A sampling of resources on the current economic crisis:
Bill Tabb writing on the Four Crises of the Capitalist System, grounding the current situation in a Marxist understanding of capitalism…
Story of the Cook County Sheriff refusing to obey orders to evict renters from foreclosed homes…
Naomi Klein on why the U.S. financial crisis should be for neoliberalism what the fall of the Berlin was for 20th Century Communism (with a big C)…
Wall Street in Black and White: Why are Poor Blacks Being Blamed for Mortgage Meltdown by Professor Emma Coleman Jordan
Homeowners come up empty in Bailout, a very good article for those particularly interested or engaged in housing struggles and impacts of this crisis on the fight against displacement, and for affordable, dignified housing.
A very sobering article, The Rising Body Count on Mainstreet: The Human Fallout from the Financial Crisis by Nick Turse, about the increase in suicides and homicides due to the impacts of economic stress on individuals and families fighting to make it. Also with some critical stories of resistance and organizing in the face of such hardship and despair.
The downturn in facts and figures thanks to the BBC. Scroll down to check out the interactive map of subprime lending, foreclosures, and properties owned by Deutsche Bank, in Cleveland, Ohio, demonstrating the massive impact of the subprime crisis on Black communities in that city
Berkeley Prof. Dick Walker on the geography of the bubble, with a Marxist analysis of how, why and where this whole mess has unfolded…
The Subprime Primer: A 45 slide stick figure cartoon breaking down the mechanics of subprime mortgages being sold on international markets…
Radio show with two Canadian Marxists, Sam Gindin and Leo Panitch, discussing the financial crisis, neoliberalism and the U.S. empire–the end of what, if anything exactly? Very provocative listening for any of us interested in fighting for an alternative to neoliberal globalization and capitalism…
Go to the Resources/Links page on the CPE website for eight different power point presentations and outlines from our 2007 Introduction to Political Economy and Radical Economics classes and the June 2008 classes on Recession and the Housing Crisis, chock-full of economic concepts, explanations and analysis of how we got to where we are with the current economic crisis…
Tons of pooled resources for activists, organizers and leftists, thanks to our sister organization, the Brecht Forum. Including video from many forums they’ve held in NY, on the new page of their website: Brecht Forum Economy Watch
This American Life radio program on the Global Pool of Money and the US Subprime Housing Crisis, which you can either read as a transcript or listen to the full show. Gives you a new understanding of the chain of players involved in finance, housing finance and predatory lending…
A fourty-seven minute cartoon video on the origins of money, banks, debt and monetary policy.
And lastly a ten-minute video that explains some of the mechanics of the crisis, as described by British comedians (with Spanish subtitles)…
Some general online resources:
Monthly Review and Monthly Review Zine
Z Magazine and ZNet
Center for Popular Economics
Dollars and Sense
New Left Review
Rebelión (in Spanish)
