Essays & Videos

Is the Global “Economic” Crisis Coming to an End Anytime Soon?

The year 2007 began what became known as “the greatest recession since the Great Depression." A highly speculative market for bonds backed by bad mortgages crashed due to widespread defaults. Banks in the U.S. and around the world began to fail due to the fact that they had borrowed heavily to buy these speculative bonds. Recessions, defined as two consecutive quarters (six months) of negative economic growth, occurred in many parts of the world between 2008-2012. Some European countries had two recessions during that period. The formal recession in the U.S. ran from December 2007 to June 2009 when positive economic growth resumed. In addition, the U.S. Government used taxpayer dollars to bail out failing banks. Since 2009 President Obama has been saying we are in a period of “recovery” although he has admitted that it is not happening a rapidly as he (and all the unemployed, homeless, and people living in a state of poverty) would like.

On Inequality

There is a lot of discussion in the newspapers, social media, TV and in the coffee shops about the fact that inequality is on the rise. Essentially the idea is that rich people are getting richer, poor people are getting poorer and the so-called “middle class” is disappearing.‍