A visual guide to what could happen if we vote for Brexit

June 20, 2016

This level of uncertainty is actually quite exhilarating. Fifty years of trying to understand how the world works and I still have no idea what is going to happen next 🙂 Here is a visual guide showing some possible scenarios.

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Who is the Remembrancer?

June 19, 2016

  The Remembrancer is not some weird character in the Game of Thrones, the Remembrancer is real. The Remembrancer is the title of an almost completely unknown but powerful functionary who, when Parliament is sitting, has a special seat to the right of the Speaker in the House of Commons. He also has a mirror […]

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Will Brexit lead to Frexit?

June 14, 2016

  Britain is not especially hostile to the EU. What separates it from the other large member states is not the level of popular hostility to the EU but the fact that the political elite in the UK has actually asked the electorate to express an opinion on the issue. The level of disapproval of […]

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UK government borrowing has never been cheaper

June 12, 2016

This chart shows that the cost of UK government borrowing has been falling for decades. This means that paying for the defict is cheap and borrowing for investment to promote growth would make sense as it is only by growing the economy (and a return to a gentle rate of inflation) that existing debt can […]

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QE makes UK public debt calculations absurd. Its almost as absurd as the gold standard

June 8, 2016

In the 1920s the world’s major economies began to move back on to the gold standard, having abandoned it during WW1, because any currency on the gold standard was, according to the ruling orthodoxy of the time, considered ‘stronger’ because its value in gold was guaranteed. This meant that while the UK was on the […]

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What is England?

June 6, 2016

In April I posted a link to the book that Anthony Barnet was writing, on line and live, as the referendum campaign progressed. He has just published probably its most important chapter (thanks to Carol for the heads up on on this) entitled “It’s England’s Brexit”. Everybody should read it. When the dust settles after […]

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New poll shows Unidos Podemos 5 points in front of PSOE

June 5, 2016

A new poll published by El País on Saturday evening shows the joint Podemos and United Left electoral list, Unidos Podemos, has surged to a more than five point lead (+5.4) over the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE). The PSOE receives the same score it was given in May: 20.2% of the vote. The Popular […]

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Zombies-To-Be and the Walking Dead of Debt

June 5, 2016

Which countries are likely to face major debt and growth problems in the next few years? In this lecture the economist Steve Keen, and proponent of the Minksy financial instability hypothesis, explores the shortcomings of how credit and debt is analysed in modern economics. In the final section of his lecture he uses the analytical […]

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Can Podemos Win? Interview with Pablo Bustinduy

June 4, 2016

Paul Mason interviews Pablo Bustinduy, MP for Unidos Podemos, on the possibilities for the radical left in the coming Spanish election due to take place on Sunday, 26 June 2016.

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Three maps showing UK referendum regional voting intentions

June 3, 2016

This FT has done some interesting number crunching (source) and made these three maps of the distribuition of Europhiles, Eurosceptics and mixed regions. Looking closely one can see (given the limits of the map resolution) that it looks as if London is in the remain camp except for east London which is strongly for Brexit. […]

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The rise of nationalism in Europe: results of most recent national elections

June 2, 2016
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A documentary about Jeremy Corbyn

June 2, 2016

Over the course of eight weeks, VICE News gained unique access to film behind the scenes with Jeremy Corbyn and his team, through the Panama Papers and Iain Duncan Smith’s resignation to the local elections and accusations of anti-Semitism within the party. Interesting viewing. The source is here, the full video is below.

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Some recent items of interest

May 31, 2016

  China’s debt reckoning cannot be deferred indefinitely says George Magnus in the FT Magnus concludes: “For the foreseeable future, China’s neglect of the problem of excessive debt growth looks likely to continue. Beijing cannot afford to spark a disruptive end to the credit boom and a slump in investment, with anecdotal signs of rising […]

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The IMF caves in on Greek debt relief

May 25, 2016

  The IMF went into the Eurogroup meeting over the weekend with a strong and clear opening position which it had made public. The IMF’s position prior to the meeting emphasised how even with heroic efforts Greece will not be able to achieve a long term primary surplus of 3.5 percent of GDP. The Fund […]

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Greece is the only country in the eurozone that doesn’t get massive debt relief

May 24, 2016

  There seems to be a developing lobby amongst the institutions of the Troika to allow some sort of Greek debt relief. The IMF has come out strongly for debt relief, calling for “upfront” and “unconditional” debt relief for Greece and warning that without immediate action the financial plight of Greece would deteriorate dramatically over […]

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The Commission lets Italy off the hook

May 18, 2016

  Most of the eurozone periphery, and even core members like France, are struggling to even get near the deficit reductions that under the eurozone system should in theory be mandatory. The current big worry is Italy because it is heavily in debt, still running a big deficit and has a very fragile banking system […]

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2008 changed the the concentration of global finance capital

May 14, 2016

  Economic and financial crises often lead to an increase in the the concentration of capital, killing off the weaker firms and making big players bigger. In an economic crisis the weaker enterprises fail and either disappear, opening up market opportunities for the survivors, or are acquired by their more successful competitors. This process of […]

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Where Did The Greek Bailout Money Go?

May 10, 2016

  Just as the Eurogroup starts the painful process of imposing yet another round of austerity on an already ruined Greece a timely recent study by the European School of Management and Technology (ESMT) has analysed in detail how the entire EU/IMF/ECB Greek rescue program was in fact designed to save not the Greek people, […]

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Pensions are cut for most Greeks

May 10, 2016

As a result of the pension reform law passed by the Greek parliament last Sunday most pensioners will have significant cuts in their pensions. Estimates also say that some 400,000 pensioners stand to lose between 20 and 200 euros per month due to pension cuts, while only main pensions of up to 1,820 euros net […]

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Germany plans 5-year benefit ban for jobless migrants

May 6, 2016

  The disintegration of EU solidarity seems to be accelerating. Germany is planning to ban EU migrants from most unemployment benefits for five years after their arrival in dramatic response to rightwing populist assaults on chancellor Angela Merkel’s liberal immigration policies. It is a sign of how much the rise of support for the right-wing […]

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