(1) Manifesto of the Appalled Economists: Hat-tip to David Barkin for the link to the English translation (which has apparently been around for over a year already) for this document, originally out of France, subtitled CRISIS AND DEBT IN EUROPE: 10 PSEUDO “OBVIOUS FACTS”, 22 MEASURES TO DRIVE THE DEBATE OUT OF THE DEAD END. A good read alongside our current lead article, Why the United States Is Not Greece, our take on the sovereign debt crisis in Europe, courtesy of John Millerand Katherine Sciacchitano.
(2) Davidson on Wolff and Other Purveyors of Doom: Adam Davidson, the annoying and right-wing co-founder of NPR's Planet Money, mentions frequent D&S author Rick Wolff in his piece in yesterday's New York Times, It Is Safe to Resume Ignoring the Prophets of Doom, Right? I'm tempted to answer, "No, but it is now safe to ignore the prophets of dumb (like Davidson)." Rick's attitude toward the article was more mature: "probably another step in re-integrating Marxian perspectives into US public discourse and thus it is a good thing despite snide author's comments." The comments section is pretty good, though I wish people would call Davidson on his snideness and his dumbness.
(3) The Student Loan Debt Bubble: An article at Global Research by Alan Nassar and Kelly Norman. Simultaneously, I got an invite to a conference call about a report to be released tomorrow about an uptick in student-loan defaults:
Parallels Seen to Run-Up in Home Mortgage Foreclosures; Emerging Crisis Worsened by Lack of Discharge Options & Poor Economy; Parental Co-Signers Often Feel the Pinch in Retirement Years.
WASHINGTON, D.C.///NEWS ADVISORY//Will the fast-rising crisis in student loan defaults soon rival the mortgage foreclosure debacle in the United States?
A new survey of more than 850 U.S. bankruptcy attorneys by the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys (NACBA) to ... will show a major increase in private and public college students unable to repay their student loans.
(4) Lifting the Veil: A video on how the Democrats function as a release valve for social protest (or function to absorb and blunt social protest--pick your metaphor): http://vimeo.com/20355767.
(5) Michelle Rhee Connection Map: Did I post this already? We will be running an article soon (May/June or July/August) about neoliberalism and public education.
That's it for now.
--Chris Sturr