Politics Midterm Study

Walmart labor policies

postwar GI Bill

Glass-Steagall Act

mortgage-backed securities

the SBTC seduction

Dodd-Frank

"Chutzpah on Steroids"

(Bob Herbert NYT)

-Banks and the financial industry are like crime; bailed out in 2008 from taxpayer $
-The "Chutzpah", or overly confident financial industry is fighting the Obama administration's idea of a Consumer Financial Protection Agency that would shield individuals from the bank's deceptive practices
-The industry is also raising exploitative fees, increasing interest rates, hiding exploits in contract fine print

U.S. racial wealth gap

Treaty of Detroit

Fight for $15 and its Impact

(McGhee; The Sum of Us Ch5)

-Starts by discussing the Nissan factory worker's loss in the union vote
-Explains that white workers did not want to be seen on the level of black workers; Southern influence of unions

-In 2012, the Fight for $15 was started in NYC and spread across the country; huge success
-The key is building a new MULTICULTURAL WORKING CLASS to organize against employers
-The key to unionization of franchises is to recognize umbrella corporations, like Mcdonald's, as joint employers of individual franchise owners, since they set the terms of business
-Racism affects all workers through division

inequality, anxiety, and trust

(Wilkinson/Pickett)

"anti-worker exceptionalism"

(Greenhouse NYT)

-The US is the only advanced nation that doesn't have laws guaranteeing various employment benefits like: maternity leave, paid or unpaid vacation, and paid sick days.
-The declining power of the unions and increased use of anti-union efforts are to blame; leading to high wealth inequality
-Desire for unions is on the rise
-American voted for Trump to reverse the rigged labor system

wage stagnation coping mechanisms

(Reich)

free-market capitalism, (1980-2008)

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

theories of political economy: Keynes vs. Friedman

managed capitalism, postwar period

causation, 2008 crash

(Turner)

inequality spiral (Saez and Zucman)

(Saez and Zucman)

-Inequality spiral: the ballooning share of income to the top 1%, while the working class collapses
-40 years ago, the rich paid far more (50%) of their income to taxes
-Now the ultra-rich pay fewer tax rates while earning almost double the total national income of the BOTTOM 50%
-This is because most of the ultra-rich's income is not subject to tax (stock); corporate tax has almost disappeared (offshore accounts); and a federal income tax that favors capital over labor
-The problem: CAPITAL INCOME IS BECOMING TAX FREE
-Countries should enforce a "tax coordination" to avoid offshore lack of taxes

decline of countervailing power

(Reich)

inequality and social mobility

(Wilkinson and Pickett)

upward social mobility, Global North comparisons

(e.g., Hacker and Pierson)

decline of manufacturing in the U.S.

(Lichtenstein)

privatized student loans as "inequality engine"

(Cohen and Mikaelian)

rentier capitalism

(Martin Wolf)

-US has experienced slowing productivity growth, soaring inequality, and huge financial shocks
-“Rentier capitalism” means an economy in which market and political power allow privileged individuals and businesses to extract a great deal of such rent from everybody else.
-“rent” means rewards over and above those required to induce the desired supply of goods, services, land, or labor.
-Globalization, foreign imports, and immigration are NOT to blame for the loss of productivity
-New firm entry rate has declined significantly
-Low tax offshore revenue has skyrocketed
-Believes that we need a capitalist economy that gives everybody a belief that they can share in the benefits.