Paul Krugman

Here Are The Four Charts That Explain What The Protesters Are Angry About... Last week, we published a chart-essay that illustrates the extreme inequality that has developed in the US economy over the past 30 years. The charts explain what the Wall Street protesters are angry about. They also explain why the protesters' message is resonating with the country at large. Here are the four key points: Reinhart and Rogoff's latest paper warns on financial repression For Carmen Reinhart and Ken Rogoff, 2013 has been a year to forget. The big news in the world of academic economics was that a celebrated and hugely influential paper by the Harvard duo on the link between government debt and growth was wrong. The paper, cited regularly by supporters of austerity programmes, said countries where the national debt was higher than 90% of national output (GDP) could expect to see a marked drop off in growth. On examination, the data used by Reinhart and Rogoff showed there was no such link, with the pair's (many) critics saying that the line of causality lies in the opposite direction: low growth leads to high levels of debt rather than high debt leading to low growth. R and R continue to churn out papers in their chosen field, the latest of which has just been published by the London-based Centre for Economic Policy Research.

Occupy Sydney protesters hold firm, vow to stay PROTESTERS inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement are vowing to stay put in the heart of Sydney's financial district, despite arrests and losing their camping gear. About 200 of them set up camp outside the Reserve Bank of Australia in Martin Place on Saturday, launching a day of "global revolution" against corporate excess. But as night fell, police moved among them, removing tents, mattresses and other gear. "We'll still stay but we'll be more uncomfortable," campaign organiser Josh Lees told AAP this morning. "A bunch of stuff was just taken. "Police moved in without any notice, no discussion ... and just started grabbing stuff and throwing it into a truck which they then drove off."

Paul Krugman: It’s time for “trickle-up” economics! In his most recent piece for the New York Times, liberal columnist and celebrated economist Paul Krugman argues that the trade-off traditionally understood to exist in a modern economy between fighting inequality and promoting growth is, at least in the American context, no longer relevant. That’s right, U.S. liberals — you can have your cake, eat it and redistribute the leftovers, too! “It’s true that market economies need a certain amount of inequality to function,” Krugman grants. “But American inequality has become so extreme that it’s inflicting a lot of economic damage. And this, in turn, implies that redistribution — that is, taxing the rich and helping the poor — may well raise, not lower, the economy’s growth rate.” To buttress his point, Krugman cites a new report from the ratings agency Standard & Poor’s (hardly a hotbed of socialist radicalism) that finds the U.S. economy’s level of inequality is a drag on economic growth.

Unions back Occupy Wall Street movement Union leaders say they feel vindicated by the Occupy Wall Street protests and are doing all they can to keep the movement going. Years before the rallies began, union leaders frequently blamed the banking giants for the country’s economic woes. Labor officials have criticized CEOs’ large compensation packages; pushed for a financial transactions tax; and called for Wall Street bailout funds to be used for small business loans. Occupy London Stock Exchange 15 Oct - storify.com At today's assembly on the steps of St Paul's, #occupylsx agreed the initial statement below. Please note, it's a draft statement at this stage and it will always be a work in progress. 1 The current system is unsustainable.

NYC cops clash with, arrest 'Occupy' protesters - US news - Life NEW YORK — Anti-Wall Street protesters exulted Friday after beating back a plan to clear them from the park they have occupied for the past month. But that didn't prevent a brief clash with police that led to 15 arrests. The showdown in New York came as tensions were rising in several U.S. cities over the spreading protests, with numerous arrests and scattered clashes between demonstrators and police. Occupy Wall Street’s Victory: It has shaken up American politics. Here’s what it should do next Photograph by Spencer Platt/Getty Images. Occupy Wall Street has already won, perhaps not the victory most of its participants want, but a momentous victory nonetheless. It has already altered our political debate, changed the agenda, shifted the discussion in newspapers, on cable TV, and even around the water cooler. And that is wonderful. Suddenly, the issues of equity, fairness, justice, income distribution, and accountability for the economic cataclysm–issues all but ignored for a generation—are front and center.

Chaos in the Land of Oz Wizard of Oz : I am the great and powerful… Wizard of Oz : … Wizard of Oz. {*style:<b> Occupy Wall Street protesters plan 'Millionaires March' to Rupert Murdoch's, tycoons' NYC homes Marcus Santos for News The ranks of the Occupy Wall Street protesters in Zuccotti Park show no sign of shrinking. Occupy Wall Street protesters are heading uptown Tuesday to get in the face of some of New York's richest tycoons. A "Millionaires March" will visit the homes - or, more realistically, the gleaming marble lobbies - of five of the city's wealthiest residents, including News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and conservative billionaire David Koch.

Occupy Wall Street sympathizers take over Statehouse lawn » Local News » Pharos-Tribune INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Statehouse was closed Monday in observation of Columbus Day, but a different kind of “general assembly” was meeting on the Statehouse lawn. This one featured members who politely took turns speaking and signaled their support by raising their hands and wriggling their fingers. When they made decisions, it was through the long and laborious process of consensus. Among the resolutions approved by all: A declaration of gratitude to the Indiana State Police for protecting their right to assemble.

Occupy Wall Street: A timely call for justice I love that when Occupy Wall Street was denied permission to use bullhorns, demonstrators came up with an alternative straight out of Monty Python, or maybe “The Flintstones”: Have everyone within earshot repeat a speaker’s words, verbatim and in unison, so the whole crowd can hear. It works — and sounds tremendously silly. Protest movements that grow into something important tend to have a sense of humor. I can’t help but love that House Majority Leader Eric Cantor called the protests “growing mobs” and complained about fellow travelers who “have actually condoned the pitting of Americans against Americans.” This would be the same Eric Cantor who praised the Tea Party movement in its raucous, confrontational, foaming-at-the-mouth infancy as “an organic movement” that was “about the people.” The man’s hypocrisy belongs in the Smithsonian.

1,000 Jews gather at Wall St. for #occupy-yomkippur Kol Nidre When new media activist Daniel Sieradski, a.k.a. the Orthodox Anarchist, a.k.a. @mobius1ski , suggested having an ad hoc Kol Nidre minyan on Wall Street, in solidarity with the Occupied Wall Street movement, he wondered if he would succeed in attracting 20 participants (an egalitarian minyan of 10 men and 10 women). To his amazement, over 1,000 Jews of all ages and backgrounds, from secular to observant, showed up for an exhilarating experience which, judging from the tweets (hashtag: #OccupyYomKippur), had many people feeling as though they were practically levitating.