Michael Hudson: Socrates on Debt and Ibn Khaldun on the Cyclical Rise and Fall of Societies
Socrates described how the use of debt by the elite to strip the lower orders of their property sets up revolutions.
Read more...Category Archives: Economic fundamentals
The Global “New Normal” Is Not New– But It Is Still a Real Concern
Why the “new normal” is a sign that capitalism is running out of options.
Read more...IMF Warns That Inequality, Poverty, Low Productivity Growth, Falling Workforce Participation Will Drag on US Growth
The IMF has become an unlikely reporter of unpleasant realities about the US economy, particularly the costs of inequality and distress. If only its prescriptions were better….
Read more...Enforcement of Puerto Rico’s Colonial Debt Pushes Out Young Workers
Yves here. This post corrects some of the misleading accounts of the history of the Puerto Rico’s debt crisis and describes how the neoliberal remedy is producing an Ireland-style exodus of the young. By José A. Laguarta Ramírez. Originally published at Triple Crisis At least 23 of the 49 people killed in the mass shooting […]
Read more...How Financial Crises Produce Political Polarization
Financial crises move the struggles between debtors and creditors into the political sphere.
Read more...Economists are Divided over Brexit
Even those economists that think Brexit is a disastrous idea differ on how severe the downside would be.
Read more...Questioning Immigration is Not Racism
Immigration programs need to be socially, economically and politically sustainable or they will generate resentment.
Read more...Men Exiting Workforce as Low-Wage Jobs Vanish
Contrary to its intent, a report explaining why labor force participation among prime-age men has fallen reveals how Obama has failed.
Read more...Chaos Theory, Shocks, and Fragility, Australia and Elsewhere
Australia and other countries had the opportunity to reduce financial fragility. They may soon discover the cost of doing too little.
Read more...Curbing Monopolies Promotes Growth, Lowers Inequality
More aggressive anti-trust enforcement, not surprisingly, would spur growth and help the poor.
Read more...French President Threatens to Outlaw Protests Against Labor Reforms
An update on the labor protests in France.
Read more...Unequal Gains: American Growth and Inequality Since 1700
American history suggests that inequality is not driven by some fundamental law of capitalist development, but rather by episodic shifts in five basic forces: demography, education policy, trade competition, financial regulation policy, and labour-saving technological change.
Read more...Wolf Richter: These Debt Slaves are the Government’s Largest Asset Class, and It Will Haunt the Economy for Years
Student debt isn’t just a millstone around young people’s necks; it’s weighing down the economy.
Read more...Need a Loan in China? Hand Over a Nude Photo
Lender demands in China as a sign of credit stress.
Read more...Location, Location, Location: The Persistence of Fortune
Yves here. This intriguing paper curiously fails to consider how climate change can (will) affect the patterns they describe. And it also fails to give clues as to why some cities keep gaining population and income and others fall by the wayside. For instance, Atlanta and Birmingham, Alabama were of comparable size in the 1970s, […]
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