The Money Machine

This election has been about everything but the economy, stupid (according to John Harwood of The New York Times). Americans are split right down the middle—48 to 48—on which candidate will handle money matters better; ... The post What Would Keynes Do? appeared first on Open Source with Christopher Lydon.

This year’s American electoral shakeup sends us looking for deeper economic tremors. Unemployment is down to 4.9%, even as discouraged workers are reentering the market and the average hourly wage rose 7 cents. “More good ... The post Neoliberalism and Postcapitalism appeared first on Open Source with Christopher Lydon.

To close out our series on work, produced in partnership with The Nation, we’re looking ahead to the big proposals and spiritual realignments that might spell a major change for working and middle-class people who ... The post The New New Deal appeared first on Open Source with Christopher Lydon.

We continue a three-part series — produced in partnership with The Nation — on work in America. This is Part Two: what we do all day, and how we feel about it. Last week we spoke about the ... The post Nine To Five in 2015 appeared first on Open Source with Christopher Lydon.

When it comes to the politics of work in America, the times, they are a-changing. Scott Walker overtook Wisconsin, the one-time capital of organized labor, with a divide-and-conquer strategy — now he’s chasing votes on an anti-union platform. Bernie Sanders, once ... The post The Fate Of The Union appeared first on Open Source with Christopher Lydon.

On Sunday, 62% of Greek votes, encouraged by their radical-left prime minister, Alexis Tsipras and his Syriza party, registered a desperation “no” vote to a swap of further fiscal tightening at home for debt relief from its ... The post <i>Oxi</i> Means… “Maybe”: The Vote in Greece appeared first on Open Source with Christopher Lydon.

It’s graduation time in Boston, and the Class of 2015 is asking “Now what?” If our young ones need help choosing, the market is back and ready to nudge them toward a gilded path. A new survey ... The post What Money Can’t Buy appeared first on Open Source with Christopher Lydon.

Michael Lewis has become the great teller of modern morality tales around money: from the story of how high finance bubbled up, then popped, in Ireland and Iceland to the story of how a handful of eccentric ... The post The Meaning of Money appeared first on Open Source with Christopher Lydon.

We’re continuing our “money machine” series on the cost of carbon capitalism. Gas gets cheaper, the weather gets warmer, and for our guests the environmental activists Naomi Klein and Bill McKibben, the choice is clear: ... The post The Challenge of Our Time appeared first on Open Source with Christopher Lydon.

For the Delta to become the chief grower of the industrial world’s most important commodity – a kind of Saudi Arabia of the early 19th century – its land had to be taken from its ... The post Sven Beckert’s Cotton: Guilty Fabric of our Lives appeared first on Open Source with Christopher Lydon.