Another Day, Another Political Corruption Scandal In Spain’s ‘Mafia State’
Political corruption has become synonymous with political leadership in Spain.
Read more...Category Archives: Politics
Bill Black: The Kamikaze Economics of Forcing Austerity on the Ukraine
We all understand why Russia is waging economic war on the Ukraine, but why is Obama doing so?
Read more...Joe Firestone: Is the MSM Blackout on Inequality, Plutocracy, and Oligarchy Ending?
Yves here. Although I like this piece, I believe Joe is not cynical enough about MSNBC, which has become a messaging apparatus of the Democratic party. The reason that MSNBC is now talking about inequality is Obama is pushing for a minimum wage increase, so wealth and income disparity are no longer verboten topics
Read more...IMF Imposing Even Tougher Austerity Conditions on New Loans
How the IMF has been devising even nastier versions of its austerity hairshirt in recent years.
Read more...Gaius Publius: IPCC Accidentally Proves that “International Cooperation” on Climate Change is Dead
As you’ve been reading lately, there’s a new IPCC climate report out, the second of three. This report is from Working Group 2, responsible for studying “impacts, adaptation, and vulnerabilities.” In other words, what effect is climate change (“global warming”) having now, what impact will it have if we make certain choices, and where are we vulnerable?
Read more...Yanis Varoufakis: Europe’s Latest Policy on Irish and Greek Banking losses – Two Swindles Too Similar for Comfort
The Irish and the Greeks are, in many ways, very different people. And yet, caught up in the Euro Crisis, their fortunes have become too close for comfort.
Read more...Bill Black: Deflation Dementia
Yves here. This piece by Bill Black not only does a great job of kneecapping some typically poor MSM reporting, but it’s also valuable as a high-level overview of the insanity of European economic policies.
Read more...Understanding the Confidence Fairy
Why you should be skeptical when economists and policy-makers talk about the value of reducing uncertainty which is code for invoking the confidence fairy.
Read more...Was Marx Right?
We participated in a Room for Debate forum at the New York Times, on the topic of “Was Marx Right?” Readers are likely to say, “But of course!” Yet Marx had such a large opus and his forecasts were so bold that any fair reading has to come to more nuanced conclusion.
Read more...Cokie Roberts Picked a Fight With Alan Grayson on the TransPacific Partnership. Guess Who Won?
I’m clearly too feral to have the proper responses, but I’ve long considered Cokie Roberts to be too lightweight to be worth paying attention to. But since lightweight goes over well in many parts of America, Cokie still has a large following. And it’s separately worth paying attention to a fight she picked over Obama’s stalled trade deal, the TransPacific Partnership. The fact that people with popular followings are still defending it says the Administration remains keen to revive it, so opponents need to guard against becoming too complacent.
Read more...Michael Hudson on the Real Logic of the $14+ Billion Ukraine Rescue Package
Yves here. Michael Hudson gives a short, persuasive explanation of the real reason the US and the IMF are bailing out the Ukraine. Hint: it’s not the reason you read in the American press.
Read more...Countries Rejecting Trade Deal Provisions that Let Investors Override National Regulation
This is a welcome bit of good news. Countries are finally standing up for the rule of law over rule by multinational corporation.
Read more...A U.S.-Saudi Move to Lower Oil Prices to Hurt Russia?
Could the U.S. unleash a flood of oil from the strategic petroleum reserve that would drive down prices in order to punish Russia?
Read more...Wolf Richter: German Industry Goes To See Uncle Putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin might have had a field day listening to Obama’s Brussels speech threatening more economic sanctions, except he was otherwise engaged.
Read more...Joe Firestone: Inequality – Envy or Honest Outrage?
Yves here. Even though I applaud Joe for his effort to take on the “class warfare as jealousy” meme, I think it needs to be attacked much more aggressively.
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