Most of the coverage regarding the Eurozone crisis has understandably focused on the politics of austerity. Less attention, however, has been paid to the longer term trends in the industrial relations of those countries hardest hit by the crisis: Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain; the so-called PIIGS countries. Recent
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Parchment in the Fire: EU officials plotted IMF attack to bring rebellious Italy to its knees – Telegraph Blogs
EU officials plotted IMF attack to bring rebellious Italy to its knees – Telegraph Blogs. The revelations about EMU skulduggery are coming thick and fast. Tim Geithner recounts in his book Stress Test: Reflections on Financial Crises just how far the EU elites are willing to go to save the
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) – Benchmarking Working Europe 2014 / Books / Publications / Home
European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) – Benchmarking Working Europe 2014 / Books / Publications / Home. The report Benchmarking Working Europe 2014 reviews the crisis and EU austerity policies in the last five years from the point of view of Europe’s social agenda. Filed under: Austerity, Europe Tagged: Austerity, crisis,
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: Spain’s poor affected the most among OECD nations in financial downturn | World news | theguardian.com
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
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: New Left Project | Articles | Underestimating Capital, Overestimating Labour: A Response to Andrew Kliman
New Left Project | Articles | Underestimating Capital, Overestimating Labour: A Response to Andrew Kliman. What caused the 2008 economic crisis? In an article published earlier this year by Jacobin, the Canadian political economist Sam Gindin explained it as ‘a primarily financial crisis.’ Writing for New Left Project, Andrew Klimanrejected this analysis, arguing that, had the
Continue readingParchment 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 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 readingParchment in the Fire: The Crises of Capitalism
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Capitalism, crisis
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: Capitalism is the Crisis
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Capitalism, crisis
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 readingParchment in the Fire: This is no recovery, this is a bubble – and it will burst | Ha-Joon Chang | Comment is free | The Guardian
This is no recovery, this is a bubble – and it will burst | Ha-Joon Chang | Comment is free | The Guardian. According to the stock market, the UK economy is in a boom. Not just any old boom, but a historic one. On 28 October 2013, the FTSE 100
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 readingParchment in the Fire: The New Wave of Financial Instability
The New Wave of Financial Instability by MIKE WHITNEY Global stocks were hammered on Friday for a second straight day on news of a slowdown in China and turbulence in emerging markets. The Dow Jones Industrials suffered its worse drubbing in more than two years, tumbling 318 points on Friday
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: QE: Furthering the habit of privatizing gains and socializing losses
“Privatizing gains and socializing losses” could be the motto for the neoliberal era. Alongside this and “there is no alternative”, few slogans better capture the ideology that has been so successfully diffused throughout the world over the past several decades. Five years after latest financial crisis, this motto rings true
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
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