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We need a new, positive definition of public goods to counter the current market-myopic economics definition that relegates pubic goods to market failure

Black veterans weren't able to make use of the housing provisions of the GI Bill because banks generally wouldn't make loans for mortgages in Black neighborhoods, and African-Americans were excluded from the suburbs by a combination of deed covenants and informal racism. 

Veterans Day has long been a moment to reflect on how deeply the successive wars of the 20th Century reshaped America and the world. But judging by what just happened in the Philippines, cataclysmic weather events may turn out be the big shape of the 21st Century.

Veterans Day has long been a moment to reflect on how successive wars of the 20th Century reshaped America and the world. But judging by what just happened in the Philippines, we could well be living in a century where cataclysmic weather events play that history altering role. 

The events of yesterday nicely summed up American economic life: a tiny sliver of people, mostly tech and finance insiders, got fabulously wealthy from Twitter's IPO while 64 people were arrested protesting the poverty wages paid by the largest U.S. employer, Walmart. 

Since Citizens United unleashed a flood of corporate money into federal election campaigns, the public has been justifiably outraged at the ability of large economic institutions to wield undue political power.  

Here's a question for every reader of this post who lives in a major metro area and has at least a college degree: How many people do you know who make under $40,000 a year?

Exclude that artist friend who's husband is in finance. And eliminate younger people still paying their dues. I'm talking about people who really earn under $40,000 year. 

The story of this past election, and really the past several elections, is one of how much money floods our electoral system. The 2012, post-Citizen’s United election was the most expensive election in history and even though 2013 was an off-year election cycle, there was no shortage of spending.

The third quarter GDP numbers were released this morning, which show a GDP increase of 2.8 percent, an increase from the 2.5 percent reported for the second quarter. Among other factors, increases in personal consumption and state and local government spending helped contribute to the increase in GDP. Of course, the state and local spending was offset by a negative contribution from federal government spending.