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Archive for the ‘Economy’ Category

US budget showdown: the politics of pantomime

Thumbnail : US budget showdown: the politics of pantomime

For all the attempts to talk up the budget clash as a great historical drama, in truth it revealed the pathetic state of American politics. Read my spiked article in full here.

A wage-less recovery

Thumbnail : A wage-less recovery

Workers’ wages are stagnating in the US, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. Average hourly earnings showed no growth in March for the fourth time in five months. David Rosenberg, chief economist at Gluskin Sheff, says the 1 percent growth during that period is the weakest in 25 years. Rosenberg says the […]

Japan and the world economy

Stock markets around the world tumbled again today, roiled by the continuing crisis in Japan, as well as other factors, such as the uprisings in the Middle East. Does this mean that Japan’s disaster will have a hugely negative impact on the world economy, as well as its own? No. The stock market investors are over-reacting: […]

Are state pensions in crisis?

Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin and other Republicans have said that the cost of pensions to state employees is unaffordable, and a central reason why collective bargaining needs to be virtually eliminated. However, as I noted in my article on Wisconsin, it is understandable why the pensions appear under-funded today: This situation is due to the decline […]

European banks “in far greater danger than people realize”

The Eurozone economic crisis has been relatively quiet for some time, taking a back seat to other world events. But, in an interview in Der Spiegel, US economist Barry Eichengreen reminds us that all is still not well: The present bailout attempts have never made sense. Essentially, all Germany and France want to achieve with […]

Finance and the real economy

The Lex column in yesterday’s Financial Times picks up on the International Monetary Fund’s recent self-evaluation, in a piece entitled “Ignorant economists”. Specificially, Lex notes that one of the IMF’s self-confessed shortcomings was an “inadequate understanding of how finance influences the real economy”: The greatest challenge for all economists is to understand the dynamics of the financial-economic nexus. It is a […]

Do the global elite serve the masses?

That’s the motion of the current debate hosted by The Economist. It features Jamie Whyte, who argues “for”, and Daniel Ben-Ami, who argues “against”. This topic was also the conclusion to a January 20th special feature in the magazine on global leaders. Ben-Ami’s argument is not a simplistic, “the rich are bastards” one. Instead, he contends: The culture of limits […]

Focus on banks is a “giant displacement activity”

Last night Rob Killick spoke in a debate in London on whether the big banks should be broken up, along with Kitty Ussher of Demos and Philip Blond of Res Publica, and he has posted the text of his sharp speech on his blog (here). Killick argues that the focus on banking misses the point:  The financial boom and bust […]

This is a crisis of the state as well as the market

Thumbnail : This is a crisis of the state as well as the market

Some good books were written in the immediate aftermath of the financial crash in 2008 and 2009 – but those authors who spent more time reflecting before writing offer us the best insights. The latest spiked review of books includes my review of four books on the financial crisis: The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine, by […]

GM’s IPO: not a return to former glory

Thumbnail : GM’s IPO: not a return to former glory

General Motors went public again last week, raising $23 billion in its initial public offering (IPO) – the country’s largest ever. The US government’s ownership stake was halved as a result. The successful offering appeared to vindicate the Obama administration’s decision to bail out the struggling automaker in early 2009. For many of those who support free markets […]

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