Spain’s poor affected the most among OECD nations in financial downturn | World news | theguardian.com. Spain‘s poorest have been hit harder than any other group in any OECD country in the years of financial crisis and downturn, according to the OECD. While the wealthiest 10% of Spaniards saw their
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Parchment in the Fire: IMF Urges Redistribution To Tackle Growing Inequality
As usual, on the rare occasion that the IMF actually understands the destructive nature of austerity policies, it is too little too late. IMF Urges Redistribution To Tackle Growing Inequality. Washington – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is wading strongly into the global debate over the impact of growing income inequality,
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: The Disastrous Labor And Social Reforms In Spain
The Disastrous Labor And Social Reforms In Spain. By Vincente Navarro Spain, under pressure from the Troika (International Monetary Fund, European Commission and European Central Bank) has gone through three major labor market reforms, presented to the public as necessary in order to reduce the scandalous high level of unemployment:
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Political Eh-conomy Radio: In and out of crisis with Sam Gindin
Today’s podcast is a feature interview with fellow political economist Sam Gindin. I interrogate Sam about the political economy of the present: the exit from the 2007 crisis, the role of states, austerity, the place of finance and the possibilities of resistance. Download: podcast-140314-sam-gindin.mp3 Sam Gindin is a left political
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: Radical Democracy and Collective Movements in Greece, Spain | Euro Crisis in the Press
Radical Democracy and Collective Movements in Greece, Spain | Euro Crisis in the Press. By Marina Prentoulis and Lasse Thomassen The 2011 movements of the squares, the ‘aganaktismenoi’ and ‘indignados’ as they came to be known in Greece and Spain respectively, brought to the forefront old and unresolved debates on
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: How corporations and lawyers are scavenging profits from Europe’s crisis countries
7 March 2014 Cecilia Olivet Profiting from Crisis is a story about how corporations, backed by lawyers, are using international investment agreements to scavenge for profits by suing governments from Europe’s crisis countries. It shows how the global investment regime thrives on economic crises, but is very uneven in who
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Mitchell Anderson compares the results of corporate-friendly Thatcherism to the alternative of public resource ownership and development in the interest of citizens – and finds far better results arising from the latter: Thirty-five years after she swept to power as British prime
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: Creating radically democratic solutions to the financial abduction of Europe | openDemocracy
Creating radically democratic solutions to the financial abduction of Europe | openDemocracy. LOTTA TENHUNEN and ADRIÀ RODRIGUEZ 6 March 2014 Last weekend we participated in the European meeting and seminar The New Abduction of Europe -– Debt, War and Democratic Revolutions in Madrid. The meeting, organized by Fundacion de los Comunes in the framework of the network
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Selling prosperity in a time of austerity: Budget days in BC and Quebec
Two very different provincial governments tabled their budgets this week. The freshly-elected BC Liberals and the seemingly election-ready Parti Quebecois both delivered what they termed “responsible” budgets. While the two governments identify with opposing ends of the political spectrum and face distinct political climates, these differences did not prevent their
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: Tough austerity measures in Greece leave nearly a million people with no access to healthcare, leading to soaring infant mortality, HIV infection and suicide – Europe – World – The Independent
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/tough-austerity-measures-in-greece-leave-nearly-a-million-people-with-no-access-to-healthcare-leading-to-soaring-infant-mortality-hiv-infection-and-suicide-9142274.html Filed under: Austerity, Greece, inequality, Neoliberalism Tagged: Austerity, crisis, Greece, neoliberalism
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Mark Taliano discusses how corporatocracy is replacing democracy in Canada, while Jaisal Noor talks to John Weeks about the similar trend in the U.S. And DownWithTyranny reminds us how corporations came to be – and how radical a difference there is between
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
This and that for your mid-week reading. – Erin Weir posts the statement of a 70-strong (and growing) list of Canadian economists opposed to austerity. Heather Mallick frames the latest Con budget as yet another example of their using personal cruelty as a governing philosophy, while the Star’s editorial board
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Another (budget) day, another dollar (cut): Canada’s slow-motion austerity
Yesterday’s federal budget was a non-event. Indeed, the no-surprises budget was itself no surprise: the Conservatives have long done their fiscal policy dirty work in omnibus bills and other dark corners scattered throughout the legislature, Crown corporations and federal agencies. This leaves the media circus of budget day a very
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: Syriza Succeeds in Greece by Challenging European Left’s Approach to Reform
Syriza Succeeds in Greece by Challenging European Left’s Approach to Reform. Leo Panitch on Syriza’s radical approach to ‘reform’ in Europe. Filed under: Austerity, Capitalism, Social Democracy, Socialism Tagged: Europe, Syriza, the Left
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Jo Snyder discusses how poverty makes everybody less healthy, and recognizes the need for higher basic wages as a result. And Laurie Penny highlights the futility of trying to badger young adults into service jobs which offer no opportunity for personal, professional
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: Eurozone: A Sluggish economy offers no extra jobs – The European Sting – Critical News & Insights on European Politics, Economy, Foreign Affairs, Business & Technology – europeansting.com
http://europeansting.com/2014/01/09/eurozone-a-sluggish-economy-offers-no-extra-jobs/ Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Austerity, crisis, Europe, unemployment
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Transformations in profit and possibilities of resistance: A reply to Sam Gindin
Several weeks ago, I published a series of blog posts on profitability and investment in Canada since the financial crisis of 2007-8. These were republished as a single long article on Socialist Project and given the title, “Canada’s Profitability and Stagnation Puzzle”. Since them, Sam Gindin has published a reply
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: Puzzle or Misreading? Stagnation, Austerity and Left Politics | The Bullet No. 920
Puzzle or Misreading? Stagnation, Austerity and Left Politics | The Bullet No. 920. That the many attempts to theorize the crisis of 2008, the deepest crisis since the Depression, have at best been inconclusive should not be all that surprising. After all, as Michael Bernstein noted in the late 1980s,
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: Finance’s hold on our everyday life must be broken | Costas Lapavitsas
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/01/finance-hold-everyday-life-broken-capitalism Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Austerity, Capitalism, crisis, finance
Continue readingdrive-by planet: RT interview with president Grimsson of Iceland – the little nation that stood for democracy and rights over banks
Came across this RT interview recently. It was recorded earlier this year and features host Oksana Boyko with President of Iceland, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson. Grimsson served as a representative the left-wing People’s Alliance in Reykjavik and was finance minister from 1988-1991. More on his background – here. The description accompanying
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