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Articles by Robert Letcher

Robert A. Letcher, Ph.D. is a political economist who describes himself as "an academic without portfolio, writer, political activist, and Qigong practitioner who tries to help people learn".

More than Merely Counting Carbon Dioxide Emissions
Saturday, 13 Mar, 2010 – 6:00 | One Comment
More than Merely Counting Carbon Dioxide Emissions

Bob Letcher: If we agree simply to total up CO2 emissions, China ends up being the world’s biggest emitter. But, if we agree to account for China’s much larger population, by ranking per capita emission, the US can go back to its familiar cheer: “We’re #1! We’re #1! Whhoooa!!”

Beyond Unemployment Insurance in the Face of Structural Job Loss
Wednesday, 10 Mar, 2010 – 6:00 | No Comment
Beyond Unemployment Insurance in the Face of Structural Job Loss

Bob Letcher: Unemployment compensation was conceived as a temporary solution to a temporary problem, getting people through the down part of one cycle to the up part of the next cycle; not as a long-term solution to a long-term structural problem.

More than Merely Counting Medals
Saturday, 6 Mar, 2010 – 6:00 | No Comment
More than Merely Counting Medals

Bob Letcher: Simply to “count medals” egregiously ignores the importance players on both sides of the “GOLD MEDAL” game ascribed to winning that game. And not without reason: the Government of Canada—Team Canada’s Government—had undertaken as a matter of national pride, if not national policy, its own “own the podium” program.

Not Your Father’s Economy
Monday, 1 Mar, 2010 – 6:00 | One Comment
Not Your Father’s Economy

Bob Letcher: Remember the ad, “This is not your Father’s Oldsmobile.”—the one with Captain Kirk beaming into his daughter’s Oldsmobile? Well, these days, there isn’t anyone’s Oldsmobile anymore; not yours, not your Father’s, not Captain Kirk’s… it’s all just gone: the nameplate, the jobs, the factories, the towns—and the lights have been turned out. And that’s just at Oldsmobile.

On Strategizing Progressive Social Change: Start with “It Won’t Be Easy”
Saturday, 27 Feb, 2010 – 6:00 | 4 Comments
On Strategizing Progressive Social Change: Start with “It Won’t Be Easy”

Robert Letcher: Heck! Just talking about progressive social change is difficult. If I try to “tell it like it is”, it’s too complicated for many people to comprehend, and for some people who think that anything worth knowing should require no effort from them to understand it.

Living and Dying: More than a Matter of Life and Death
Wednesday, 24 Feb, 2010 – 6:00 | One Comment
Living and Dying: More than a Matter of Life and Death

Robert Letcher: Conflicting interests aren’t the only obstacle, either. Ambiguities run through and through the whole matter. I myself benefit from technological breakthroughs that have elevated me from only a bit better than existing into really living. I tell people that I know how Lou Gehrig felt.

Calling a Disaster a Disaster
Wednesday, 10 Feb, 2010 – 6:00 | 5 Comments
Calling a Disaster <i>a Disaster</i>

Robert Letcher: For decades until the recent economic “troubles”, middle classes readily bought into the elite-serving argument: if we don’t question the morality of—and possible connections between—extreme poverty and extreme wealth, elites will act to assure that most of us will never be as poor as those poor Haitians (best delivered with a Glenn Beck quiver).

Going to Graduate School, Then and Now
Saturday, 16 Jan, 2010 – 6:00 | One Comment
Going to Graduate School, Then and Now

Bob Letcher: Taxpayers have a right to expect more for their money, and during these difficult times, they desperately need more for their money. They have a right to expect their support of institutions of higher learning to provide higher learning.

Passion and Intention as a Basis for Effecting Progressive Social Change
Thursday, 24 Sep, 2009 – 16:10 | 2 Comments
Passion and Intention as a Basis for Effecting Progressive Social Change

I might add a third possibility: doing what one is called to do. That is to say: going beyond the narcissism inherent in indulging one’s passions, to accepting one’s destiny.

On the Importance of Doing the Math
Monday, 21 Sep, 2009 – 20:53 | 3 Comments
On the Importance of Doing the Math

To me, that makes education crucial to this country’s future. What will be required to avoid losing? If people detect either that they are no longer being challenged by their work, or if they find themselves reading beer bottle labels under tables, then I would suspect that the country is on its way to History’s Great Dustbin.

No Nukes: STILL the Only “Good Nukes”!!!
Friday, 18 Sep, 2009 – 20:45 | 7 Comments
No Nukes: STILL the Only “Good Nukes”!!!

This past June, heads of energy companies and heads of Ohio’s State Government came together to announce something that was, for me, both dreadfully unexpected and dreadfully dreadful, too: that they would undrertake to build a new nuclear power plant in Piketon, Ohio

Beyond Unemployment Insurance in the Face of Structural Job Loss: Whoever Said It Would Be Easy?
Thursday, 18 Jun, 2009 – 9:50 | No Comment
Beyond Unemployment Insurance in the Face of Structural Job Loss: Whoever Said It Would Be Easy?

“The long memory is the most radical idea in America.” –Utah Phillips, as recalled by Amy Goodman
I was reminded of Utah Phillips’ observation as I sat down to write this essay on how we approach …

Challenges Confronting and Confounding Institutional Change
Thursday, 11 Jun, 2009 – 9:40 | One Comment
Challenges Confronting and Confounding Institutional Change

“Is there anything in all of that to suggest a way forward”, a colleague asked me, “or are we just stuck here?” This essay draws on Mancur Olson’s “logic of collective action” to address this …

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