Inequality

Income inequality is one of those things that we find almost impossible to talk about in US politics.  Simply raising the issue automatically leads to charges of “class warfare”, a term that is empty enough in meaning to raise emotions without much intellect.  Yet it is important.

One of the great features of recent global economic turmoil is the downturn in the developed world amid continued growth in the developing world.  What’s the main difference between the two?  According to a survey by the Economist, one of the main features is that the developing world generally has increasing income equality but the developed increasing inequality.  Emotional arguments aside, there is a distinct trend that raises real questions of global competitiveness, at the very least.

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A New Beginning

Barataria stands as a blog with a purpose.  Most of the time, that purpose is to tell the stories lost in the jargon of economics and finance that have come to define our recent lives far more than most people are comfortable with.

If we can’t grab what is happening around us and make it our own, how can we call ourselves a free and democratic society?  Barataria does what it can to offer a different way of looking at what is happening and relate it in story form, free of unexplained jargon.  Hopefully, this will help to make a more real and useful politics.

After a few months of big events and heavy articles, it’s time to summarize the Baratarian view on the big economic picture in one polemic and invite your comments.

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Scurry from the Light?

When the lights are flipped on, tradition has it that the cockroaches that feast on the night quickly scurry for the darkness.  Those of us from more Caribbean climates know that the really big Palmetto bugs often keep going on about their roachy business as if light and dark mean nothing to them.  But you have to expect that in languid, humid air better suited for piracy and general disregard for “authority”.

Exactly what climate does the financial world operate in?  We may soon find out.  But there are many reasons to believe JP Morgan, the investment bank, already operates more like Captain Morgan, the pirate.  And they are apparently far from alone.

Just as the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is working to flip the switch, a survey has come out suggesting that it may well not make much immediate difference.  Then again, it does help to know that what you have are, in fact, roaches.

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The French Example

It’s summer, and time to talk national budget!  No, not here in the USofA – we haven’t actually bothered to have a real budget in 3 years or more.  We’re talking about France, a nation with a bold new Socialist government and determination to move ahead into the future.  A future full of socialist visions of strong growth and commitment to reducing the deficit … wait a minute …

The fun thing about Europe these days is that it provides us with endless examples of alternative ways to run things.  By “alternative”, of course, we mean things that are utterly impossible to describe even as they seem vaguely familiar.  Yet, in the case of France, we might be looking at something like the future if we do manage to get a Democratic US House in the next election along with a second term for Obama.  It only gets weird when you think of the left as the responsible ones who are actually trying to make things work.

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Unemployed and Unenthusiastic

Another month, another disappointing jobs report.  Following the same patterns as last year, employment gains over the summer are falling far short of what appeared to be momentum building in the winter.  The gain of 80k jobs in June is just enough to keep treading water, enough to absorb the net increase in the workforce as Millenials graduate in June and set out to make their own way in the world.

Given that politics, economics, and any other social arrangements we can think of are tied together we know this will have an effect on the election in November.  This should also shape the attitudes of an entire generation as they grow older and contemplate raising families, starting businesses, and generally making the world in their own image.

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