Michael Perelman: The Fraud of Adam Smith’s Pin Factory
Adam Smith’s pin factory is more a charming tale than a representative of early industrialization or contemporary pin making.
Read more...Category Archives: The destruction of the middle class
Bill Black: How Hayek Helped the Worst Get to the Top in Economics and as CEOs
Libertarians are profoundly anti-democratic. The folks at Cato that I debate make no bones about their disdain for and fear of democracy. Friedrich von Hayek is so popular among libertarians because of his denial of the legitimacy of democratic government and his claims that it is inherently monstrous and murderous to its own citizens.
Read more...Yanis Varoufakis: Europe’s Crisis –The Rise of the Ultra-Right is the Left’s Fault
The recent European elections were a decisive victory for the right, and the craven, co-opted left has no one but itself to blame.
Read more...Larry Summers’ Contradictory and Dishonest Defense of Administration’s Bank-Focused Crisis Response
Larry Summers, like Tim Geithner, wants the public to believe that rescuing banks and leaving citizens to rot was the right crisis response. But neither experts, nor people who followed the crisis, nor voters at large are buying what Team Obama is trying to sell.
Read more...Piketty’s “Second Law of Capitalism” — Is it Fundamental?
Thomas Piketty’s new book has been widely praised for its empirical contribution, but his prediction of rising inequality rests on economic theory. This column argues that Piketty’s pessimistic forecast is based on an extreme – and unrealistic – assumption about households’ saving behaviour. According to standard theory, the wealth–income ratio would increase only modestly as growth falls, so declining growth would not be a powerful force for generating high inequality.
Read more...David Cay Johnston on the Perils of Our Growing Inequality
David Cay Johnston is a clear and lively conversationalist, and I anticipate readers will enjoy his discussion of his work over the last 20 years on inequality.
Read more...Another Day, Another Bad Incentive Deal
A pending economic incentive deal in Alabama is a case study of why these proposals need hard, skeptical reviews.
Read more...How the Troika, the WSJ and the NYT Keep the Public Befuddled About Austerity and Deflation
Deflation proves that austerity policies are failing, but the media is doing a remarkable job of keeping readers confused and ignorant.
Read more...Robert Pollin and Dean Baker Discuss the Anemic Recovery and Why Economists Don’t Recommend Real Remedies
A good discussion of why the weak economic recovery has only helped those at the very top, and why economists who know better continue to enable that.
Read more...A Reflection on Piketty’s “Rentiers Always Win” or r > g
The Piketty postulate that r > g, meaning the return on wealth exceeds overall economic growth, is simply not a universal truth. This post provides a tidy and accessible debunking.
Read more...Piketty’s Wealth Tax Won’t Hurt Investment
Transfers don’t matter for investment, and most savings are transfers. Thus Piketty’s wealth tax won’t hurt investment.
Read more...Michael Hudson: The EU Parliament Elections as a Vote Against the Oligarchs
The US press and newscasts make it appear that Europeans have voted against poor immigrants and foreigners. What they voted against was the super-rich, the oligarchy.
Read more...Michael Perelman: Vietnam – Invitation to a Morass
How the Vietnam War helped usher in neoliberalism, financialization of the economy, and the use of military spending as stealth stimulus.
Read more...European Voters Deliver the Revenge of the Nation-State
Were the results of the European elections a tremor or an earthquake?
Read more...Financial Times Finds “Many” Errors in Piketty Analysis, Argues They Undermine His Thesis
Chris Giles of the Financial Times has charged Thomas Piketty with making Reinhart and Rogoff-like data and methodological errors in his best-selling book on wealth inequality, Capital in the 21st Century.
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