Bill Black: Thomas Friedman Wants A “Center-Left” Democratic Party Based on Austrian Economic Myths
Thomas Friedman has managed to outdo himself on the downside.
Read more...Category Archives: Free markets and their discontents
Economists Mystified that Negative Interest Rates Aren’t Leading Consumers to Run Out and Spend
It been remarkable to witness the casual way in which central banks have plunged into negative interest rate terrain, based on questionable models. Now that this experiment isn’t working out so well, the response comes troubling close to, “Well, they work in theory, so we just need to do more or wait longer to see […]
Read more...Bill Black: Thomas Friedman’s Big Idea for Hillary – Embrace Wall Street and Deregulation
Help us, Tom Friedman is at it again…
Read more...How CEOs Get Paid for Luck
Lackluster growth is everywhere….except in CEOs’ pay packets. Wonder why?
Read more...Emergy (with an “m”) and Environmental Accounting for Maine’s Landfill
Policy implementing the Maine Solid Waste hierarchy should be justified using emergy as the unit of account, and not dollars.
Read more...Brexit: This Backlash Has Been a Long Time Coming
After the Brexit vote, it is obvious to many that globalisation in general, and European integration in particular, can leave people behind – and that ignoring this for long enough can have severe political consequences. This column argues that this fact has long been obvious. As the historical record demonstrates plainly and repeatedly, too much market and too little state invites a backlash. Markets and states are political complements, not substitutes
Read more...Why the Crisis in Italy is Not Over
The structural roots of Italy’s economic problems.
Read more...New Zealand Foreign Trusts: the Scandals, the Reforms, and Some Throat-Clearing From the EU
NZ’s promised Foreign Trust reforms still don’t look quite right
Read more...5 Ways Corporate Power Increases Inequality
How corporate power squeezes the middle class.
Read more...How Much Do Shady Financial Practices Cost You, Exactly?
The average U.S. household loses over $100,000 to destructives activities of bankers and financiers
Read more...How the ECB is Officially Above the Law
If you think the US has trouble holding the Fed to account, we are in light years better shape than Eurozone citizens are with the ECB.
Read more...Back in Work, Still Out of Pocket: Labor Market Recovery Since the Great Recession
The labour market recovery in OECD countries has been steady but slow since the Great Recession. More worrying is the fate of wage growth over the same period. This column assesses the implications of stagnation in the labour market for growth, wages, and inequality. It finds that structural weaknesses in labour market performance have become more visible as markets recover from the Great Recession. The policy response must include macroeconomic policies aimed at strengthening investment, and structural policies to support growth while nudging workers towards higher-skilled jobs.
Read more...New Zealand Offshore Company Agents: Mossack Fonseca is Far From Alone
The global footprint of agents selling NZ companies and trusts
Read more...Another Nail in the Brexit Fantasy Coffin: Germany’s Car Makers Are Not Cowed
More evidence that the idea that the UK would have a negotiating advantage in Brexit talks is not well founded.
Read more...Investment Implications of the Rise of the New Lumpenproletariat and Political Shocks
How rising numbers of the new lumpenproletariat, meaning contingent and least-paid workers, are reshaping economies and politics.
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