OMNI Book forum on U.S. capitalism

OMNI BOOK FORUM ON US CAPITALISM‏
From: Omnicenter Communications (omninews@listserv.uark.edu) on behalf of Dick Bennett (jbennet@uark.edu)
Sent: Sat 11/01/08 6:34 PM
Reply-to: Dick Bennett (jbennet@uark.edu)
To: OMNINEWS@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU
Please tell others.

NEWS RELEASE
October 27, 2008
CONTACT: Dick Bennett, 442-4600
FORUM ON U. S. CAPITALISM
SPONSORED BY OMNI CENTER FOR PEACE, JUSTICE AND ECOLOGY
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 6:30, NIGHTBIRD BOOKSTORE
6TH ST./HIGHWAY 62 AND S. SCHOOL/71B

A panel will discuss recent books that examine contemporary business in the U. S. and its impact on the citizens. The panel was arranged prior to the bailout of the banks, which made the subject even more urgent. $700 billion rescued banks without any guaranteed return to the public for its investment or any requirement that they use at least some of the money for the mortgage-burdened people. They were free to use the money to buy other banks, pay dividends to stockholders, or give executives a bonus. As of the end of October, almost four weeks after the bailout became law, officials were just beginning to talk about helping a few strapped homeowners to keep the foreclosure wolf from the door. How did this situation happen? How did US capitalism become so irresponsibly, powerfully rapacious, our recent Presidents so unconscionably cooperative, and our Congress so complicitly supine? These books give the historical background.



The Panelists are Claire Detels, UA Prof. Emer.; Max Greenwood (John Gray, Mayor of Greenland, was to have been a panelist, but he is recovering a motorcycle accident); John Rule, retired teacher, farmer; and Larry Woodall, retired businessman.



The books to be discussed are: Confessions of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins; Unequal Protection: The Rise of Corporate Dominance and the Theft of Human Rights by Thom Hartmann; Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (And Stick You with the Bill) by Robert Johnston; Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Naomi Klein.





Claire Detels: Naomi Klein, SHOCK DOCTRINE : The Rise of Disaster Capitalism.

Max Greenwood, Thom Hartmann, UNEQUAL PROTECTION: The Rise of Corporate Dominance and the Theft of Human Rights.

John Rule: Robert Johnston, FREE LUNCH: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense.

Larry Woodall: John Perkins, CONFESSIONS of an Economic Hitman.



RELATED RECOMMENDED BOOKS ON US CAPITALISM

--Batra ?. The Myth of Free Trade and Greenspan's Fraud. See John Gray's praise for both books in TMN (8-25-08).

--Alternative Radio : Noam Chomsky : Rollback: The Return of ...

Rollback: The Return of Predatory Capitalism (2 Tape Set) Noam Chomsky.

--The Globalization of Poverty and the New World Order by Michel Chossudovsky. 2008. In this new and expanded edition of Chossudovsky international best-seller, the author outlines the contours of a New World Order which feeds on human poverty and the destruction of the environment, generates social apartheid, encourages racism and ethnic strife and undermines the rights of women.

-- Fletcher, Bill and Gapasin?. Solidarity Divided: The Crisis in Organized Labor & a New Path Toward Social Justice. U of California P, 2008. Interv. Amy Goodman 9-19-08;

--Fraser, Steve. Wall Street. Also interv. by Moyers. Includes loss of democratic populism by Democratic Party. Cp. Twain's Golden Age about late 19th c. rapacity and inequality. Also "Inequality and the American Dream" in The Economist.

--Galbraith, James. The Predator State: How Conservatives Abandoned the Free Market and Why Liberals Should Too . http://www.amazon.com/Predator-State-Conservatives-Abandoned-Liberals/dp/141656683X

-- Thom Hartmann, UNEQUAL PROTECTION: The Rise of Corporate Dominance and the Theft of Human Rights. (John Gray)

-- Hartmann, Thom. Screwed: The Undeclared War Against the Middle Class. Berret-Koehler, 2006;

--Robert Johnston, Free Lunch: How The Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves At Government Expense (and Stick you With the Bill). (John Rule)

--Naomi Klein, TheSHOCK DOCTRINE : The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. (Claire Detels)

--Perkins, John. Confessions of an Economic Hitman. (Larry Woodall)

--Phillips, Kevin. Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics, and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism. Viking, 2008.

--Jack Rasmus, The War at Home: The Corporate Offensive from Ronald Reagan to George W., Bush, Economic Class War in America

--Reich, Charles. Opposing the System.

--Robert Reich, Supercapitalism

-- Dean Ritz, ed. Defying Corporations, Defining Democracy, for POCLAD, Apex P, 2001 (Program on Corporations, Law, and Democracy);

--Sklar, Holly. Raise the Floor. Interviewed by Bill Moyers on Moyers' Journal 6-13-08.

-- Speth, James Gustave. The Bridge at the Edge of the World: Capitalism, the Environment, and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability. Yale UP, 2008. Blind faith in economic growth is ruining the planet. Rev. The Interdependent (Spring 2008) (UNA-USA magazine); "…my conclusion…is that most environmental deterioration is a result of systemic failures of the capitalism that we have today and that long-term solutions must seek transformative change in the key features of this contemporary capitalism."

----Big Think presents a short video of Columbia University economist Joseph Stiglitz explaining how foreign governments are buying America. See (with Linda Bilmes) his The Three Trillion Dollar War. http://www.boingboing.net/2008/09/16/joseph-stiglitz-how.html

--Waldman, Michael. Who Robbed America? A Citizen's Guide to the Savings and Loan Scandal.





--
Dick Bennett
jbennet@uark.edu
(479) 442-4600
2582 Jimmie Ave.
Fayetteville, AR 72703

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