mortgage meltdown; baseball steroid scandal; how unions help the economy; edwards; NCLB; what the Dems should do on Jan. 2008; fun with Alan Greenspan

Friends -

Here is a hodgepodge of articles (only one by me) on different topics that might be of interest:

1.  Mortgage Meltdown 101 -- John Atlas and I wrote a piece, in today's American Prospect, explaining the current crisis around subprime loans and home foreclosures.  It all began when the banking industry successfully pressured Congress in the 1980s to deregulate lenders. The legacy is now millions of families at risk of losing their homes.  The media was initially hoodwinked by Bush's plan to freeze interest rates on exploding adjustment rate mortgages, until it figured out, a few days later, that it was completely voluntary and wouldn't help most homeowners in trouble. 

2.  The Mitchell Report on Baseball's Steroid Scandal -- David Zirin, my favorite sportswriter, usually has a great analysis of sports issues from a progressive political perspective. What's great about David is that he is truly a sports fan and also a lefty.  His weekly column, to which you can subscribe and get via email, is always interesting.  He occassionally writes for The Nation and the LA Times. His column on George Mitchell's report about the baseball steroid scandal is the best analysis I've seen on this topic so far.  Even if you disagree with him, you'll be provoked.

3. Why Unions Are Good for the Economy --  The LA Economic Roundtable is a great think tank that doesn't get the attention it deserves for its wonderful reports on local economic and social issues. Its most recent report, "The Economic Footprint of Unions in Los Angeles," demonstrates that unions -- by raising wages -- contributes to strengthening the local economy because of the multiplier (ripple) effects of that additional income invested in the local economy. When business groups and right-wing pols say that unions scare away business, cite this report, that shows that unions are a boon to the local economy. Pro-labor politicians can say, "I'm standing here with my friends in labor because being pro-labor is good for the economy".

4.  Edwards Is Still Competitive -- For the last few weeks, the media have focused almost entirely on the Clinton-Obama battle among the Democratic candidates.  But don't rule Edwards out.  He has a strong base of support in Iowa and Nevada, and labor support will no doubt help.  The cover story about Edwards in this week's Newsweek, although typically snide and cynical, is nevertheless worth reading:

5. Its Time to Leave "No Child Left Behind" Behind --  My twin 11-year old daughters spend much to much time taking standardized tests required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act.  In the current issue of American Prospect, Richard Rothstein explains why NCLB is harmful to improving our public school system and suggests what the next President and Congress should do instead.  This entire issue of American Prospect -- with great articles by Bob Kuttner (whose new book, "The Squandering of America," is required reading), Harold Meyerson,  Maria Echaveste and Christopher Edley Jr, Paul Starr, and Robert Reich -- is worth reading.

6.  The Next New Deal? -- In a recent issue of The Nation, Kim Phillips-Fein reviews two books, by Paul Krugman and Jonathan Chait,  about the rise of the Right over the past few decades . In her review, Phillips-Fein challenges the conventional view about how the Right successful challenged the liberal coalition that had existed from the New Deal through the 1970s. In doing so, she challenges us to think about what progressives need to do to advance "the next New Deal" of progressive, egalitarian policies and values.  Similarly, the current (fall 2007) issue of New Labor Forum, is devoted to a debate about what a progressive agenda for the next President should be around labor, environmental, globalization, and other issues, written by some of the most thoughtful writers and activists.  NLF isn't available on-line, and the current issue isn't even up on the magazine's website yet, but I recommend reading this well-written quarterly journal on a regular basis.

7. Fun with Alan Greenspan -- Just for fun, here's a contest for you to enter.  When Alan Greenspan was chairman of the Fed, he used to regularly appear before Congress to give his views on the state of the economy and make bafflingly convoluted statements that were no doubt designed to make him appear to be brilliant and at the same time make sure that nobody, including members of Congress, had any idea what he was talking about.  Well, he's no longer at the Fed but he's still talking BS, most recently in a column in the Wall Street Journal, "The Roots of the Mortgage Crisis."  He manages to write an entire column on the subject without once using the phrase "predatory lending," and without blaming the banks for doing anything wrong.  Greenspan is still a devotee of the libertarian individualism of his mentor Ayn Rand.  (I was going to write "clearly still a devotee," but nothing Greenspan says or writes is ever "clear").    So here's the contest. Try to summarize Greenspan's WSJ column in two sentences and in plain English understandable to, say, the typical voter in Iowa. I'll look at each of the submissions, select the winner, and send her/him either $5 or a brand-new copy of Greenspan's new semi-autobiography, "The Age of Turbulence," which sells in stores for $35 and on Amazon for $20.99. Let's see if the winner is a "rational" consumer and goes for the five bucks or the book!  And in my next posting, I'll let you all know the winning entry.

Peter