What’s going on here? The answer, surely, is that Wall Street’s Masters of the Universe realize, deep down, how morally indefensible their position is. They’re not John Galt; they’re not even Steve Jobs. They’re people who got rich by peddling complex financial schemes that, far from delivering clear benefits to the American people, helped push us into a crisis whose aftereffects continue to blight the lives of tens of millions of their fellow citizens.
Yet they have paid no price. Their institutions were bailed out by taxpayers, with few strings attached. They continue to benefit from explicit and implicit federal guarantees — basically, they’re still in a game of heads they win, tails taxpayers lose. And they benefit from tax loopholes that in many cases have people with multimillion-dollar incomes paying lower rates than middle-class families.
This special treatment can’t bear close scrutiny — and therefore, as they see it, there must be no close scrutiny.
Panic of the Plutocrats – NYTimes.com
10 OctProtesters Against Wall Street – NYTimes.com
9 OctNo wonder then that Occupy Wall Street has become a magnet for discontent. There are plenty of policy goals to address the grievances of the protesters — including lasting foreclosure relief, a financial transactions tax, greater legal protection for workers’ rights, and more progressive taxation. The country needs a shift in the emphasis of public policy from protecting the banks to fostering full employment, including public spending for job creation and development of a strong, long-term strategy to increase domestic manufacturing.
It is not the job of the protesters to draft legislation. That’s the job of the nation’s leaders, and if they had been doing it all along there might not be a need for these marches and rallies. Because they have not, the public airing of grievances is a legitimate and important end in itself. It is also the first line of defense against a return to the Wall Street ways that plunged the nation into an economic crisis from which it has yet to emerge.
World Island: A Permanent World’s Fair for a World that’s Permanently Fair
23 SepOur sense of what to do tomorrow is conditioned by what we want to happen after that, and then after that. That is to say, our sense of how to act in the present is strongly determined by our sense of that future. If we have hope for the future, if we can see a world for our grandchildren that’s better than our own, then we read the current situation as the starting point of a journey to that world. If the future looks bleak, then the current situation is taken as an arena in which we must begin constructing defenses against impending doom.
The mood in America is bleak, and has been for some time. The current recession has darkened the bleakness, but it did not create it. Nor did the bleakness descend, all of a sudden, on 9/11. It’s been with us, in one way or another, for some time.
Some years ago I met a man who changed my sense of the possible, and the necessary. He had a dream, this Jerry Greenberg (he now calls himself Zeal), and he called it World Island. He called it a World’s Fair for a World that’s Permanently Fair. Though it could be built anywhere in the world, he planned it for Governors Island, a 172 acre island off the tip of Manhattan in New York Harbor. Governors Island had been a Coast Guard base until it was finally decommissioned and turned over to the joint custody of New York State and New York City.
The State and the City created the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation to come up with a plan for the Island. GIPEC decided to solicit proposals for the private development of the Island. I worked with Zeal and others over a period of several years to craft a proposal, which we entered into a competition. We lost, but then so did everyone else. Just what’s being done with the Island is not exactly clear, though interesting things do happen there.
But Governors Island is a side-issue at this point. What’s important is Zeal’s vision for this World Island. That changed my sense of what is possible in the world, and of what is necessary. I’ve appended to this post a short work of fiction that takes the form of a news paper story announcing plans to construct World Island on Governors Island. As I said, however, this could happen anywhere in the world. Perhaps, in view of the Arab Spring, it should most fittingly happen in the Middle East.
That is one thing. That will give you a sense of the proposal. As you read it, remember that it is fiction. None of the events described therein have happened, or will happen. Should you want more, I have uploaded the executive summary from our proposal. You can download that here.
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Governors Island to be World Resource Center
By SOME REPORTER
At a press conference later today the Governor and the Mayor will announce plans to transform Governors Island into a world resource center. “Our goal is to create a place where the world can experience the world,” says the Governor. “The redevelopment of Governors Island is the key to revitalizing New York’s waterfront so that it is truly the gateway to the world,” says the Mayor.
The overall development will take place under the joint guidance of the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation (GIPEC) and the World Development Endowment Foundation (WDEF). GIPEC is an agency of New York City and New York State governments that was formed to administer the Island when the Federal government transferred it to New York State and City in 2003. The WDEF is a private not-for-profit corporation founded by businessman Gerald “Zeal” Greenberg for the purpose of developing Governors Island as a center for world culture, education, tourism, trade, and economic development.
The project is expected to take twenty years to complete and will employ an evolutionary approach designed to organize the participation of people, governments and organizations around the world while also giving New Yorkers a chance to experience the Island and guide the development of this new “city within a city.” An essential aspect of this process is that it will be guided by an bold and imaginative vision of the Island’s full potential. The WDEF and GIPEC have already proposed such a vision and will work with others in New York and around the world develop and modify it over the life of the project. Given the scope of the proposed development the project is being called World Island.
“The World Island vision is truly remarkable,” observes a former Secretary of State, who has become an advisor to the project. “The State and City are to be commended for proposing such an innovative approach to development. This will be a landmark to future generations.”
Two Signature Projects
Several things will happen during the first phase of development, which will concentrate on the northern part of the Island and on the Battery Maritime Building (BMB) in lower Manhattan. The WDEF will develop the BMB as a multi-use center with harbor-view restaurants, performance venues, and retail shops. The BMB is also the terminal for ferry service to Governors Island, which GIPEC will enhance.
One other signature project is planned for the first phase: The New York Time Exchange. It will be an interactive historical theatre and museum telling the story of New York City from 17,000 years ago, when the land was covered with glacial ice, through settlement by Native Americans, the arrival of the Dutch, through to New York’s current status as one of the premier cities of the world. The time-exchange will use multi-media technology and live actors to create an experience of living history.
While these two signature buildings are being developed GIPEC and the WDEF will oversee the general development of hospitality, restaurant, and water recreation facilities in the historical portion of the Island along with Island infrastructure and transportation. GIPEC will oversee the physical development of these structures while WDEF will concentrate on developing marketing strategies to present the Island to the public.
“The idea is to take a conservative approach initially,” says GIPEC’s President. “We want projects that can draw people to the island and sustain themselves economically.” WDEF’s President, Zeal Greenberg, agrees. “This will be the first time the Island is open to the public. We need to get people here and make the Island a part of New Yorker’s lives. At the same time we need a chance to build international awareness so that we can do something really special and spectacular with the rest of the Island.”
Global Marketing Campaign
While the first phase development is taking place, the WDEF will be orchestrating a world-wide campaign to present the Island to the world and to bring the world to the Island. In this effort the WDEF will be working closely with Good News Broadcasting, headed by Emmy award winner Paul Sladkus. “Good news helps people keep their spirits up,” says Sladkus, “and the project is good news for everyone.”
To present the Island to the world the WDEF and Good News have developed a campaign called “Nurture Our World” (NOW). The campaign is based on a song, “The Heart of the World is in Your Hands,” written by Greenberg and composer Carman Moore. “It’s not so much a song, as it is a world philosophy,” says Moore, “its about how are young people hold the future in their hands.” Together with composer Jim Papoulis, Moore will tour the world with a children’s choir, presenting the song to children and their parents in 20 cities. At the same time Moore and Papoulis will work with children in those cities to teach them then song and let them develop it in their own way.
The tour will be filmed and the film will be made into a documentary and section of it will be incorporated into a short animated film about how a band of children save the earth from destruction by repairing the heart of the world.“ The WDEF will be working with a Japanese anime master to develop the film in anime style. “Anime’s the hottest thing in world youth culture,” says WDEF’s Associate Director, William Benzon, “and we want to use it to bring the World Island story to the world’s youth.” The WDEF will be showing the film in theaters around the world and has created a website where people can participate in the story by suggesting ideas and episodes for an ongoing manga adventure presented on the web. The website will also serve as a gateway to other youth-oriented websites and allow users to make suggestions about what they want to see on World Island.
At the same time the WDEF will be bringing the world to the Island in a series of World Investment Summit Expositions (WISE). The WISE events will be trade shows oriented to the development needs of municipalities and will take place on Governors Island two times a year for the next three years. Each WISE will focus on a different region of the world and last a week. Development officials, financial institutions, non-government organizations, philanthropies, tourist experts, and organizations selling goods and services to municipalities will be invited to participate. The WDEF is currently working with online media experts to establish an online community called The WISE Network.
“The World Island complex will be New York City’s gift to the world,” says the Mayor, “but the world has to play an active role in developing it if it is to work. We’re providing the Island, a general framework for development, some ideas, and some financing. The rest is up to the world. What do you want?”
An Evolutionary Process
In its current state, the WDEF’s vision calls for office space, hotels, a convention center, restaurants, schools, stores, and recreation facilities. “What’s important, though, is not the buildings, but what takes place in them,” says Greenberg. “We want to focus on education, culture, and economic development at the municipal level.” “Every community has institutions devoted to culture, education, commerce, and spirituality,” notes WDEF’s Benzon. “Our objective is to maintain a balance among these sectors as development unfolds.”
“What we’re doing,” notes Greenberg “is starting an evolutionary process. We have a goal and we’re going to move toward it, using what we learn to modify the development plans so that the goal is always in sight.” The project is planned in five phases. The plan has been developed so that each phase is complete in itself. Funding is in place for the first phase and some funding has been committed for later phases as well. As the design is refined and as funding is secured, later phases will be constructed.
The urban plan is being developed by Some Appropriate Architects. “As the project moves through its phases master architects from all over the world will be invited to create designs. “A World Island should be designed by architects the world over” says Senior Partner. “The trick is to blend the designs into a harmonious whole.” Some Partner, an expert in environmentally responsible design with Some Other Appropriate Architects, will be working with Senior Partner on the plan. “Our goal is to make World Island a model of sustainable development,” he says, “enhancing the harbor environment, not detracting from it.”
WDEF’s Greenberg says that we are creating a model city within the greater city of New York. “As World Island unfolds, we want people to think about it from the point of view of their children’s children. What will it mean to them, what is our legacy to them?” “We have lived through a century of war,” observed the Secretary of State. “We must act now to create a century of peace. That is what World Island is about.”
Thousands Cheer Bernie Sanders’s Appeal to Obama, Super-Committee: Make the Rich Pay for Deficits | The Nation
19 SepDeclaring that “Social Security is the most successful government program in our nation’s history,” and decrying threats to Medicare and Medicaid that would punish Americans who did not cause the current economic crisis, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders brought thousands of progressives from across the Midwest to their feet Saturday, as they cheered his message to President Obama and the Congressional “super-committee”: “We can deal with deficit reduction in a way that is fair and responsible.”
“Instead of balancing the budget on the backs of working families, the elderly, the children, the sick and the most vulnerable,” Sanders said, “it is time to ask the wealthiest people and most profitable corporations in this country to pay their fair share.”
Say Hello to the Highest Poverty Rate in 17 Years | The Nation
14 SepThe Census Bureau has released its poverty numbers for 2010, and the picture isn’t pretty: 46.2 million people were living in poverty last year, according to the bureau’s latest report, the largest number for the fifty-two years that the data have been published. This marks the fourth consecutive year in which poverty rose, with an overall poverty rate of 15.1 percent, up from 14.3 percent in 2009, and the highest rate since 1993. Indeed, with real median household income at $49,445—a drop of 2.3 prcent from 2009—incomes are lower now than they were more than a decade ago.
via Say Hello to the Highest Poverty Rate in 17 Years | The Nation.
Who Runs the World ? – Network Analysis Reveals ‘Super Entity’ of Global Corporate Control | Planetsave
4 SepIn the first such analysis ever conducted, Swiss economic researchers have conducted a global network analysis of the most powerful transnational corporations (TNCs). Their results have revealed a core of 787 firms with control of 80% of this network, and a “super entity” comprised of 147 corporations that have a controlling interest in 40% of the network’s TNCs.
Sure Cure for Debt Problems Is Economic Growth [Yeah, right! But…]
31 JulThe super-rich: have got it figured out: How to keep their part of the economy, that part that feeds their bank accounts, growing. The neat thing is they can keep things growing in their back yard even when the overall economy is stagnant. Which means that,for the rest of us, the economy is shrinking. Back in the old days, the economy grew for everybody: win-win. Now it grows for the rich, but not for us: win-lose.
And the rich don’t care. Why should they, they hardly even notice. Because it just doesn’t affect them.
“The basic issue is that the U.S. is on an unsustainable fiscal track,” says Dean Maki, the chief United States economist at Barclays Capital. “From that point, none of the choices are fun.” The most obvious choices, Mr. Maki says, are to reduce spending (ouch), raise taxes (yuck), let inflation run (gasp) or default (thud).
We wouldn’t need any of that if we could restore economic growth. If that happened, Americans would become richer and pay more taxes. Et voilà! — we’d pay down the debt painlessly.
via Sure Cure for Debt Problems Is Economic Growth – NYTimes.com.
How America Could Collapse, No Resilience
27 JulUS corporations have been “de-localizing” everything, making the US vulnerable supply chain “shocks” in countries around the world and leaving us bereft of local resilience.
US corporate leaders now see the idea of making things as a cost of doing business, one best left to others. What has happened as a result is that much of the production for critical products and services that make our economy run is constructed by a patchwork global network of suppliers all over the world in unstable regions, over which we have very little control. An accident or political problem in any number of countries may deny us not just iPhones but food, medicine or critical machinery.
Andy Grove, co-founder of Intel, has made the case that America needs to be building things here, investing here and manufacturing here. We need the know-how and the ecosystem of innovation. The more corporate America seeks to push production risk off the balance sheet onto an increasingly fragile global supply chain, the more it seeks to wound the state so there is no body that can constrain its worst impulses, the more likely we will see a truly devastating Lehman-style industrial supply shock.
Professionals win in the hi-tech economy
6 JulHere in microcosm is why America is so ambivalent about globalization and the technology revolution. The populist fear that even America’s most brilliant innovations are creating more jobs abroad than they are at home is clearly true. In fact, the reality may be even grimmer than the Tea Party realizes, since more than half the American iPod jobs are relatively poorly paid and low-skilled.
But America has winners, too: the engineers and other American professionals who work for Apple, whose healthy paychecks are partly due to the bottom-line benefit the company gains from cheap foreign labor. Apple’s shareholders have done even better. In the first of their pair of iPod papers, published in 2009, Mr. Linden, Mr. Dedrick and Mr. Kraemer found that the largest share of financial value created by the iPod went to Apple. Even though the devices are made in China, the financial value added there is “very low.”
If the Top 25 Hedge Fund Managers Paid Taxes Like You and Me, We’d Cut 44 Billion of the National Deficit
6 JulThe top 25 hedge fund managers in the United States collectively earned $22 billion last year, and yet they have their own cushy set of tax rules. If they operated under the same rules that apply to other people — police officers, for example, or teachers — the country could cut its national deficit by as much as $44 billion in the next ten years.
Truth and Traditions 