A ‘Care Socialist’ Speaks Out

• Folbre talked with In These Times about the negative effects of ignoring care work in public policy, and what the future of our democracy might look like if we want it to strengthen our families and communities.
• An economist debunks the “austerity story.”
• Robert Reich | The Austerity Death Trap
• Paul Krugman | The Austerity Debacle
• Community versus Individualism: How To Tell The Progressive Story

Joel Bleifuss, In These Times

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Nancy Folbre is an economics professor at the University of Massachusetts. (Photo courtesy of Jim Boyce)

In her work, Nancy Folbre, a University of Massachusetts economics professor, explores the intersection of feminist theory and political economy, with a special emphasis on what she calls “care work”–the labor, often outside the money economy, that goes into caring for children, the sick or the elderly.

She is well known for her ability to explain these ideas in simple, accessible language, both in her work with the Center for Popular Economics–the collective of economists who put out the Field Guide to the U.S. Economy (New Press)–and with her weekly post to the Economix<http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/>–a New York Times blog dedicated to “explaining the science of everyday life.”

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Related:

Robert Reich | The Austerity Death Trap, Robert Reich, Huffington Post

• Unless the GOP agrees to a budget deal before year's end, the payroll tax cuts and extended unemployment benefits we have now will end. The scale of this fiscal contraction would be almost unprecedented.
• The only way out of this vicious cycle is for the government -- the spender of last resort -- to boost the economy. The regressives are all calling for the opposite.
• Misguided deficit worries make unemployment worse
• Tax the super-rich or riots will rage in 2012

Paul Krugman | The Austerity Debacle, Paul Krugman, New York (NY) Times

• The austerity doctrine that has dominated elite policy discussion both in Europe and, to a large extent, in the United States for the past two years is a stunning failure of policy.
• Paul Krugman | Nobody Understands Debt
• World economy set for another major downturn

Community versus Individualism: How To Tell The Progressive Story, Mike Lux, AlterNet
We have to remind people that a broad based, prosperous, expanding middle class is what made America the envy of the world, and that the only reason we created it was a conscious strategy where we invested in our people and lifted our people up rather than waiting for the wealthy to trickle down blessings from above.