Jobs Now! MLK's Dream and FDR's Vision

Jobs Now sponsored event: MLK's Dream and FDR's Vision at UMKC Jan. 19 2012.  Warning: these recordings are pretty crude.


Video Links and Descriptions:

Government Can Create Jobs: Lessons from the WPA presented by John Henry

I missed the first few minutes of this presentation. But the general idea is that the Government sector was once able to successfully employ people and improve the community through an interwar jobs program called the Works Progress Administration or WPA. The WPA not only provided jobs, but also developed infrastructure that boosted economic growth all over the nation and continues to benefit American communities over 70 years later.

How to Pay for a New WPA presented by Stephanie Kelton

Dr. Kelton only touches briefly on the true nature of money. But this might be an inspiration for people to dig into the New Economic Perspectives segment: Modern Money Primer.

Martin Luther King on Jobs and The Civil Rights Movement presented by Mathew Forstater

Discussion and analysis of Dr. King's statements concerning the connection between economic opportunity and social justice.

The View from Kansas City presented by Linwood Tauheed 

Discussion and comparison of local and national economic and employment trends. Dr. Tauheed's presentation reminded me of the community map made by my 5th-7th grade Community Organizing Students at KIPP Endeavor Academy in KCMO in 2009. KIPP Students had no problem identifying the problems that develop as a result of economic marginalization of the black community in KC.

Jobs Now Event January 19

Economics should be a public service discipline.

The conversation about what I want to do with my life came up recently. The short answer to that is that I want to have a career in public service. I was lucky to stumble into UMKC and find a department that supports a public service attitude toward economics. This is rare according to the New York Times.

Just a Reminder

“The end of democracy and the defeat of the American Revolution will occur when government falls into the hands of lending institutions and moneyed incorporations.”

“If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.”

 “Those who surrender freedom for security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.”

-Thomas Jefferson.

National Defense Authorization Act

Learn More, Call your Congressman.This is unconstitutional.

Khan Academy: Topics of Relevance

Khan Academy has a few helpful sections for people who want to understand economics: The following is a list of the various economics related topics on the site, and my opinion of the sections I have seen. Each of these has between 10 and 60 videos. Each video is about 10 minutes. This is a great way to get through some pretty dense material at your own pace. Khan makes it easy.




Banking and Money: Textbook style topics related to the technical side of Money and Banking which is commonly taken by students who study business, economics, political science, finance or other related topics. If you want to know about money though, check out the UMKC Department of economics blog on Modern Monetary Theory. Khan does go into detail about how money is created, which give insight into the financial crisis.


Credit Crisis: Topics directly related to the 2008 credit crisis. Explains the various "financial instruments" we keep hearing so much about: Credit Default Swaps, Mortgage-backed securities etc. This is only part of the story, but Khan tells it well.


Current Economics: This topic is mostly applications of economic theory and some explanations of trade issues tied to current events at the time he filmed the original lectures.  Its good, but mostly studies the kind of things we have to study before we can get started disputing the typical assumptions of standard economic theory. (Which offer little connection to reality, completely theoretical, but most people who study economics at an introductory level are only exposed to this junk) Khan is good about raising questions where the theory doesn't hold up, though he may not explore them, just plant a seed of doubt.



Currency: All about international currency exchange. Useful, tangent to the topic at hand, but not completely unrelated.


Finance: Macroeconomics. I have not watched any of these yet.

Geithner Plan: Debunking Timothy Geithner. This one is particularly important and there are only a handful of videos.


Paulson Bailout: Khan comes out against the Paulson Bailout.


Valuation and Investing: I have not seen these either. Building blocks and case studies on the financial analysis and valuation of public equities.


Venture Capital and Capital Markets:  I have not watched any of these. All of the sources of funding (capital) for a business.

Wall Street The Great Jobs Killer presented by Bill Black: UMKC Student Union Theatre. Nov 29th 2011

Police Brutality is Our Weapon Too.

Another victory for the Occupy movement!

The general sentiments of Occupy are certainly a radical departure from the status quo. Occupy is essentially an indictment of our recent cultural developments where the free market has been idealized to the point of dogma, the power elite has taken control of our democracy, and policies are judged by their philosophical and political "correctness" rather than their ability to achieve social justice. It is expected that those who benefit from the status quo will act irrationally to protect their status. Though police brutality is intended to demoralize and break up the Occupy Movement, I expect it will only galvanize the movement and bring new supporters to the protests.

So long as the police brutality has not totally suppressed the power of the people (think Nazi Germany) it is just another part of the process of radical reforms (think Civil Rights).  The moral high ground is very important to any social movement. Beating up and pepper spraying  kids, interfering with the freedom of the press, targeting young women, and using psychological intimidation are not generally tolerated or appreciated by the middle and lower classes. There aren't many issues that bring the 99% to consensus, I think the country still has the moral fiber to recognize the danger of police brutality and act/vote/protest accordingly.