I'll be writing about the first published report from the 2007 Survey of Consumer Finances, which is online at http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/bulletin/2009/pdf/scf09.pdf but I thought I'd share something I posted in response to some comments on another blog about Paul Krugman's observation that "families are poorer now than they were in 2001.":
So are we going to complain about it, or are we going to correct it?
Yes, this can be corrected. No, even most university-educated economics majors aren't familiar with how. Their economics texts spend a few pages on it, but in the context of a 10-week trimester or a 15-week semester, most economics professors can't talk about everything in a 700-page text books, and naturally they'll skip what their own instructors skipped.
That doesn't mean the answers don't exist.
The answers come from an earlier and better paradigm in economics. What students learn today is neoclassical economics, which much better suits some of the special interest folks who have over the years given generously to our colleges and universities. If you wanted tenure, what would you choose to teach?
What we need to know is from classical economics. John Stuart Mill, David Ricardo, Henry George ... these are the authors you'll want to get to know.
For a bit on Mill, see http://www.wealthandwant.com/themes/Mill.html
For a bit on Ricardo, see http://www.wealthandwant.com/themes/Ricardo.html
To get to know Henry George, start with the four speeches of his linked on the front page at http://www.wealthandwant.com/ You might also read Weld Carter's Introduction to Henry George, at http://www.wealthandwant.com/docs/CarterW_intro.html and your choice of essays from HG's excellent book Social Problems, linked from the same website.
These ideas provide a way to fix some of our most serious -- and otherwise intractable -- social, economic, environmental and justice problems.
Or we can keep doing the same thing and hoping for a different outcome.
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