.