debating progressive politics in Europe and beyond
The most troubling economic trend facing America this Labor Day weekend is the increasing concentration of income, wealth, and political power at the very top – among a handful of extraordinarily wealthy people – and the steady decline of the great American middle class. Inequality in America is at record levels. The 400 richest Americans [...]
Latest Polls: Obama leads Romney in key battleground states – what does it mean? Mitt Romney is now the official presidential nominee for the Republican Party, having been crowned at the GOP convention on Tuesday night along with his running mate Representative Paul Ryan. The US presidential race is heating up, as the Obama and [...]
The Social Europe Journal website has paid a great deal of attention to youth unemployment – and rightfully so. However, becoming fully aware of the depth and persistence of the labour market problems of younger generations requires a broader perspective in three ways. Firstly, researchers need to look beyond unemployment and include other labour market [...]
I was made aware of a new academic book on social democracy after the Cold War and many of you might also be interested in this. There is the additional advantage that the whole book can be downloaded for free from the publisher’s website. So if you are academically interested in social democracy there is [...]
When I was growing up in Turkey, Europe was omni-present in school text books, on TV, in the media and the daily social life conversations within my family or with friends. Europe was often associated with dreams and Europe meant hope. Dreams for peace, for good economic standards, for social progress. A dream which was [...]
“We’re not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact-checkers,” says Neil Newhouse, a Romney pollster. A half dozen fact-checking organizations and websites have refuted Romney’s claims that Obama removed the work requirement from the welfare law and will cut Medicare benefits by $216 billion. Last Sunday’s New York Times even reported on its front page that [...]
Unless the Republican convention in Tampa is swept away by hurricane force winds — itself a fascinating prospect for a party, so many of whose activists claim to be in regular and direct contact with the Almighty — the media will make next week an entirely R week. Monday through Thursday, it will be a [...]
In an exasperated outburst, just before he left the presidency of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet complained that, “as a policymaker during the crisis, I found the available [economic and financial] models of limited help. In fact, I would go further: in the face of the crisis, we felt abandoned by conventional tools.” Trichet [...]
After four years of crisis, the deterioration of the labour market in Spain has reached dramatic proportions. This is mainly manifested in the situation of unemployment, which currently affects a volume of 5,69 million people (15-64 years) and recorded a rate of 24,8% (Labour Force Survey, National Institute for Statistics, second quarter 2012). The forecasts [...]
Paul Krugman posted this interesting video explaining what Occupy Wall Street is all about on his New York Times blog. It also features several authors, including Krugman and Robert Reich, who contributed to the Occupy Handbook. Have a look, it is worthwhile watching.
The Eurozone as a single country Let’s begin by imagining that the Eurozone was a single country, like the United States. The US is currently undertaking significant austerity, even though there is no market pressure to do so. In fact, quite the opposite is the case – it is an excellent time to borrow to invest. So why are [...]
Financial markets are blinking. Spanish and Italian sovereign yeilds are falling in the expectation that the ECB will finally engage in a purchasing programme which will cap yields and allow these countries to breathe. Is the crisis over? Before anybody start celebrating, consider the following points. The German centre-right will not accept an open-ended purchase [...]
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