During the nineties, the predominant form of economic crisis that could hit a nation was the currency crisis whereby the value of a countries currency drops precipitously. Most infamously was the Asian financial crisis, whose effects rolled around the…
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The Progressive Economics Forum: PSE in Newfoundland and Labrador
Last March, Keith Dunne and I wrote an opinion piece on Danny Williams’ post-secondary education (PSE) legacy in Newfoundland and Labrador. Among other things, we pointed out that average undergraduate tuition fees (for domestic students) in Newfoundland and Labrador are $2,624/yr., compared with $5,138 for Canada as a whole and $6,307 in Ontario. With a provincial election slated to take […]
Continue readingcmkl: Remedies for household debt
Canadian households are more in debt than ever. Both the governor of the Bank of Canada and the finance minister have been “concerned” about this for some time.
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: “Grade-Boosting” Stimulant Use on Campus
A recent editorial in the Canadian Medical Association Journal looks at the use of “grade-boosting” stimulants (such as Ritalin) by Canadian post-secondary students. According to the editorial: “Universities and colleges are ground zero for ‘grade-boosting’ stimulant abuse.” The thrust of the editorial’s argument is that universities and colleges need to work proactively to reduce the misuse […]
Continue readingImpolitical: As the race begins in Ontario
The writ has still not dropped but the unofficial race is on. A few things this morning on the campaign as it begins…The Nanos leadership numbers are back, in the form of the best premier numbers. Not a bad place to be for McGuinty at all (party poll…
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Ontario Student Debt
Last week, the CCPA released a paper by David Macdonald and Erika Shaker entitled Under Pressure: The Impact of Rising Tuition Fees on Ontario Families. The paper does a good job of explaining which households have been most impacted by rising tuition fees in Ontario. Points made in the paper include the following: -In light […]
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Why isn’t Wall St. in jail? And come to think of it, why isn’t Obama?
I don’t usually repost other people’s writings, but this article is too hard-hitting and important to pass up. If we want to understand better what is wrong with the economy and politics, this sheds more than a little light, and confirms th…
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Is There a Student Debt Bubble?
A recent article in The Atlantic looks at student debt in the United States and suggests there may be a student debt bubble. Written by the authors of the recent book, Higher Education?, the article points out that “college loans are nearing the $1 trillion mark, more than what all households owe on their credit cards.” The article also […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: MYTHOLOGIES: MONEY AND HYPERINFLATION
In an earlier post, Marc Lee mentioned in passing the German hyperinflation episode of the 1920s. It’s remarkable that this event still holds such sway over the popular imagination despite other more recent instances of hyperinflation. Certainly, the imagery is powerful: German citizens pushing wheelbarrows full of worthless paper money around for everyday purchases, banknotes […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: MMT: What it Means for Canada
Arun Dubois’ blog post yesterday on Modern Monetary Theory has prompted me to write my own take on the subject. For those interested, an interesting thumbnail sketch of MMT, essentially functional finance augmented by a full understanding of monetary operations, is explained at http://johnsville.blogspot.com/2011/06/modern-monetary-theory-mmt-in-nutshell.html. While MMT deals with the details of monetary and fiscal matters, […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: No Retreat, No Surrender: Time For Progressives to Explode Deficit/Monetary Myths
Friends, I’m concerned. I fear that too often, we on the left retreat when we should attack, surrender when we should vanquish. What do I speak of? Well, I am concerned that too many of us are willing to play in the frame, the box, the straighjacket of modern discourse about fiscal and monetary policy. […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Thoughts on “Why not print money?”
Richard Gilbert’s “Why not print money?” in the Globe’s Economy Lab toys with more radical monetary intervention as a response to the crisis. Desperate times, they say, call for desperate measures. The title (which was perhaps not Gilbert’s at all) is more provocative than the article itself, which is mostly about tolerating higher inflation that […]
Continue readingRedBedHead: Capitalism vs Democracy
This article in the Globe & Mail about the ongoing debt crisis in the USA and Europe caught my attention. Not because it offered any interesting or unique insight into the origins or solution to the present debt crisis facing western capitalist nat…
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: S&P Pantsed by US Treasury
I have been reluctant to condemn the credit-rating agencies for sovereign downgrades because it seems like shooting the messenger. As the bond markets have noticed, a few European countries have serious fiscal problems. Blaming the raters for also noticing did not seem like an effective response. However, I think that Standard and Poor’s decision – […]
Continue readingbastard.logic: Fun With Infographics (STILL Worst Preznit EVA)
by matttbastard Michael Tomasky: The Boston Globe ran a chart last Sunday that I’d buy billboard space to reproduce in every decent-size city in America, if I were running the Democratic National Committee. The premise of it was very simple: It … Continue reading →
The Progressive Economics Forum: More on Public Sector Austerity in Canada
A short addendum to my previous post: I checked the most recent IMF projections in the June, 2011 Update to the Fiscal Monitor. Table 1 provides estimates of changes in the general government government cyclically adjusted balance in percent of potential GDP. Basically changes are the result of discretionary changes in fiscal policy rather than […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Public Sector Austerity: Why is Canada Leading the Way?
The major economic problem faced by Canadians is a very slow recovery and weak job market, not government deficits or rising debt. But public spending cuts at the federal and provincial level will make the real problem even worse. And, government spending cuts in Canada seem set to be even greater than in other advanced […]
Continue readingLaw is Cool: Credit rating agencies as courts of international finance
As I am writing this, President Obama announced a deal to avoid default on US government debt. If lawyers think in terms of courts, then what would be the legal consequences of the US default? While the legal issues of government’s failure to pay its debt to domestic lenders are unique and complex, the default […]
World Headlines Review: Debt Ceiling Debate is Moot: USG Owes More Dollars than in Existence
Image by Images_of_Money The current debate in Washington as to whether or not and under what conditions to raise the debt-ceiling has for the past week dominated global news coverage and the public mind. Absent from the debate and mainstream coverage is a discussion of the debt limit in the
Continue readingAmericans can’t seem to apply Greek style austerity measures to stave off default, while Republicans flush their country down the toilet
If I was in U.S. House Speaker John A. Boehner’s shoes I would have agreed to President Obama’s terms in raising the country’s debt ceiling.Why? Well I think it’s because the proposals which Mr. Obama presented to Mr. Boehner were actually very…
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