Category Archives: Globalization

The Sucking Sound of (At Least Some) Skilled Workers Leaving the US

Defenders of the Obama Administration’s indifference to high levels of unemployment often claim the problem isn’t readily remedied because the US suffers from “structural unemployment”. That’s really wonkese for blaming the victim. No sirreebob, the problem isn’t that there aren’t enough jobs, but that the workers are no damned good, as in they don’t have the right skills for our new super duper information based economy! In mainstream media outlets, claims like this are usually followed by a business owner saying there clearly aren’t enough skilled employees, he can’t hire any good machinists for $13 an hour. Generally speaking, Mr. Complaining Boss is offering below the going rate, but why let pesky details spoil a good narrative?

You don’t have to look hard to find evidence against this argument.

Modern Money & Public Purpose: Yanis Varoufakis and Marshall Auerback on the Eurozone Crisis

One of the reasons the public knows little about economics is that most economists are lousy speakers. Part of that is their reliance on jargon, which is often shamanistic, designed to obscure rather than communicate. But the other reason is that a lot of economists don’t bother to try to be engaging.

The remarks by Yanis Varoufakis and Marshall Auerback are informative and lively, if ultimately pretty grim. The comments at YouTube are extremely positive.

How to Rob Africa: A Look into How the West Facilitates Moving Dirty Money

Anyone who has heard of, or better yet, read Nicholas Shaxson’s book Treasure Islands knows how large and powerful the world of “offshore” finance is. The public tends to think of banks in the Switzerland or the Caymans or the Isle of Man, but these are merely the outposts of larger networks. Shaxson contends that the UK was the historical top dog in the murky world of tax avoidance but the US is now the leader.

This Aljazeera show gives a small window into the nitty gritty of how this industry helps corrupt African leaders loot their countries. The journalists show how trivial it is to find facilitators and to set up the companies that allow money to be moved across borders with the identity of the instigator well hidden.

Wolf Richter: EU Bureaucrats Don’t Follow Own Austerity Prescription, Siphon Off EU Money

In pursuing its dream, the EU has created a ballooning superstructure of governance manned by 41,000 bureaucrats and mostly unelected politicians. In 2011, they spent €129 billion of taxpayer money. But now, the European Court of Auditors released its audit report for that year—a damning document that outlines how up to 4.8% of the EU budget seeped through the cracks and disappeared.

Has Chinese Currency Manipulation Succeeded in Breaking Japanese Manufacturers?

Tonight’s Financial Times has a eye-popping story, that the survival of Sharp, one of Japan’s top consumer products manufacturers, is in doubt:

IMF Suddenly Decides It Might be OK to Loosen Austerity Tourniquets Now that Gangrene is Setting In

While deathbed conversions might earn you a spot in heaven in some religions, they don’t carry you very far here on Planet Earth.

Christine Lagrade has taken too small a step in the right direction far too late to do much good.

Debunking the “It’s China’s Fault That American Worker Real Wages are Falling” Myth

Even in the cases where the outsourcing cost savings were significant, the idea that American wages were way out of line with Chinese wages and the only future for American workers was grinding wages lower and lower to compete with China has been oversold.

Exchange Rates and Modern Trade Theory: An Interview with John Harvey

John Harvey is Professor of Economics at Texas Christian University. He blogs at Forbes and is the author of the book ‘Currencies, Capital Flows and Crises: A Post-Keynesian Analysis of Exchange Rate Determination’

Interview conducted by Philip Pilkington

Philip Pilkington: Your book seeks to outline an alternative theory of what determines exchange rates in our world today.

Germans Getting Even More Opposed to Being in the Eurozone

Over the weekend, the newspaper Bild released the results of a new poll on German sentiment on the Euro. It found that 51% thought Germany would do better by leaving the Eurozone with 29% saying Germany would fare worse. In addition, 71% of the respondents said Greece should be expelled from the Eurozone if it could not live up to its austerity commitments.

These results aren’t particularly novel; a large cohort of Germans have been vocally opposed to Eurorescues for some time. What is new about this poll is how low the percentage is that sees being in the Euro as good for Germany.

New Zealand’s Ian Taylor: Helping Ireland’s Biggest Bankrupt To Hide Assets?

Is there a connection between New Zealand’s Ian Taylor and Sean Quinn, Ireland’s asset-hiding bankrupt? Could be…

New Zealand’s Company Register: Even More Out of Control Than You Thought

My last post on this little mess implied that there was pretty slack official monitoring of the NZ Company Register for obviously false or impermissible registration information. But one or two other sightings invite the question: does anyone in New Zealand take Para 1, Section 377 of the Companies Act seriously, any more? 377 False statements […]