Addiction
Addiction is a true epidemic in our country, often sparked by the desperation of austerity & we need sweeping policy change to deal with it. From treatment options and decriminalization to root cause mental health support.
Video / Audio
Check out this collection of videos and podcast episodes focused on the Health & Well-Being of all of us.
Rights, Justice, Equality And All Things Funky with Irami Osei
If any of our listeners aren’t following The Funky Academic on his website, YouTube, or Twitter, this episode will change all that. Macro n Cheese usually leans heavily towards economics, but Irami Osei-Frimpong arrives at many of the same conclusions that we do, yet gets there by a different route. That helps make this such an interesting interview. In these disturbing times, his strong sense of humor and irony are a welcome respite.
Macro n Cheese Podcast Ep. 56 – A Road Less Travelled and the Media with Alexandra Scaggs
Our guest, Alexandra Scaggs, is a senior writer at Barron’s, where she covers markets and fixed income. The episode begins as an interview about financial journalism and dealing head-on with the neoliberal economic narrative, but evolves into a conversation that is both personal and political in which she and Steve share their experiences with everything from sobriety to learning about MMT.
Written Materials
Check out these related articles from our local community and beyond.
Academic Publications
A collection of peer-reviewed white papers and working papers from our friends in the MMT academic community.
Public Service Employment – A Path to Full Employment
Unemployment, hidden and official, with all of its attendant social harms, is a policy choice. The results in this report lend more weight to the argument that it is a policy choice we need no longer tolerate. True full employment is both achievable and sustainable.
Minsky Moment
Excerpt: Hopelessness in many regions of the country is reflected in falling life expectancy for white males, in an opioid addiction crisis, and in last year’s election results. Meanwhile, our current leadership in both Congress and the White House throws out retrograde “big ideas” that would likely worsen our future prospects, each one quickly abandoned when it fails to garner support outside the narrow base that elected the President.
H.R.3105 – Opioid Treatment Surge Act
This bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services to assess market-share-based fees, for the next 10 years, on drug manufacturers that have produced opioid drugs since 1999. Opioid drugs manufactured to treat opioid addiction, cancer patients, or hospice patients are, however, exempt from this assessment. All assessed fees must be used for the substance abuse prevention and treatment block grant program.
H.R.2843 – Marijuana Freedom and Opportunity Act
This bill decriminalizes marijuana. Specifically, it removes marijuana from the list of scheduled substances under the Controlled Substances Act and eliminates criminal penalties for an individual who imports, exports, manufactures, distributes, or possesses with intent to distribute marijuana. Additionally, the bill does the following: – establishes a trust fund to assist women-owned and minority-owned marijuana businesses, – requires federal research on the impacts of marijuana use on highway safety and public health, – authorizes federal restrictions on the marketing of marijuana-related products, and – authorizes grants for state and local governments to expunge or seal convictions for marijuana possession.
Policy Resources
Links to progressive bills and proposals currently making their way through the United States Congress
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