Category Archives: Economic fundamentals

The New Fault Lines in a Post-Globalized World

Coronavirus is smashing up the economic and political order. What sort of world comes next?

“Something Has Gone Wrong”: UK Government, Banks Screw Up Coronavirus Loans, Small Firms Near Collapse. Better Results in Other Countries

Quelle surprise! Big banks in the UK don’t like making small business loans, especially not at 1.5%.

The Really Really Yucky Airlines Bailout

The airlines are at the trough. It’s not quite as unseemly as the 2008 bank bailouts, but that’s an awfully low bar.

Some Comments on the Sanders Campaign

Thoughts on the Sanders kneecapping.

Mark Blyth and Jeffrey Sommers: Austerity – A Dangerous Idea Returns

Why more austerity is one of the worst possible responses to the pandemic….yet the US is seeing even more of it.

The Coming Battle for the COVID-19 Narrative

Will the disruption of Covid-19 deal a major blow to market ideology?

The Use and Abuse of MMT

Using government spending power to bail out financiers and rentiers makes a travesty of MMT.

Last Chance to Save the Euro?

The actions taken so far to salvage the single-currency union expose its fatal flaws. The last bout of stress will be a test to destruction if fundamental changes aren’t made.

The Coming Debt Crisis

Emerging market economies loaded up on debt after the crisis, which is now looking like a particularly bad move.

Angela Merkel Urged To Put European Solidarity Over German Interests and Back Coronabonds

Angela Merkel is under pressure to abandon her long-standing “Germany first” policy towards the EU. Will she finally relent?

Martin Wolf and Wishful Thinking on Ending Coronavirus Lockdowns

It would be nice to go back to something like the old normal. But the coronavirus is still very much in charge.

How to Pay for the Pandemic War

Government responsese to the pandemic are making a hash of one of the comparatively easy issues.

The FT Says It’s Time for the Bank of England to Start Direct Funding of the Government: Modern Monetary Theory Has Won the Day

Modern Monetary Theory has a new convert. Too bad Americans are behind the curve.

Capitalism Has Failed in Fighting Coronavirus

The problem of policies aimed to return the economy to what it was before the virus hit is this: Global capitalism, by 2019, was itself a major cause of the collapse in 2020.

Services Sector Falls Off Cliff: First Data Points from the Eurozone Where Lockdowns Started Earlier

Early data from Europe says the damage to the services sector is as deep as many feared, and bodes ill for the US, with its poor and sluggish economic responses.