by Chris Hedges
Writer, Dandelion Salad
July 27, 2013
Image by Steve Rhodes via Flickr
ciwebvideos on Jul 24, 2013
Chris Hedges spoke at Friday’s Interfaith Lecture in the Hall of Philosophy. He was the last to speak on the week’s theme, “Markets and Morals.” His lecture traced the demise of liberal values in America since World War I and emphasized the importance of social movements in maintaining democracy.
by Michael Hudson
Writer, Dandelion Salad
michael-hudson.com
July 22, 2013
How can China avoid the “Western financial disease” – a real estate bubble followed by defaults and foreclosures? The U.S. and European economies originally sought to avoid this fate by taxing the location’s site value. A rent tax was the focus of Progressive Era reforms.
Enacting a rent tax remains China’s main challenge to accompany its privatization of real estate and natural resources. If land rent were fully taxed, it would not be paid to banks as interest for rising mortgage loans – and governments would not have to tax income and sales. Holding down housing debt will reduce labor’s cost of living, but not its living standards.
Dandelion Salad 