March 2012

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Douglas Rushkoff: U.S. Postal Service new example of human work replaced by technology He says technology affecting jobs market; not enough workers needed to run the technology He says we have to alter our ideas: It's not about jobs, it's about productivity Rushkoff: Technology lets us bypass corporations, make our own work -- a new model Editor's note: Douglas Rushkoff is a media theorist and the author of "Program or Be Programmed: Ten Commands for a Digital Age" and "Life Inc: How Corporatism Conquered the World and How We Can Take it Back." (CNN) -- The U.S.

Are jobs obsolete?

http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/09/07/rushkoff.jobs.obsolete/index.html

The American economy: Unmired at last

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/03/201236142955125210.html

Jeremy Lin and the political economy of superstars

Cambridge, MA - The biggest news around this city in recent weeks has been Jeremy Lin, the Harvard economics graduate, who has shocked the National Basketball Association by rising seemingly overnight from "nowhere" to become a genuine star, leading a losing New York Knicks team to an unlikely string of victories. Lin's success is delicious, partly because it contradicts so many cultural prejudices about Asian-American athletes. Flabbergasted experts who overlooked Lin have been saying things like "he just didn't look the part". Lin's obvious integrity and graciousness has won him fans outside the sport as well.

Tim Geithner: Financial Crisis Amnesia

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203986604577253272042239982.html

Four years ago, on an evening in March 2008, I received a call from the CEO of Bear Stearns informing me that they planned to file for bankruptcy in the morning. Bear Stearns was the smallest of the major Wall Street institutions, but it was deeply entwined in financial markets and had the perfect mix of vulnerabilities. It took on too much risk. It relied on billions of dollars of risky short-term financing. And it held thousands of derivative contracts with thousands of companies.

Inflation: Not as low as you think

Forget the modest 3.1 percent rise in the Consumer Price Index, the government's widely used measure of inflation. Everyday prices are up some 8 percent over the past year, according to the American Institute for Economic Research. The not-for-profit research group measures inflation without looking at the big, one-time purchases that can skew the numbers. That means they don't look at the price of houses, furniture, appliances, cars, or computers.