‘The Wall Street Economy Has Taken Over The Economy’ – Michael Hudson

May 6, 2016

In this interview Michael Hudson, a professor of economics and a long standing analyst and ctitic of financialisation, explains how the financial sector is now parasitical and is killing the host. The text of this audio interview is available here.

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Spanish banks and the anti-evictions struggle

May 1, 2016

Since the housing bubble popped in Spain, unleashing one of the deepest recessions in memory, the nation’s public debt has more than doubled, to nearly 100% of GDP. Because of the way the law regarding mortgage defaults operates the collapse in the property market has had a devastating effect on many hundreds of thousands of […]

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Long term unemployment in Europe

May 1, 2016

Eurostat recently published some up to date data on long term unemployment at a regional level, the map below uses this data to show the distribution of long term unemployment in the Europe, including Turkey. If you are wondering why the Turks vote for an unenlightened autocrat like Erdogan the map below gives a clue: […]

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In China the good news is really bad

April 23, 2016

  China is struggling to rebalance its economy, to move from the exhausted super high investment low consumption model of the ‘economic miracle’ to a more balanced economy based much more on domestic consumption. That is a lot harder to do than it sounds, especially if you are a deeply corrupt elite ruling through a […]

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Is the financial sector fit for purpose?

April 22, 2016

Yanis Varoufakis (former Finance Minister of Greece) and Anastasia Nesvetailova (City Political Economy Research Centre, City University) speaking at an event organised by Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell on the topic of whether the financial sector is fit for purpose.    

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The dangers of the Chinese property bubble

April 19, 2016

  As the Chinese growth model reaches the end of the road and the economy starts the process of what will probably be a wrenching and painful adjustment all eyes are on the banks and the finanacial sector as fears grow that the country could suffer a major financial crisis. But an even more pressing […]

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Oh dear …. this probably won’t end well

April 18, 2016

I have been too busy to write much recently but I couldn’t let this data slip by without posting it. It appears the Chinese leadership were unnerved by the difficulties and dangers of making the profound adjustments needed to rebalance the Chinese economy. Instead they seem to have unleashed another wave of credit and debt […]

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Yanis Varoufakis says ‘Europe is staring into the abyss’

April 15, 2016

Former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis tells Owen Jones he would love to give Brussels a shock – but a Brexit vote to leave the EU in the UK’s refrendum in June would lead to the disintegration of the European Union and a return to the xenophobia, racism and ultra-nationalism of the 1930s. He also […]

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Blimey, it could be Brexit!

April 14, 2016

  Anthony Barnett is writing a book online about the EU referendum, aiming to publish a chapter each week on the Open Democracy website. Barnett has published an introduction and three chapters so far. The introduction to the book is here and a link at the end will take you ont to the next chapter. […]

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Some recent items of interest

April 11, 2016

  The Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras has just signed an anti-austerity pact with visiting Portuguese prime minister Antonio Costa, Tsipras describes it as “Joint declaration against austerity for a progressive democratic Europe”. Full text is here.  

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Italian zombie banks

April 9, 2016

The financial crisis of 2008 was the moment that the credit bubble that had been building for more than a decade burst. Overnight credit flows stopped and financial assets owned by banks collapsed in value. European banks were particularly exposed because under the eurozone system they didn’t really have a central bank standing behind them […]

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Things are getting better

April 2, 2016

I focus a lot on problems in this blog. Cultural and political discourse in general tends to focus on problems. It has become a common place belief that things are getting worse. Pessimism is now the default setting. But things are not getting worse, they are (mostly) getting better, a lot better. In fact the […]

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The Ed Miliband effect

April 2, 2016

It wasn’t just the Labour Party that Ed Miliband fucked up, he was also the Minister that pushed through the repulsively reactionary and absurd Climate Change Act in 2008. Leaving aside the way the resulting higher energy costs (which were a deliberate part of the policy) pushed tens of thousands of poor people into fuel […]

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London is a migrant mega city

April 2, 2016

When it comes to the number of migrants London is in a class of its own in Europe. Not only is London (and the South East) Europe’s wealthiest region the city is also home to Europe’s largest concentration of migrants.

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The Chinese adjustment and the UK steel industry

April 1, 2016

  The troubles of the British steel industry, in fact the troubles of the entire global steel industry, are a direct result of the long term imbalances in the Chinese growth model. Those imbalances are now starting to unwind and the problems of the UK steel industry are just one of the many consequences of […]

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Signs of global economic distress

March 29, 2016

  In the recent article ‘Stormy weather ahead’ I explained some of the reasons why the global economy is slowing down, and how (unlike 2008) the slowdown is truly global and that this time it encompasses the emerging economies, including most significantly China. Signs of financial and economic distress are increasing and spreading. In this […]

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Europe’s orphan: The future of the euro and the politics of debt

March 26, 2016

Was the euro a straitjacket that caused an inevitable crisis? Or would earlier action have staved off a debt catastrophe? In this Vox Talk, Martin Sandbu – author of “Europe’s Orphan: The Future of the Euro and the Politics of Debt” – argues that rather than blaming the euro for the political and economic failures […]

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35 Years of the World’s Economy Evolving as a Living Organism

March 26, 2016

A lot has happened to the global economy over the last 35 years. The forces of economic liberalization, globalization, and the rise of the multinational corporation have all left their mark. Many countries have benefited over this period, but some have suffered. Others have not really changed much in terms of their global economic position. […]

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Is Greece on the Verge of Another Debt Crisis?

March 25, 2016

James Galbraith, University of Texas professor and economist, weighs in on the concerns about Greece’s economy. He speaks with Bloomberg and is scathing about the program imposed on Greece by the Troika.

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Catalonia dances with default

March 23, 2016

  Catalonia’s newly elected regional government announced a road map to independence from Spain in November last year. The response of the Madrid government was to threaten to cut off the financial supply lines to the region. With an acutely cash-strapped Catalonia facing over €4.6 billion of bond redemptions in 2016 this threat from the […]

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