Clinton Corner Cafe

Come join us for a tangent off the Tangent Reading Series

An�Econ Salon� about the�financial crisis

with�economists Robin Hahnel & Kristen Sheeran�

& a short opening poetry reading (regarding the financial crisis) by Jules Boykoff�

Saturday NOVEMBER 1 at 6 PM Clinton Corner Caf�, 2633 SE 21st Avenue (@ Clinton)

How might we�build a more just & sustainable economic system�from�the rubble of the financial collapse?�Is New Deal 2.0 possible? A New Green Deal?�

Celebrating the lively & relaxed form of a poetry reading, this event will feature a bit of poetry, but mostly, talks by two radical economists about the financial crisis. Urgent times demand "spending" our Saturday nights discussing economics--albeit with joy and revelry!�

Our media swells with confusion regarding the financial crisis. What caused it? Who is responsible? What�lessons are�to be learned? What do we make of the financial�bailout?�Must it be�"socialize loss and privatize gain?" How can we�aid Main Street instead of Wall Street? Which�initiatives should we oppose and which should we support?�Free market ideologues continue�to shamelessly spread�their false�interpretations and false solutions�--�non-intervention in management of�banks we bailout,�re-privatization�ASAP,�more de-regulation, more outsourcing, and more�"free-trade."�But even the�mainstream media�now asks if this is the end of free market capitalism.�How�can we seize the opportunity presented by�the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression� and replace the failed�economics of competition and greed with�a�new�economics of equitable cooperation? � Clarity of analysis and effective action begin�with�focused public conversation.

The event starts at 6 PM, but please arrive earlier if you want to assure yourself a table.�

ROBIN HAHNEL�has just returned from Dublin, Ireland, where he argued for alternatives to free-market capitalism before the University Philosophical Society at Trinity College, University of Dublin. Earlier this fall, Hahnel spoke at the "Local Alternatives to Confront the Crisis of Capitalism" conference in Lara, Venezuela. In the last month, he has discussed the financial crisis on many media outlets, including Al Jazeera, and RT� (Irish public radio), as well as locally on the KPOJ Morning Show. Hahnel is author of�Panic Rules, which analyzes crises brought on by financial liberalization in the era of globalization. Other books include�Economic Justice and Democracy,�The ABC's of Political Economy,�and�The Political Economy of Participatory Economics(co-authored with Michael Albert). Hahnel is Professor Emeritus of Economics�at American University in Washington DC and Visiting Professor at Portland State University.

KRISTEN SHEERAN�argues that, far from being ideologically neutral, mainstream economics has become a barrier to thinking about how to promote�an equitable and sustainable economy.�Sheeran is co-author of a forthcoming book,�Saving Kyoto (with Graciela Chichilnisky), about solutions to the climate crisis written for a mainstream audience.She is�a�cutting-edge thinker about economics and the environment and�widely published in academic journals. Sheeran is the executive director of Economics for Equity and the Environment at EcoTrust�and Associate Professor of Economics at St. Mary's College, University of Maryland.

JULES BOYKOFF�doesn't shy from addressing economics in his poetry, as evidenced by the title of his first book of poetry,�Once Upon a Neoliberal Rocket Badge.�His second book of poetry,Hegemonic Love Potion, is forthcoming in 2009 from Factory School. Also a political scientist, Boykoff is the author of�Beyond Bullets: The Suppression of Dissent in the United States, The Suppression of Dissent: How the State and Mass Media Squelch USAmerican Social Movements, and�Landscapes of Dissent: Guerrilla Poetry & Public Space�(co-authored with Kaia Sand). Boykoff has been skeptical of the cult of Alan Greenspan for years, and he will read from his poem, "Das Greenspan, Volume I - III." Boykoff is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Pacific University.