The 0.1%’s Marie Antoinette Moment
A card-carrying member of the 0.1%, Steve Schwarzman of Blackstone, has reveled himself to be dangerously out of touch.
Read more...Category Archives: The destruction of the middle class
Gauis Publius: The Clinton Campaign Speaks to the New York Times
The Clinton campaign is too obviously interested in its success over that of the nation. And despite the Sanders surge, it still believes in its inevitability.
Read more...Investment Manager GMO Debunks Mythology of “Sound Finance,” or Deficit Hawkery
Yves here. Sometimes it is best to let things speak for themselves. In that spirit, I am embedding a very important paper by the well-respected investment management firm GMO which debunks the tenets of “sound finance,” meaning the claim that governments need to balance their budgets. I expect to be referring to it regularly, particularly […]
Read more...Geithner Ghostwriter Mike Grunwald Tries to Shift Financial Crisis Narrative Away From The Big Short
It’s sad that you have to be something of a detective to decipher what passes for content at most major American news outlets. In the case of Michael Grunwald, however, we have a decent set of indicators about the normally hidden agenda. The Politico writer worked with Tim Geithner on his memoir. In fact, I believe he has said publicly that he didn’t know a lot about finance before meeting Geithner. So when Grunwald decides to leap into anything involving this topic, we can assume the end result is not altogether different than what it would look like if Geithner wrote it with his own byline.
The latest example is a nominal review of The Big Short, which is not really a review. It’s an attempt to steer the narrative of what happened, in the financial crisis and its aftermath, to territory that comforts elites.
Read more...The Heavy Price of Economic Policy Failures
Why economic failures argue for the need for more democratic control over policy, or at least the ability to cut the power of institutions that get it wrong.
Read more...Capitalism Versus The Social Commons
How the struggle over who controls the commons, the monied classes or a broader group of citizens, reveals the fundamental contradictions of capitalism.
Read more...Neoliberal Capitalism, Its Crisis, and What Comes Next
The fundamental contradictions of neoliberal capitalism are pushing it to the breaking point.
Read more...2015: A Failing Fiscal Policy
Although the case study is the UK, this post is yet another example of how counterproductive austerity is, from both an economic and a social perspective.
Read more...Mathew D. Rose: Now It Is Poland’s Turn
Germany is very upset that Poland has voted in a populist, Euroskeptic, anti-austerity government. And Germany is particularly unhappy that the new regime is increasing its control over public media….which Germany already has in place.
Read more...The Death of the Professional: Are Doctors, Lawyers and Accountants Becoming Obsolete?
Is the professional about to go the way of the dodo bird?
Read more...Controversial DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz To Face Progressive Tim Canova In An August Primary
Oh frabjous day! Tim Canova, who is challenging the rancid Debbie Wasserman Schultz, is a really good guy.
Read more...2016: Oil Limits and the End of the Debt Supercycle
How tight linkages among phenomena, such as oil and commodity prices, and flagging non-elite wages, are about to cause substantial economic disruption.
Read more...Deflation Denialism: No, Chancellor, 0.5% Inflation is Not “Welcome News”
What is deflation? What has caused inflation to fall? And why is there no such thing as ‘good deflation’?
Read more...The Obama Report Card: The Good, the Bad and the Incomplete
Why are so many people in the soi-disant left who are not career progressives, meaning not part of the Vichy Left, so cautious about calling out Obama’s failures?
Read more...Job Guarantee Versus Basic Income Guarantee
A lively and well-informed debate on the merits of a job guarantee versus a basic income guarantee.
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