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Sixteen Nobel prize-winning economists released a grave warning in a joint letter on Tuesday, detailing a potential economic fallout if former President Donald Trump wins the White House in November.

“We the undersigned are deeply concerned about the risks of a second Trump administration for the U.S. economy,” the letter began, which was published in full by CBS News. The economists wrote that it was imperative for the United States, which is “embedded in deep relationships with other countries,” to maintain “normal and stable relationships with other countries.”

“Donald Trump...

More than 200 leaders from the fields of public health, medicine, global development, and racial justice, joined faith leaders, economists, Nobel laureates, former members of Congress and artists to sign a public letter calling on President Joe Biden to champion a People’s Vaccine for Covid-19 — a public good that is freely and fairly available to all, prioritizing those most in need at home and around the world.

At a time when millions of Americans and people around the world face the dual-ills of health and economic insecurity, with communities of color facing disproportionate burdens, and where too many households stand only one health crisis away from poverty, it has never been more important to deliver a vaccine that can serve to protect everyone, everywhere.

Signers of the letter include philanthropists Abigail Disney and Chelsea Clinton, singers Gloria Estefan and Sara Bareilles, actors Aisha Tyler, Forest Whitaker, Mark Ruffalo, and Bradley Whitford,...

Capital In The Twenty-first Century Kino Lorber Reviewed for Shockya.com & BigAppleReviews.net linked from Rotten Tomatoes by: Harvey Karten Director: Justin Pemberton Screenwriter: Adapted by Matthew Metcalfe, Justin Pemberton, Thomas Piketty, based on Thomas Piketty’s book Cast: Thomas Piketty, Joseph Stiglitz, Gillian Tett, Kate Williams, Gabriel Zucman, Ian Bremmer, Rana Foroohar, Francis Fukuyama Screened at: […]

The post Capital In The Twenty-First Century Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

Film will receive North American premiere at Doc NYC on November 10.

Kino Lorber has acquired North American rights from Studiocanal to Capital In The Twenty-First Century, the adaptation of French economist Thomas Piketty’s bestseller.

Justin Pemberton directed the documentary that combines pop culture references and interviews with leading economic and political science experts such as Piketty himself, Joseph Stiglitz, Ian Bremmer, Rana Foroohar, and Francis Fukuyama, to show how the accumulation of capital contributes to widespread social inequality.

The film will receive its North American premiere at Doc NYC on November 10, and Kino Lorber plans a nationwide release in...

Exclusive: Kino Lorber has picked up North American rights to Capital In The Twenty-First Century, Justin Pemberton’s feature doc that explores wealth and power and shines a light on today’s growing inequality.

Pic is based on the best-seller by French economist Thomas Piketty. It will have its North American premiere on Sunday (November 10) at Doc NYC following its debut at the Sydney film festival in July.

Kino Lorber is planning a theatrical release in April 2020. It is partnering with Kanopy, the free-to-the-user video streaming platform, for digital educational and library rights, and the home ent release in July 2020 will also see it available on Kino Lorber’s new digital platform KinoNow.

The theatrical rollout will coincide with the release of Piketty’s follow-up book Capital And Ideology.

Alongside Piketty, the film features interviews with leading economists Joseph Stiglitz, Ian Bremmer, Rana Foroohar, and Francis Fukuyama.

Deal was negotiated...

Exclusive: At the Efm Studiocanal will be looking to capitalize on the surge for smart, cross-over documentaries with Capital In The 21st Century, based on Thomas Piketty’s New York Times bestselling polemic of the same name about how capitalism affects our world today.

Currently in its final stages of post-production, Jb Dunckel of French electro band Air is arranging music for the English-language film, which Studiocanal will be selling off of a new trailer here in Berlin. Fellow Vivendi subsidiary Upside Distribution was previously handling sales but the project has been moved up to the Studiocanal slate.

Piketty’s book, which has sold more than 3M copies worldwide, breaks with the popular assumption that the accumulation of capital runs hand in hand with social progress. The book focuses on wealth and income inequality in Europe and the U.S. since the 18th century with a central thesis that inequality...

TV Picks: Garry Kasparov, Joseph Stiglitz Topline ‘Real Time with Bill Maher’ May 1 on HBO. The series continues its 13th season Friday, May 1 (10:00-11:00 p.m. live Et/tape-delayed Pt), with a replay at 11:30 p.m., exclusively on HBO. Maher riffs on contemporary issues during an opening monologue, with subsequent roundtable discussions with panelists, and interviews with guests.Nobel prize-winning economist (Columbia University) Joseph Stiglitz is the top-of-show interview guest. Income inequality and economic mobility have already emerged as hot topics for the 2016 presidential election, with candidates on both sides of the aisle offering their prescriptions for solving the growing […]...

Patton Oswalt, Amy Poehler, Sarah Silverman, Adrian Grenier, and Werner Herzog are among the more than 80 actors, directors, and academic and civic leaders who are collaborating on the digital series We the Economy: 20 Short Films You Can't Afford to Miss. Paul G. Allen’s Vulcan Productions and Morgan Spurlock’s Cinelan will produce the series of informative and entertaining films that tackle serious economic issues. “At its core, the vision of this project is to fuse artistry and storytelling with economic expertise to engage the public in a truly informed dialogue about the U.S. economy," says Carole Tomko, general...

“If it is true that one death is a tragedy, and a million deaths a statistic, this is a story about statistics… the millions of people in poor countries who died needlessly of AIDS while giant pharmaceutical companies blocked access to the low-cost medicine which could have saved their lives.”

This quote, in the voice of William Hurt, coming with the backdrop of a montage of shots from India and several African nations, sets the mood for Dylan Mohan Gray’s hard-hitting, investigative documentary film “Fire in the Blood” that chronicles the fight of activists against the refusal of pharma giants like Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline to free the Antiretroviral drugs from the patent regime and thus make unpatented, generic, low-cost drugs available to millions of AIDS patients in the developing and least-developed countries.

Narrated by Hollywood actor Hurt, the film chronicles the events in the late 1990s during which activists in Africa,...

To mark the release of Fire in the Blood on 24th March, we’ve been given 2 copies to give away on DVD.

Fire In The Blood is a critically-acclaimed documentary of medicine, monopoly and malice that tells the story of how Western pharmaceutical companies and governments aggressively blocked access to low-cost AIDS drugs for the countries of Africa and the global south in the years after 1996. The film investigates how this caused over ten million unnecessary deaths and the improbable group of people who decided to fight back.

Fire In The Blood was shot on four continents and tells its remarkable story through the eyes of AIDS patients, front-line clinicians, radical health professionals, pharmaceutical company executives and global figures including Bill Clinton, Desmond Tutu and Joseph Stiglitz. It is the never-before-told true story of the remarkable coalition which came together to stop ‘the Crime of the Century’ and save millions of lives in the process.

The Public Theater will continue its Public Forum season with Public Forum Solo Joseph Stiglitz On The Rich And Poor on Monday, December 9 at 700 p.m. at Joe's Pub. This one-night-only event will feature a talk by Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz on income inequality and what the artistic community can do about it, followed by a conversation featuring Darryl McDaniels of Run-Dmc, Artistic Director Oskar Eustis, and Public Works Director Lear deBessonet.

After winning acclaim the world over, an extraordinary Indian film is now coming home. Fire in the Blood, which earlier this year became the first Indian film ever to be selected for the World Cinema Documentary Competition at the Sundance Film Festival, the world’s most prestigious and competitive festival for independent films, is releasing in cities around the country on October 11. The film has already released theatrically in the UK, Ireland and the Us to rave reviews.

Directed by Punjabi-Irish filmmaker Dylan Mohan Gray, Fire in the Blood is an intricate tale of ‘medicine, monopoly and malice’ and tells the story of how Western pharmaceutical companies and governments aggressively blocked access to low-cost AIDS drugs for the countries of Africa and the global south in the years after 1996 – causing ten million or more unnecessary deaths – and the improbable group of people who decided to fight back.

One of the...

An intricate tale of ‘medicine, monopoly and malice’, Fire in the Blood tells the story of how Western pharmaceutical companies and governments aggressively blocked access to low-cost AIDS drugs for the countries of Africa and the global south in the years after 1996 – causing ten million or more unnecessary deaths - and the improbable group of people who decided to fight back.

Shot on four continents and including contributions from global figures such as Bill Clinton, Desmond Tutu and Joseph Stiglitz, Fire in the Blood is the never-before-told true story of the remarkable coalition which came together to stop ‘the Crime of the Century’ and save million of lives in the process.

As the film makes clear, however, this story is by no means over. With dramatic past victories having given way to serious setbacks engineered far from public view, the real fight for access to life-saving medicine is almost certainly just beginning.

Gwyneth Paltrow has been stealing literary thunder at a public event. How are plainer writers to take it back?

What's a jobbing author supposed to do when overwhelmed at a library book signing by the fragrant Gwyneth Paltrow? After an attempt to claim that she was an up-from-size-zero Gwynnie herself had failed, novelist Christina Oxenberg knew what to do: first waft "stinky steak sandwich" fumes in her direction, then take to one's blog to let off steam.

The signing in question, the ninth East Hampton Library Annual Authors Night fundraiser, had been hailed as New York's literary event of the summer and was crammed full of the great and good from literary circles including Robert Caro, Pulitzer prize-winning biographer of Lyndon Johnson, heavyweight economist Joseph Stiglitz and acclaimed New York novelist Jay McInerney.

All were eclipsed by Gwyneth's glow, and her crowds of fans, as she signed copies of It's...

Democrats and Republicans shared heartwarming stories of triumph over adversity. In reality, Us social mobility is in decline

There is a famous Monty Python sketch called "Four Yorkshiremen". It portrays tuxedo-wearing men sipping fine red wine, chomping on cigars and eagerly reminiscing about their impoverished childhoods. The conversation quickly turns into a bizarre arm's race of boasting about humble origins when even living in a hole is seen as the height of luxury. Soon, one man is claiming to have grown up "in a lake", prompting one companion to exclaim:

"You were lucky to have a lake! There were a hundred and fifty of us living in t' shoebox in t' middle o' road."

Yet, listening to the endless drum beat of speeches from both the Republican and Democratic conventions in the past week, it seemed they were mimicking the Pythons' finest work. According to their own stories, speaker after...

Associated Press The Tribute in Light shines above lower Manhattan, the Statue of Liberty, and One World Trade Center, left, Saturday, Sept. 10, 2011 in New York. Sunday will mark the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

The tenth anniversary of 9/11 is here, and it’s accompanied by a swirl of news reports and reflections. Which ones should you read?

A look at ten stories that are worth checking out.

1) When The Towers Fell: The New Yorker’s...

From Roman aqueducts to Chinese rail, enormous infrastructure has the potential to transform a society. To fix these economic doldrums, the government should partner with the private sector to solve society's problems.

We are living in an uncertain time. The global economy’s recovery from the recession of 2008 seems fragile. Financial markets all over the world are in turmoil. Bank stocks are being hammered in Europe and the United States. Private sector employers are slow to hire due to growing speculation of a double-dip recession.

In the midst of these uncertainties, one thing is clear: The key to sustained economic recovery and long-term job growth lies in rebuilding our infrastructure. We need a global "impact economy" in which governments, corporations, entrepreneurs, and investors team up to solve the big environmental and social problems of our time while generating compelling financial returns--not just average returns. As Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz says,...

Bin Laden's death will remind America of everything it has sacrificed in the decade since 9/11-making the moment not only an opportunity to rejoice, but a time to grieve what the nation has irretrievably lost. 

Bin Laden is dead.  There is jubilation in the streets. Finally, as President Obama told the American people and the world late last night, justice has been done. Bin Laden's demise is a message to the globe that evil, of the kind bin Laden represented, will not be tolerated by the United States.   

Related story on The Daily Beast: My Big American Summer Road Trip

Photos: Osama bin Laden Timeline

But this is not just a day to rejoice. Today, we are reminded of everything that we have lost in the decade since the 9/11 strikes. Al Qaeda and its affiliates targeted innocents all over the globe-not just the 2,977 casualties on American soil on September 11, but...

Time magazine unveiled its annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world on Thursday. As usual, the list is an eclectic one, peppered with world leaders (Barack Obama, Nicolas Sarkozy), Hollywood heavyweights (Scott Rudin, Mark Wahlberg), pop stars (Bieber!), tech and business stars (Arianna Huffington, Reed Hastings, Larry Page, Mark Zuckerberg), authors (Jonathan Franzen, Tiger Mom Amy Chua), controversial (Julian Assange) and inspiring figures (Gabrielle Giffords, Cory Booker). And Sting (Sting). Below, the full list, with links to their write-ups/rationale here. Time 100 * Wael Ghonim * Joseph Stiglitz * Reed Hastings *...

"The upper 1 percent of Americans are now taking in nearly a quarter of the nation's income every year. In terms of wealth rather than income, the top 1 percent control 40 percent.

"Their lot in life has improved considerably. Twenty-five years ago, the corresponding figures were 12 percent and 33 percent."

So I discover in a piece by Joseph E. Stiglitz in the new issue of Vanity Fair. These facts confirm my impression that greed is now seen as a virtue in America. I'm not surprised by the greed of the One-Percenters. I'm mystified by the lack of indignation from so many of the rest of us.

Day after day I read stories that make me angry. Wanton consumption is glorified. Corruption is rewarded. Ordinary people see their real income dropping, their houses sold out from under them, their pensions plundered, their unions legislated against, their health care still under attack. Yes, people in...

No one has so effectively and lucidly explained the staggering inequality of wealth that exists in America like Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz, as he did in “Of the 1%, By the 1%, for the 1%”—his piece in Vanity Fair’s May issue. As Stiglitz observes, the elite few not only rake in nearly a quarter of the nation’s wealth (and have seen their paychecks and McMansions grow as a result), but they also control 40 percent of it—and while most of Americans are actually doing worse, year after year. Watch above as Dr. Stiglitz sits with Democracy Now! to discuss his article, and how the divide will only continue to grow. (For part two of the interview, go here).

Despite the fact that the U.K. is about to implement some of the most savage economic cuts seen in over a generation, the British government is to roll out a survey to gauge the mood of its nationals. The brave move involves asking the Office of National Statistics to come up with some mood-sensing questions to add to its household survey, in a hope to discover just what it is that makes people happy. The idea behind it being that if the government knows what makes its citizens happy, it can then do more of it to increase the population's wellbeing.

British Prime Minister David Cameron* has long spoken about Gnh, or gross national happiness, something he feels is more important than Gdp, and he's not the only political leader interested in the concept. France's President Sarkozy announced last year he would include happiness and quality of life ahead of his country's economic prowess,...

Architect Norman Foster and author Margaret Atwood to spearhead partial tie-up between festivals

Norman Foster and Margaret Atwood are to star in a collaboration between two of Edinburgh's largest festivals as part of a new initiative to expand the reach and audience of the city's international book festival.

In a joint project with the Edinburgh film festival this August – the first on this scale attempted by two of the city's 12 annual festivals – Foster and Atwood will be amongst a number of prominent guests exploring the different techniques film-makers and writers use for biographies.

The events will be staged at the Filmhouse cinema complex, where this year's film festival is now taking place, as part of plans by the new director of the city's international book festival, Nick Barley, to develop an event based for nearly 30 years in a "tented city" in the gardens of Charlotte Square in the city's Georgian New Town.

As the European debt crisis continues to unsettle financial markets, Nobel Prize–winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz, a Vanity Fair contributor, talked to Vf Daily about why the measures taken so far have failed to stem the crisis, whether there is a moral hazard in bailing out nations, and how Wall Street has made the situation worse. Vf Daily: This crisis seems to be never-ending. Why, after a trillion-dollar aid package was settled on, are people still so uneasy? Joseph E. Stiglitz: Well I think it’s understandable. First, owing to the size of the package. Second, there’s maybe a recognition that what Germany had demanded were austerity packages that would weaken Europe and therefore exacerbate the downturn. Third, given the magnitude of the problems and the austerity package that are being demanded, there’s considerable uncertainty whether there will be political and social unrest, and therefore whether packages will be accepted.

Campaign film says 0.05% 'Robin Hood' tax on financial trades could raise $700bn for world's poor

It could be a plot from one of his feelgood movies. Against a snowy London backdrop, something perennially ignored and unloved finds the attention it craves against all odds. Only this time, director Richard Curtis is hoping to sprinkle his stardust on an arcane bank tax rather than a lovelorn English fop.

Britain's most successful comedy writer is aiming to tap into the public's fury at how bankers are scooping huge bonuses while the rest of us suffer pay freezes by spearheading the launch of a campaign demanding the introduction of a "Robin Hood tax" on financial institutions.

Harnessing YouTube, Facebook and celebrity endorsements, Curtis has taken what was once regarded as a naive pipedream to tax a slice of every financial trade and given it a makeover. The Tobin Tax, named after the American...

Richard Curtis sets out to the high seas to rock our world, Roland Emmerich just obliterates it and Wes Anderson reenvisions it in stop-motion animation, while as a group of documentaries ponder real world issues of war, God, poverty and Glenn Gould.

Download this in audio form (MP3: 16:59 minutes, 15.6 Mb)

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"2012"

On behalf of moviegoers everywhere, we here at IFC would like to thank that schoolyard bully who must have so traumatized a young Roland Emmerich that he has spent his recent career ritualistically laying waste to our world one famous landmark at a time. Having previous employed such excuses for mass destruction as alien invasions and global warming, this time cinema's most destructive director turns to an ancient Mayan prophecy that foretells the end of all mankind, and once again batters humanity -- specifically John Cusack and assorted stragglers -- like the...

Not long ago, economist Noreena Hertz lived at the lefty margins of her field. But her (widely ignored) prediction of the credit crisis and her call for a more evolved form of capitalism have suddenly put her at the center of the universe.

Noreena Hertz had to seduce Bono. The Cambridge University economist was writing a book on the developing world, and Bono's personal saga of getting the U.S. government to cancel more than $400 million of debt was just the pop-culture bridge she needed to move her ideas beyond the wonkish corridors of academia. After all, Hertz's motive for The Debt Threat -- a deep dive into the debt trap that, she argued, would have global consequences for all -- was to juice the campaign that had been building slowly in activist ranks. The book itself would be a battle cry (a postcard inside made it easy for U.

Facebook maps how happy its users are, based on the words in their profiles.

Twitter and Facebook have become clearinghouses for public sentiment, so it makes sense that Facebook has developed a new app aimed at determining "gross national happiness"--the moment-by-moment measure of glee, misery, and indifference for its 300 million daily users.

According to TechCrunch:

Data is collected from "public and semi-public forums" on Facebook, which is all anonymized before its analyzed. To determine if a particular status message is happy or sad (or neither), the app searches for popular phrases and words that the engineers have associated with each sentiment. You can adjust the graph by sliding the bar at the bottom of the screen. You can also adjust the zoom by dragging the handlebars on the slider, and can actually watch happiness jump hour-to-hour, though it's a bit difficult to navigate when you're zoomed in that far.

NEW YORK -- New Yorker Films has acquired all U.S. rights to writer-director Abderrahmane Sissako's political comedy-drama Bamako, featuring co-star and executive producer Danny Glover. The film screens Monday at the 44th annual New York Film Festival. A panel discussion will be held on Tuesday that features Sissako, Harry Belafonte, economist Jeffrey David Sachs, Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz and Mahmood Mamdani, president of the Council for Development of Social Research in Africa. The feature, which also was selected for May's Festival de Cannes and last month's Toronto International Film Festival, revolves around a couple in the process of breaking up and several people who testify in a court located outside their home in the city of Bamako, the capital of the West African country of Mali.