We regularly criticize government-subsidized lending as a terrible way to achieve policy goals. This interview with Sarah Quinn focuses on how Federal credit subsidies have grown and changed over time, with a major objective being to mask the extent of the support.
Read more...This post illustrates how remarkably short investors’ memories are. Or they may be betting that if they have a big enough hissy fit when monetary authorities raise rates, as they did during the taper tantrum of 2013, that central banks will lose their nerve.
Read more...If the plan of the Troika was to starve the Tsipras government and produce either capitulation or a loss of domestic credibility, their effort appears to be on track.
Read more...It’s hard to fathom Greece’s approach to its dealings with its oppressors, um, creditors.
Read more...A high private debt to GDP ratio is a strong indicator of a coming financial crisis. China is well into the danger zone.
Read more...Even though this video is from December (hat tip Philip Pilkington), it gives an informative and nuanced explanation of the rise in income inequality and consumer debt levels, and how they play into our unimpressive “recovery”. The interview of Steve Fazzari and Barry Cynamon by Marshall Auerback discusses how the rise of inequality has many drivers, but the biggest appears to be financialization which is so pervasive and well-protected politically as to make it hard to roll back. It also put focus on key metrics that often get lost in conventional coverage. For instance, inflation and productivity adjusted wages would now need to be over $20 to match the levels of the 1960s.
Read more...Varoufakis addresses the need for Greeks and Germans to stop the blame game and work together.
Read more...A case study in Goebbelnomics, here used by austerians to justify the class and economic war against Greece.
Read more...Budget season brings out the deficit/debt burden propagandists, and Maya MacGuineas of Fix the Debt is a prominent fixture. Sadly, her type needs to be debunked often.
Read more...Things are not looking good for Greece.
Read more...This is a great talk on the outlook for the four dominant tech companies by Scott Galloway of L2. Trust me. Just watch it.
Read more...The battle between the ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’ of global financial policy is escalating to the point where the ‘haves’ might start to sweat – a tiny little. This phase of heightened volatility in the markets is a harbinger of the inevitable meltdown that will follow the grand plastering-over of a systemically fraudulent global financial system.
Read more...What are some of the more granular costs and risks of a Eurozone exit? This post looks at France as a test case.
Read more...Oil and gas expert Arthur Berman gave a detailed talk last month about hype versus reality as far as the outlook for US shale gas and oil production is concerned.
Read more...If you followed Yanis Varoufakis before he became a household word (at least in Europe and in finance circles), you’ll recognize that he is making a layperson-friendly case for the Eurozone reforms that he, Stuart Holland, and Jamie Galbraith call A Modest Proposal. A new wrinkle is that he argues that the scarcity of bonds eligible for QE argues for one of its ideas, infrastructure spending funded by the EIB (those bonds would presumably be eligible for QE purchases).
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