The current crisis has taught us some valuable lessons. At its core, the crisis illustrates the need to disregard age-old principles. Unfortunately, creditors’ dogged adherence to some longstanding doctrines has led to misconceived policies, inflicting unnecessary pain on some without putting an end to the crisis. For some, the question of whether recovery will come soon enough is still up in the air.
Why inequality is increasing and what can we do about it?
Janet Yellen, chair of the Board of Governors of the US Federal Reserve, gave a speech in October 2014 in which she said that, “The past several decades have seen the most sustained rise in inequality since the 19th century after more than 40 years of narrowing inequality following the Great Depression. I think it […]
China on Our Doorstep
For the first time in recent history, the state of China’s economy is the object of examination, not only by “China experts” – provided such an animal exists – but by everybody interested in current economic conditions anywhere in the world. For the first time we are seeing that what happens to the Chinese economy […]
Crisis in Greece: Updated Summary
Greece is still in the news. Not surprising, since the European Union (EU) has never had such a huge problem as this with a member country. I’ve written a lot on the subject already and don’t want to belabor the point. But I’ll try to summarize here (data from Eurostat in billions of euros). Background. […]
Keynes on Pessimism
We all know that we as human beings have a hard time separating ourselves from the present situation. If we are in a crisis, we think the tough times will last for years, and the contrary if we are in an economic boom. The opinions of experts, institutes and others reflect that behavior: most of […]
