On Veblen, Mills…And the Decline of Criticism
by Doug Dowd     1964
Article from Dissent

An End to Alibis? America Fouls Its Dream
by Doug Dowd     1967
A bittersweet piece that originally appeared in The Nation and was reprinted in Dialogue (a Cornell student mag "of the arts and politics"). What to do about the increasing divergence between the myth of America and the reality of the United States? Let us harbor no illusions; let us organize!

Chicago 1968: The Dog Beneath the Skin
by Doug Dowd     1968
What happened in Chicago in 1968 can be laid at the feet of LBJ, HHH, all the rest. This analysis seems uncannily appropriate as we approach yet another season of national party conventions.

Chicagoslovakia (1968)
by Doug Dowd     1968
Ruminations on the 1968 police riot in Chicago

When Laws Should Not Be Obeyed
by Doug Dowd     1968
An examination of the advisability and morality of civil disobedience in the USA

On The Economic History of the United States in the Twentieth Century
by Doug Dowd     1969
This examination (a critique, really) of the economic history of the USA was one-half of the first edition of the Occasional Papers of the Union for Radical Political Economics.

The State, Power and the Industrial Revolution, 1750–1914
by Doug Dowd     1971
From the editor's note in the original publication (H. M. Wachtel in URPE Occasional Paper No. 4): "This paper is designed as an introduction to economic history and will be especially useful for individuals without substantial knowledge of economic history. Its purpose is to invite further study of questions raised rather than to settle those questions for all time."

What Must the University Be?
by Doug Dowd     1971
New York Times op-ed piece

Social Commitment and Social Analysis: The Contribution of Paul Baran
by Doug Dowd     1974
A talk given at Stanford University for the symposium "The Political Economy of Growth: A Belated Tribute to Paul Baran and His Work"

Stagflation and the Political Economy of Decadent Monopoly Capitalism
by Doug Dowd     1976
An explanation of the seemingly paradoxical simultanaeity of inflation and stgnation. This paper was presented at the meetings of the Western Economic Association, June 26, 1976, San Francisco, and was first published in Rivista Internazionale di Scienze Economiche e Commerciali (Milan). It later appeared in Monthly Review.

Consciousness, Character, And Capitalist Development
by Doug Dowd     1978
The preliminary stages of an effort to improve our understanding of an abiding question of both analytical and political importance: what causes social consciousness to be what it is and what it becomes in the social process?

Capitalism with the Gloves Off
by Doug Dowd     1981
A review of the Monthly Review of Friendly Fascism, by Bertram Gross. This article is relevant in the year 2002.

Marxism for the Few, Or, Let 'Em Eat Theory
by Doug Dowd     1982
An article from Monthly Review

Militarized Economy, Brutalized Society
by Doug Dowd     1982
A synoptic view of "what has been done to the consciousness and the character of our population by the decades of economic militarization."

Orwell Cubed
by Doug Dowd     1992
A review of Beyond Hypocrisy: Decoding the News in an Age of Propaganda (including the Doublespeak Dictionary), by Edward S. Herman, illustrated by Matt Wuerker

Against Decadence: The Work of Robert A. Brady (1901–63)
by Doug Dowd     1994
Article from the Journal of Economic Issues; Brady was an economics professor at Berkeley

Invitation to a Feast
by Doug Dowd     1997
A review in Monthly Review of Wall Street: How It Works and Ffor Whom, by Doug Henwood (editor of the wonderful Left Business Observer)

The Radical Political Economics of Douglas F. Dowd
by Michael Keaney     1998
An explication and analysis of the views of Doug Dowd, by Michael Keaney, Glasgow Caledonian University; this paper was presented at the Post Keynesian Economics Study Group Microeconomics Seminar, Glasgow Caledonian University.

Injustice, Italian-Style
by Doug Dowd     1999
Although the case is uniquely Italian, it recalls sordid episodes from our own history, mixing elements from the trials and tribulations of Sacco and Vanzetti in the 1920s, Hiss in the 1950s, and the Black Panthers (inter alia) in the 1960s. And, as a Guardian (of London) writer has suggested, the Sofri case could be following a script written by Lewis Carroll, except that the madness in Alice was stirred with whims. There is nothing to smile about here.

Towards Understanding Capitalism
by Doug Dowd     1999
A primer on the form of social organization known as capitalism

Capitalism and Technology
by Doug Dowd     2000
The combination of capitalism and technology has foisted an ongoing catastrophe whose proportions have already been lethal on a large scale and that threaten to expand always further. So long as capital's wants dictate, there will be no end to this calamity. Until life itself ends.

Capitalism and Technology: To Whose Benefit, at What Costs?
by Doug Dowd     2000
This paper was given as the keynote address for the 32nd Annual Pacific Northwest Labor History Assn Conference, Tacoma, Wash.

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and Their New Henchmen
by Doug Dowd     2000
Cars, TV, nukes! In a society very different from ours, any one of the three might be safely absorbed; but not in this one. A sane society would produce goods and services to meet human and social and environmental needs, not for profit. These imbecile institutions may do us in.

The Free Market—And All That Jazz
by Doug Dowd     2000
Free markets mean freedom for business to get what they want, anywhere, in any way they want, and if you don't like it, you can lump it. Or organize.

The Great Brain Robbery
by Doug Dowd     2000
Politicians may scream "Education!" What they mean is let's maintain the status quo. We need a panoply of changes in the educative process...but as part of a larger political movement.

Guys and Dolls: Reflections of an Old Geezer
by Doug Dowd     2000
An examination of the prejudices men hold against/toward women, that "come with the territory" of being a male—generated by a lifelong socialization process that cultivates, combines, and nourishes ignorance, misinformation, fears and aggressiveness, and that rewards the worst side of masculinity and distorts the virtues of femininity.

Inc.
by Doug Dowd     2000
The TNCs are not so much immoral as amoral; or so their CEOs and their shareholders and their kept politicians would like to see themselves (at worst). But with power goes responsibility and accountability, like it or not. They don't like it.

Neither a Borrower Nor a Lender Be
by Doug Dowd     2000
The USA leads the world in its consumer and business borrowing and in producing all kinds and amounts of waste—damaging society and dangerous to human beings and other creatures and the planet itself. Even our savings rate is negative. What to do?

The New Economy: Stairway to the Stars or House of Cards?
by Doug Dowd     2000
The notion of today's widely-touted "new economy" are addressed by comparing and contrasting its key elements with what was called "the new era" of the 1920s—under the headings Then and Now.

The New Era of the 1920s and the New Economy of Today: Birds of a Feather?
by Doug Dowd     2000
There are some commonalities between the Twenties and now. But there are also differences. (History does not repeat itself.) But look out—a recession or depression will turn the USA even farther Right. Unless.

Rotting Away—the Political Economy of Corruption and Decadence
by Doug Dowd     2000
History is replete with corrupt and decadent societies. Capitalism has engendered an unbridled stint of corruption and decadence. If we are to have a society that is better, safer, saner than this emerging inferno, it will not be handed down to us by those now sitting in the catbird seat.

Social Security: from Scam to Scandal in 65 Years
by Doug Dowd     2000
Social Security was flawed from the get-go in 1935. The worse off you were while working, the worse off you will be when you stop working (even worse, of course, for there is no longer your wage); symmetrically, the better off you were, the better off you will be. The program should at last be made progressive—in taxes and in benefits. And the rich will still be rich!

A Tale of Two Cities
by Doug Dowd     2000
The two cities are Bologna and Venice. The environmental problems threatening both, despite well-publicized "remedies," have not improved but worsened in recent decades. These two cities, their problems, and their failure to deal with them exemplify all too well what is happening all over the world.

The Virtues of Their Defects and the Defects of their Virtues: Reflections on John Kenneth Galbraith and Thorstein Veblen
by Doug Dowd     2000
Reflections on John Kenneth Galbraith and Thorstein Veblen, from Michael Keaney (ed.), Economics with a Public Purpose: Essays in Honour of John Kenneth Galbraith (Routledge, 2000). The book title notwithstanding, this essay is critical of Galbraith.

Toward A Political Economy For Our Times
by Doug Dowd     2000
Lectures Notes from the Econ Y2K 1999 classes

What Do We Want? And Who Are "We"?
by Doug Dowd     2000
Keeping in mind what happened—economically, socially, politically, militarily—in the decade after 1929 (and remembering the euphoria preceding it) suggests that we, and many more than we, must step up and greatly alter our political effort. Demonstrations must be seen as part of an uninterrupted movement.

Will Pudd'nhead Be the Dumbest, The Most Dangerous U.S. President Ever?
by Doug Dowd     2000
Will President Happy Face be the worst ever? Stuck as we are with this spoiled brat, we can take some perverse satisfaction in recognizing that many of his predecessors have also been dumb and/or dangerous—even rotten to the core, some of them. So, given some of the competition, it'll be a horse race.

Depths below Depths: The Intensification, Multiplication, and Spread of Capitalism's Destructive Force from Marx's Time to Ours
by Doug Dowd     2001
The Marxian analytical framework remains essential for the understanding of contemporary capitalism; however, given the enormous changes since his time, its constituent elements are not only in need of "updating," but the relationships between them require important shifts in emphasis.
This is a talk delivered to the annual conference of the Union for Radical Political Economics, August 2001, to be published in a forthcoming issue of the Review of Radical Political Economics.

Deregulation Blues
by Doug Dowd     2001
Just when we're about to blow our tops at the airlines for the delays and crowding and lousy service—and rising prices—we get blindsided by blackouts and for our electricity and rising prices (as also for gas, and water, and gasoline). How come?

Down with the Bah Humbug of Taxes, Surpluses, Spending, and Deficits, Up with What We Need and Can Do
by Doug Dowd     2001
That, in this the richest nation in all of history at its richest point, any individual or family should be unable to meet fundamental needs is an obscenity verging on social criminality. That the U.S. public should accept the ideological ravings of the installed and ascendant Right is shameful."

From the Unthinkable to the Probable in Israel/Palestine
by Doug Dowd     2001
The Israelis must be made to halt and to reverse their history in Palestine, while in exchange, the Palestinians must face the fact that a pre-1967 Israel is there to stay. The USA must take the first steps, and do so with vigor and conviction. Yet, at the moment we are the very nation least likely to do so, especially with Bush and his ilk in power.

Giving the People Back Their Own Money
by Edward S. Herman     2001
One of today's most favored right-wing justifications of a massive tax reduction is the idea that taxes are a form of government theft, which take from individuals the fruits of their labor or rightful ownership, and without reasonable cause. For this gang, the short-term perspective of business, grab-and-run, becomes the order of the day.The important people want their own money back, along with anybody else's they can get their hands on, and this business party is trying to help them get it.

An Interview with Howard Zinn
by Joe Lockard and Joel Schalit     2001
A talk with the noted historian on what to expect from the current administration in the next four years...why Dubya is Clinton with the gloves off...and what is to be done

Karl Marx and the Reopening of His System
by Edward S. Herman     2001
The beauty of the Marxian system, and the reason for its continued and perhaps increased vitality, is its focus on the core elements and dynamic and evolving character of capitalism. Here are the basic ideas and their applicability in the New World Order.

NAFTA's Lessons: From Economic Mythology to Current Realities
by James M. Cypher     2001
An analysis of the effects of NAFTA upon Mexico, the United States, and the workers of both countries; from Labor Studies Journal

New Targets
by Michael Albert     2001
An excellent short primer on strategy and tactics for anti-globalization activists and people of the Left in general

Refuting the Big Lie
by Doug Dowd     2001
A review of Hugh Stretton's excellent new economics textbook

The Italians
by Doug Dowd     2001
This is written for those who plan some day to visit Italy, and meant to induce others to do so.

Tidbits
by Robin Hahnel     2001
"International Financial Crisis: After watching closely during the past four years there are finally a few things I think I can predict about international financial crises with a great deal of confidence..."

Bankers and Globalization, Past and Present: From Pinstriped Conservatism to 7/24 Speculation
by Doug Dowd     2002
A talk delivered to the conference entitled Reflections on the Social Impact of American Multinational Corporations, in Grenoble, France, January 2002

Capitalism: To the Trash Heap of History
by Troy Skeels     2002
Capitalism depends on exploitation. The cheap raw materials are now just about all gone; there's nowhere for the system to turn. Let's turn it off. "What we really need is true free enterprise....The most secure investment for the future is the one that sustains a community that you are part of."

Don't Waste Any Time in Mourning: Organize!
by Doug Dowd     2002
This is the most dangerous time in USA history since Doug was born in 1919. Things get scarier every day. Yet there is reason for hope. But we have to (1) learn from the past and (2) we have to work exceptionally hard. The likely alternative is a kind of fascism USA-style (or "friendly fascism"). We're heading that way, and we'd better try to stop the momentum.

Fascism With a Happy Face
by Doug Dowd     2002
Fascism is a response to capitalism in crisis. Contemporary capitalism is lurching toward another crisis. The political processes of contemporary Italy are, like those of the USA, only superfically democratic. Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian PM since May 2001 (and for a time also his own foreign minister) looks and acts like Benito Mussolini, another Italian PM who was also his own foreign minister. In Italy and the USA, the future looks grim, indeed. Unless we do our work.

The ideology of globalization as that of capitalism writ large and, necessarily, writ always larger
by Doug Dowd     2002
A talk delivered to the conference entitled Reflections on the Social Impact of American Multinational Corporations, in Grenoble, France, January 2002

Karl Marx: The Needs of Capital vs. The Needs of Human Beings
by Edward S. Herman     2002
A chapter from the forthcoming Understanding Capitalism, Doug Dowd, Ed., published in 2002 by Pluto Press, London

Market Mystification: the Mechanism Laid Bare
by Bertell Ollman     2002
People's daily experiences as buyers and sellers in the market are the chief cause of capitalist ideology. Besides giving them/us a distorted view of social relations, nature, human nature, money, freedom and equality, it mystifies the whole sphere of production, which in terms of its extended effects may be the most harmful mystification of all.

Return of the Iron Triangle
by James M. Cypher     2002
Military spending must go up, say the members of the Iron Triangle. The sides of the triangle are the decision makers of the U.S. military: (1) the "civilian agencies" (NSA, CIA, NSC, Office of POTUS), (2) the military brass, and (3) the 85,000 private military contractors. With the current administration, there will, of course, be money abounding, but how will the spoils be divided up? (From Dollars and Sense)

VaiVecchio — An Interview with Doug Dowd (English)
by Doug Dowd     2002
An interview of Doug Dowd, both the Italian version and an English translation, by Una Cittá [A City], a magazine in Bologna, Italy.

What Is Political Science? What Should It Be?
by Doug Dowd     2002
This paper examines the five myths that govern political science: that it studies politics; that it is scientific; that one can study politics cut off from the other social sciences and history; that the State is neutral; and that the bulk of the work in the discipline furthers the cause of democracy.

Defecits and Surpluses
by Doug Dowd     2003
The conventional wisdom today is very much what it was before the mid-1930s — namely, it is a sin to run a governmental deficit (which increases its debt) and a virtue to accumulate a surplus (which reduces its debt). And because everything is just hunky-dory today, we have no need for social expenditures — no reason to repeat the errors of the bad old days of the New Deal. At least, so they say.

Deflation and the "D" Word — Here We Go Again
by Doug Dowd     2003
A Z commentary comparing the awful world economic situation of today with the Depression of 1929; "a global economic crisis of the dimensions of the 1930s might conceivably be averted; and might not be....W. W. III could come to seem, a few years from now, the way we are able to view W. W. I: terrible, but not so bad, in comparison with the permanent wars abroad, processes lurching toward 'compassionate fascism' at home. We have a lot to do..."

Globalization: The USA Shoots Itself in the Foot, or Worse
by Doug Dowd     2003
History never does nor can it ever repeat itself in particulars: The always changing multidimensional social context makes even close repetitions impossible. But certain patterns do recur; among them is that where socioeconomic domination produces conditions leading to its own downfall.
In the capitalist era, there have been two such instances of the decline of once unchallengeable strength: the Dutch in the 18th century, and the British in the 19th. Now it is increasingly likely that the USA will be the third.

Between Involvement and Utopia: Past and Present
by Doug Dowd     2004
A talk given in Italian on 2004.11.25 at the Aula Magna, on Via Castiglione, University of Bologna, for the students of the School of Pedagogy. It was the closing speech of the day. Doug notes, "It is inconceivable that such a meeting would be held in a university in the U.S.A., let alone by its education faculty."

Globalization: The Ideology and Self-Destructive Tendencies of Capitalism, Past and Present
by Doug Dowd     2004
A talk delivered at the American Sociological Association conference in San Francisco

Havoc, Inc.: Running Amok with Uncle Sam
by Doug Dowd     2004
A review of Larry Everest, Oil, Power and Empire: Iraq and The U.S. Global Agenda (Monroe, ME: Common Courage Press, 2004), 391 pages, paper $19.95.

La guerra infinita
by Doug Dowd     2004
Una intervista fatto a Doug Dowd di Luca Molinari, Il Domani, Bologna, Italia

On the Election
by Doug Dowd     2004
This is no time for venting our spleen. It is very much the time to preserve what Howard Zinn has recently seen as "a ledge" from which we can hold on and climb toward what we need and want. That ledge will be cheerfully obliterated by a Second Bush II Administration. I am firm in the belief that all who seek a sane and decent and peaceful world must vote for Kerry.

What Must We Do? What Can We Do?
by Doug Dowd     2004
First, we must do much more than we have done politically, both quantitatively and qualitatively. We must continue to vote and demonstrate, of course, but much much more than that. We must not only increase the time and energy we devote to politics greatly, but also seek out and work together in additional groups. Considering only the decades since 1945, it is woefully obvious that because we fell short in both respects, we are now in very deep trouble.

The Dynamics, Contradictions, and Dissent of Today's China
by Doug Dowd     2005
Book review and commentary on two books: 1) China's New Order: Society, Politics, and Economy in Transition, by Wang Hui. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 2003. Hardcover $22.95. 256 pages. (Edited by Theodore Huters); 2) One China, Many Paths. Chaohua Wang, Editor. Verso. Paperback $36. 368 pages.

Support Our Troops: Bring Them Home
by Howard Zinn     2005
We must withdraw our military from Iraq, the sooner the better. The reason is simple: Our presence there is a disaster for the American people and an even bigger disaster for the Iraqi people.

The United States Becomes Its Own Worst Enemy
by Doug Dowd     2005
A comparison of the current degenerate state of the U.S.A. and "The New South," a seldom-discussed "toxic brew of institutionalized cruelty and systemic irrationalities, fueled by fear, greed, and hatred." The New South itself was the result of the little-known Compromise of 1877, whereby presidential candidate Tilden, who had a quarter million plurality, was denied the office through tawdry and dubious machinations centering around Florida. (Sound familiar?) This article also lists nine "worrisome tendencies over which the U.S.A. presides."

Tighten Your Seat Belts: Worse Is on Its Way
by Doug Dowd     2005
The world economy is sustained by insane and unsustainable debt. China is beyond bullying; as is, probably, Iran. Iraq is beyond control. Even if our leadership were the best in our history, we would be in deep doo-doo — but it is the worst.

Latin America: Spitting in Uncle Sam's Eye
by Doug Dowd     2007
From its birth as a nation until now the USA has been busy building what became the most far-reaching empire in history. By hook or by crook. The USA has always taken it for granted that grabbing what we want is our right, our historic duty, a gift to those we conquer; no matter where, when, or how: If the land of the free and home of the brave does it, that makes it OK. But now the U.S. empire is on the decline. And look who's on the ascent!

Obama Is Stuck in the Mud, and So Are We
by Doug Dowd     2009
If we don't get together, Obama will make disastrous decisions.

Toward a Fully Democratic Society or More Disasters?
by Doug Dowd     2009
Capitalism will kill us. Sadly, there is little or no reason to expect that, left to themselves, either Obama or the current leaders of other nations will undertake what is required to reverse ongoing economic, military, or environmental troubles. They must be pushed from below. But will we have the gumption? Do we have the nerve?

What's That Sneaking Around the Corner?
by Doug Dowd     2011
Epic Recession: Prelude to Global Depression, by Jack Rasmus (Pluto Press, 2010) It's wake-up time!

Tough Times Past and Present -- The 1930s and Today
by Doug Dowd     2012
The 1930s were a difficult time. Much has happened since. Today and tomorrow are even more perilous, on several fronts.

What's That Coming Around the Corner?
by Doug Dowd     2012
All too many of us have been suckers of Big Business. We must climb our way out of that dangerous ditch before it becomes fatal.

Three Cheers for the Occupiers and Their Supporters -- Now What?
by Doug Dowd     2012
The Occupy movement has been exciting, admirable, and necessary. But now our focus must broaden and deepen, and its demands must become national. The rightists bought their way; we have to work them down and bring decency up. We must win — and we can!

Financial Crises: Past and Present
by Doug Dowd     2012
The crises of the 20th and 21st Centuries are delineated. And what will the future hold?

Wall Street and the Financial Crisis -- What's Next? (That's Up to Us)
by Doug Dowd     2012
The story of capitalism begins in the 17th Century. Its latest wrinkle is to run (and ruin) the world with speculative finance. Wall Street is the belly of the beast. What can we do? What should we do?

It's Us or Them: And It's Now or Never
by Doug Dowd     2012
Most of the people in the world are suffering because of the actions of a few powerful people. There is a panoply of problems. The time to act is now.

Toward a Second and Stronger New Deal
by Doug Dowd     2012
This article is concerned with the political efforts "We the People" must make in order to halt and reverse the ongoing social and political tendencies in the USA.

Toward a Much Better USA
by Doug Dowd     2012
What we must also do after the 2012 election, no matter who wins? We must work to create a permanent national political movement; we must develop and participate in always stronger political struggles and support only those in government who work for social decency at home and peace abroad.

The World Economy
by Doug Dowd     2012

Disasters
by Doug Dowd     2012
We must stop Israel from attacking Iran — and we must stop the USA from backing the attack. It's critical that we succeed.