Category Archives: Economic fundamentals

How Richard Vague Discovered Gravity: An Interview + Book Review of A Brief History of Doom: Two Hundred Years of Financial Crises

Richard Vague extends his work on the dangers of private debt via his new book, A Brief History of Doom, on the role of debt in financial crises.

No, Productivity Does Not Explain Income

Why a widely-held view about productivity that is foundational to the claim that people are paid what they deserve does not hold up to scrutiny.

Austerity Has Made People Less Prepared for a No Deal Brexit

The government says it’s preparing for a Brexit crash out. But ten years of spending cuts have made the people of Britain intensely vulnerable to economic shock.

Deskilling Among Manufacturing Production Workers

More evidence of how manufacturing workers have taken it on the chin.

New IPCC Report Warns of Vicious Cycle Between Soil Degradation and Climate Change

This Real News Network interview with Diana Ruiz of Greenpeace covers yet another dangerous effect of global warming: soil degradation and its knock-on effects.

5 Reasons Why Trump’s Venezuela Embargo Won’t End the Maduro Regime

Why the sanctions on Venezuela aren’t all they are cracked up to be.

Britain After Brexit: Welcome to the Vulture Restaurant

US business will asset-strip the UK, but that’s not all: the Pentagon will find the little-known fragments of the British empire very useful.

Michael Hudson: Why Frances Coppola’s “The Case for the People’s Quantitative Easing” Is for Banks, Not the People

A dubious proposal to continue over-reliance on monetary policy, this time with a quantitative easing scheme, instead of fiscal spending.

What Plunging Global Semiconductor Sales Says About Autos, IT & How the Economy Reacts to Uncertainties

Should you worry about the biggest fall in semiconductor sales since the Financial Crisis?

Mr. Market Swoons as Trump Administration Escalates Trade War with China With “Currency Manipulator” Charge

Markets are in a tizzy over the US-China trade row. But what might come next?

Mark Blyth’s Incisive Post-Crisis Takedown: “A Brief History of How We Got Here and Why”

Mark Blyth gives a pithy talk on the economic regimes of the modern period and what is likely to be in store.

Neoliberalism: Political Success, Economic Failure

Now, after nearly half a century, the verdict on neoliberalism is in.

Families Drowning in Debt to Stay in the Middle Class

Young people with pretty high incomes are sinking under debt.

Signs of Recession Are Hitting Europe—And Its New Central Bank President May Not Be Up for the Challenge

Europe, or more specifically the Eurozone, has a deficient bank regulatory framework which may be tested by economic weakness and wobbly banks. Having Christine Lagarde at the ECB’s helm is not likely to be a plus.