Michael Hudson: Quantitative Easing for Whom?
Michael Hudson recaps the theory, or perhaps more accurately, political justifications for quantitative easing, as opposed to how it works in practice.
Read more...Category Archives: Economic fundamentals
Dear Federal Reserve: *Now* is the Time to Raise Interest Rates? Really? Seriously?!?
I am at a complete loss as to why the Federal Reserve might think that now is the moment to begin raising interest rates. I cannot see a scintilla of hard evidence in support, and potent evidence against.
Read more...Connections in the Modern World: Network-Based Insights
Lambert here: For people who like to “connect the dots,” there is actually a mathematically grounded discipline that studies such networks (or graphs) formally.
Read more...Troika Tightening the Noose on Greece as Government Cash Crunch Worsens
The Troika and Eurogroup look to be working towards the Greek government to start having similar thoughts. However, given the high level of popular support for Syriza, and press reports that Greek citizens fully expect that the new government to at best only be able to deliver on a small portion of its campaign promises, the end game for Greece is looking more and more likely to be a failed state rather than a more neoliberal-friendly government.
Read more...Corporate Greed is Killing Investment
How the dubious “maximize shareholder value” thesis, an economic theory, and not a legal requirement, hurts investment and undermines growth.
Read more...Robert Parenteau: The Large Fly in Krugman’s New Keynesian Soup
Why New Keynesians look a lot like Friedmaniacs.
Read more...Impotent Western Sanctions Fail To Disrupt Russian Energy Exports
Who has won and lost from the Western sanctions against Russia?
Read more...Could Oil Prices Plummet A Second Time?
Are oil prices heading for a double dip?
Read more...The Administration’s Dishonest Response to Elizabeth Warren’s Attack on Secret Investor Arbitration Panels in Trade Deals
Elizabeth Warren is clearly getting on the Administration’s nerves.
Read more...Austerity Kills: Economic Distress Seen as Culprit in Sharp Rise in Suicide Rate Among Middle Aged
I’m surprised, but perhaps I shouldn’t be, that a recent study hasn’t gotten the attention it warrants. It points to a direct connection between the impact of the crisis and a marked increase in suicide rates among the middle aged.
Read more...The Alternative in Greece
Let us begin with what should be indisputable: the Eurogroup agreement that the Greek government was dragged into on Friday amounts to a headlong retreat.
Read more...Wolf Richter: What the Heck Has Suddenly Hit American Consumers?
Consumer confidence just hit an airpocket. Is this turbulence or a harbinger of things to come?
Read more...ECB and IMF to Greece: No Escaping the Austerity Hairshirt
We warned readers who are still keen to take the Syriza “Hope is coming” slogan as something more promising that a subconscious echo of the Obama 2008 “Hope and change” campaign, that the memo that Greece signed with the Eurogroup last week did not represent a victory or a lessening of austerity. The comments by the ECB and the IMF on the reform list from Greece submitted Monday confirmed our earlier readings, that austerity is still very much on in Greece.
Read more...Ilargi: How Far Is It From Kiev To Athens?
A detailed analysis of why the unbelievably uncreditworthy Kiev government is getting big IMF loans.
Read more...Mathew D. Rose: Greece – Dead Man Walking
Rose focuses on an issue that reader Swedish Lex and other have pointed out: the heavy-handed actions of Germany in the tempestuous negotiations between the Eurozone and Greece have wound up being a major own goal.
But the bigger issue that Rose raises is that last week’s ugly negotiations, in combination with the fiasco in Ukraine, is exposing Germany as a lousy hegemon, which he argues is producing a political crisis in Germany and fracture lines in Europe.
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