Introduction to Political Economy

An interesting article from the front page of the New York Times online on worker militancy provoked by the recession.

Workers laid off from a Chicago factory on Saturday at what they called an occupation of the plant. They criticized their former bosses, the company’s creditors and the federal government.

Read article.

If you aren’t already completely fed up with news and analysis of the current economic crisis, here is a great set of five articles on it. This series takes you through the short-term events that led to the financial crisis, all the way to the medium and long term consequences for the real economy. I highly recommend it.

Global Economic Crisis

Folks

On this past Tuesday coinciding with our class, Rick Wolff gave a talk analyzing the current crisis and offering strategies for what can be done. I am embedding a video of that talk here.

Capitalism Hits the Fan: A Marxian View from UVC-TV 19 on Vimeo.

Four professors in the UMass Econ department were interviewed last week on the origins, causes and cures of the current crisis. Videos of their interview are available here: http://www.amherstwire.com/features/market-meltdown-101/

Folks

In preparation for our lecture tomorrow on labor extraction, deskilling etc., I am embedding the classic treatment of assembly lines from the early part of the 20th century. This is Charlie Chaplin in “Modern Times.” I have just put the first 10 min. or so here but the whole movie is available on You Tube if you are interested.

The Center for Popular Economics website has some recent articles and interviews by UMass professors on the crisis. I am copying the links below:

• Radio interview with Prof. James Crotty on the origins and impact of the financial crisis (short and extended versions available, scroll down on the page to get these).
• Analysis of the current financial bail-out plan by Prof. Crotty (Pdf)
• Al-Jazeera interview with Prof. Gerald Friedman on “Is This The End of US Capitalism?”