debating progressive politics in Europe and beyond
The most widely held theory of politics is also the simplest: the powerful get what they want. Financial regulation is driven by the interests of banks, health policy by the interests of insurance companies, and tax policy by the interests of the rich. Those who can influence government the most – through their control of [...]
A recent speech delivered by Mr Asmussen (Executive Director of the ECB) at a seminar organised by the IIEA in Dublin (The Irish Case From An ECB Perspective), gives powerful (though unintended) grounds for a ‘no’ vote in the forthcoming referendum. Mr Asmussen emphasised that from an ECB perspective it was of the ‘utmost importance’ [...]
The success of Britain in toning down the ambitions of the European institutions, shifting the balance away from the supranational executive towards the intergovernmental method, the muzzling of a voice in world affairs that is independent of Washington, the dragooning of Europe to the cause of unfettered globalisation and ‘light touch regulation’, the internal market, [...]
Business lobbies and conservatives have become extremely good at hijacking progressive policy concepts and perverting them into something that suits their own agenda. European economic governance is a perfect example of this. In the nineties, trade unions and progressive politicians were staunch defenders of economic governance. At the time, the idea was that if all [...]
The bad news in Spain continues unabated. 15% of all jobs have now been destroyed since the start of the crisis. Meanwhile, the IMF has suggested a public bailout of the financial sector may be needed: To avoid resolution costs becoming too high for the industry to bear, especially in a reasonable time period, greater reliance [...]
I write as someone who is on the British left – someone who sees the destructive capacity of capitalism before I see its dynamism. Someone who sees the separation of power from politics and politics from power being the over-riding feature of the last 30 years. Someone who believes in the fabulous potential of people [...]
Europe is in recession. Britain’s Office for National Statistics confirmed that in the first quarter of this year Britain’s economy shrank .2 percent, after having contracted .3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011. (Officially, two quarters of shrinkage make a recession). On Monday Spain officially fell into recession, for the second time in three [...]
The US Dollar has probably been the closest thing to a true global currency that the world has ever seen. For decades, the use of the US Dollar has been absolutely dominant in international trade. This has had tremendous benefits for the US financial system and for US consumers, and it has given the US [...]
Britain has long been the awkward partner in Europe. In 1951, she refused to join the European Coal and Steel Community, predecessor of the European Community. Ernest Bevin, Foreign Secretary at the time, said of the Coal and Steel Community – ‘If you open that Pandora’s box, you never know what Trojan ‘orses will jump [...]
News is in that the UK is back in recession, its economy having contracted in the last quarter of 2011 and the first of this year. In fact whether output growth is a fraction above or below zero is of more symbolic than real significance – and the figures for the first quarter may subsequently [...]
Austerity is really working wonders, isn’t it? The widely predicted - at least on SEJ and other progressive outlets – severely negative impact on growth of this nonsensical austerity politics is becoming clearer and clearer. Since today, the UK is officially in a double dip recession. BBC News reports: The UK economy has returned to recession, [...]
I have blogged before about the very interesting INET conference ‘Paradigm Lost’ that was held in Berlin two weeks ago. One session in particular struck me as really interesting and rather novel: the session on inequality and macroeconomics. There are videos of this panel on INET’s YouTube channel but I thought I would share the bits I personally found most [...]
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