Dollars and Sense Magazine – Is there Anyone Better?

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Executive Summary

What Kind of Financial and Economics Reporting Do We Deserve?
Historically Correct
Disclosure Statement

What Kind of Financial and Economics Reporting Do We Deserve?

The differences between conventional media and the publication Dollars and Sense on the topic of economics and the present economic crisis is stark. From the conventional media, the topic of the biases and corruption of our policy shapers such as Bernake, Geithner, and Summers is never brought up. According to the conventional media, they are simply “public servants”; Alan Greenspan was one of the top economists when selected to head the Fed (which he never was), and Bernake is a deep thinking scholar of the depression, who is providing the best lessons from that crisis to this one. What we are not supposed to notice is that all of these economists belong to a country club of the elite and are part of interlocking directorates. The only thing deep about them is the deep corporate welfare and consistently pro-financial industry approach to every single policy decision. As Larry Summers is paid $5 million a year to do a few hours a week of influence peddling for a hedge fund, and the other decision makers are similarly on the take, their first question is always the following:

“How can we further enrich investment banks in particular and the financial industry generally. Secondly, how can we spin it so it sounds good to the average person”

Every article and television debate are centered around the same philosophy. In order for the country to do well, Citibank absolutely must be able to charge 20% interest. Any deviation from this is simply the first step on the “road to socialism.” The bias is so deep that during discussions of unfair credit card practices, the typical show moderator will offer “If we restrict what credit cards can charge, then people won’t be able to get credit.” Are we the only one’s who are insulted by the fact that the moderators on these shows seem to work for Citibank? One’s financial well-being, as well as sanity, is almost predicated upon not watching and reading the conventional media as it has a perverting effect both on one’s knowledge level and values. If Business Week or Fortune Magazine ever had a thought opinion or glancing emotion that was not pro-corporate and completely anti-worker, environment and sustainability, we would like to know what it was. The financial media landscape is abysmal, but we have an antidote.

Dollars and Sense (D&S) writes from the perspective of a heretical concept in our time; that the economy should actually benefit the people that work in it. D&S actually questions the official story and provides financial and economics reporting within a context of values. Not mindless repetition of catch phrases regarding “free markets,” to paper over free rides for the utlra wealthy, but actual values. For most Americans, values are taught to be important, but only in certain settings. There are the values for “us,” but then the values for GM, Monstanto and Goldman Sachs, and because they are businesses and must make a profit, they can do things no one would tolerate from us personally. How this double standard of values was developed is the topic of a different article, but Dollars and Sense do not accept the double standard. This is one reason why their coverage and writing is so clean.

Examples

The July edition of Dollars and Sense is a perfect example of what we are describing. In this one issue, they offered the following articles.

Why Bernake holds all the wrong assumptions and had all the wrong teachers in his education of what happened during the depression of the 30’s. Influenced by highly doctrinal economists such as Milton Freidman, the blame for the depression is dropped squarely on the government for its monetary policy. A nuanced view of the influence of large amounts of unprosecuted fraud by business at the time is papered over. This is the first article we have seen to actually question what Bernake’s conclusions were of his scholarship on the Great Depression, rather than blindly praising it.
Media criticism of anti-worker doctrinal articles written by the Wall Street Journal on the Chrysler bankruptcy that demonstrates how internally inconsistent this author is, and how he is simply writing “on demand” for elite interests. The article also skewers the concept of a “natural bankruptcy.” A natural bankruptcy according to the elite is where taxpayer money bails out a company, the large creditors get everything, and the worker gains nothing. The WSJ is deeply offended that this is not happening. Again, unless workers get nothing, we are on the road to socialism. (socialism is terrible, just as Sweden which has a higher standard of living and better quality of life than the US does — but they are socialist)
A sober analysis of the present economic crisis, that you will certainly not find in the conventional media, and why the current economic crisis has its roots in long term trends and in economic repression.

Historically Correct

We performed an analysis. We want back through time on D&S’s website and checked old articles. What we found was both impressive and personally depressing. D&S is consistently correct years in advance of major economics tends. This is a record the financial media simply can not touch. The depressing part is if we had turned away from conventional media and begun reading D&S 13 years ago we would have been far better off, both from the perspective of our knowledge level, but also financially. D&S is not only informative generally, it provides information can be acted upon. One of D&S’s greatest strengths is its ability to keep its readers away from asset bubbles. While most the people and media outlets we knew were fully engaged in the stock bubble or real estate bubble, D&S was questioning all of it. Everyone has the right to their own preference, but for us, we prefer to read publications that have actually been proven correct historically.

If you are tired of idiotic, elitist, temporarily focused and economically illiterate reporting, give D&S a try. Begin by sampling their website at https://www.dollarsandsense.org, but we highly recommend subscribing to them. The benefit of keeping way from asset bubbles is worth the subscription price many times over. Furthermore, it is important to keep this independent voice healthy financially. Their magazine is a joy to read for those looking for sane financial and economics reporting.

Disclosure Statement

We have done some technology advisement for D&S, but on a pro bono basis. We have no financial or other linkages with D&S.