max fraad wolff
Big Picture 8/4/11: Dow Drops, Fund the FAA, ALEC Exposed
Two days after the debt-limit deal, the Dow Jones takes a major dive. Thom talks to economist Max Fraad Wolff about these uncertain financial times and who's really to blame for the stock markets crashing. Republicans have learned to play hostage takers. This time they've partially shut down the FAA. Paul Rinaldi, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, talks about how politics is affecting thousands of union workers and the country. Then the shadowy, non-profit organization known as ALEC is meeting with movers and shakers in New Orleans.
Email this pageGRITtv: Fixing Capitalism: Are Regulations Enough?
The economy seems to be stabilizing a bit, but as we've discussed many times, people are still suffering and jobless. Yet Citigroup is getting more tax breaks, and Ben Bernanke is Time's Person of the Year. Matthew Yglesias writes: It demonstrates a very specific class skew--extraordinary intervention into the marketplace just long enough to fix the situation from the point of view of asset-owners while leaving wage-earners holding the bag. Are we just returning to pre-recession levels, or something better -- or worse? Nicole Gelinas, fellow at the Manhattan Institute and author of "After the Fall: Saving Capitalism from Wall Street and Washington and Max Fraad Wolff of the New School," join us to talk about regulation, government and private industry, and where to go from here.
GRITtv: Structural Solutions for Jobs Crisis
President Obama spoke today about the need for more government action to spur job creation, saying that small businesses and green jobs were the way forward for the nation. He proposed shifting funds from the TARP program to job creation programs and offered tax cuts and incentives. But as Maya Wiley of the Center for Social Inclusion, Tim Casey of Legal Momentum, Heather Boushey of the Center for American Progress and Max Fraad Wolff of The New School for Social Research explain, the problems with unemployment and underemployment in this country aren't just results of this current recession, and they will not be fixed simply by returning to where we were.
GRITtv: The Stimulus: Too Little, Too Late?
Max Fraad Wolff, professor of economics at The New School, Myles Lennon of the Laborers' Union, Local #10, Bettina Damiani of Good Jobs First and Nathan Newman of the Progressive States Network debate whether the stimulus has stopped the bleeding or whether it's more like a band-aid on a bullet wound. Beyond just creating jobs, they say, any real economic stimulus needs to make sure that the jobs created are good, with good benefits, living wages, and targeted to the people who need them the most.
GRITtv: Was This the Plan All Along? Solutions for the Economy
Wall Street had its best week in months, yet banks are still charging 25-40% interest, and consumers have yet to feel relief. As unemployment continues to creep upwards, is it too late to bail out the middle class? Daniel Gross, Newsweek senior editor, Max Fraad Wolff, economist with The New School, and Heather Boushey, senior economist with the Center for American Progress, try to answer these questions. They discuss whether what we're seeing now is a "New Deal for the affluent," or a failure for the entire country, whether or not we'll get a second stimulus package to combat dismal employment numbers, and whether it's too late to see real systemic change in the American economy.
GRITtv: October 12, 2009
The economy is improving, at least according to Wall Street, but most of us haven't felt the change. We ask, was this the plan all along? A playwright putting Iraqi refugee stories on the stage tells the story of "Aftermath," plus a new advocacy plan to promote healthcare reform.
GRITtv: Bank of America's Guerrilla Collection Tactics
Former Bank of America employee Chris Feener says that little has changed at BoA since the company received billions of dollars in tax-payer money. The company continues to use what Feener calls guerrilla collection tactics and compensates its employees based on the amount of debt they collect. Feener, who hadn't received a raise in several years, says that bonuses of five to $6,000 dollars were often awarded on a monthly basis. Despite promises that in exchange for taxpayer money, banks and financial institutions would be regulated little progress has been made. Feener, Stephen Lerner, and Max Fraad Wolff, a professor of economics at the New School University's Graduate Program in International Affairs, on BoA's unsavory practices and why so little has changed.
