March 2011
15 posts
Paul Krugman, "The Austerity Delusion" →
“What do these events have in common? They’re all evidence that slashing spending in the face of high unemployment is a mistake. Austerity advocates predicted that spending cuts would bring quick dividends in the form of rising confidence, and that there would be few, if any, adverse effects on growth and jobs; but they were wrong.
It’s too bad, then, that these days you’re not considered...
Bret Easton Ellis, "Notes on Charlie Sheen and the... →
Dean Baker, "Guess which policy your central bank... →
“Remarkably, IMF policy still doesn’t seem to allow for the possibility that somewhat higher rates of inflation might actually be the best path under some circumstances. Many of the speakers seemed still to believe that the policy of inflation targeting, in which central banks target a 2.0% inflation to the exclusion of all other concerns, is the best route to pursue. This certainly...
David Lizoain, "La nova nostàlgia" →
My friends at Un mon a guanyar posted a brief article of mine.
Olaf Cramme, "Social Europe's new battleground" →
“The ramifications of the euro crisis can hardly be underestimated. It has brutally exposed the flaws of economic governance in the European Union. It has exacerbated the divisions between the fiscally more prudent northern countries and its less conservative southern partners. And it has sparked off a new debate about the possibility of a multi-speed or two-tier Europe – not so much out of...
A. A. Gill, "Dubai on Empty" →
“No one dreamed of this. Twenty years ago, none of this was here. No Narnia. No seven-star hotels. No tallest prick buildings. Just a home of pastoralist tented families herding goats, racing camels, shooting one another. And a handful of greasy, armed empire mechanics in khaki shorts, drilling for oil. In just one life span, Dubai has gone from sitting on a rug to swiveling on a fake Eames...
David Lizoain, "El control democràtic,... →
“El règim d’austeritat actual també institucionalitza una transferència de riquesa dels pobres als rics. S’erosiona l’Estat del benestar, precisament, on ja hi ha menys benestar. Es castiga a les regions méspobres pels fracassos de la totalitat. Això implica la prescripció inadequada de solucions nacionals per a problemes de la zona euro en el seu conjunt. El...
George Monbiot, "We know what to march against on... →
“Without clear aims we remain trapped by our opponents, responding to their agenda rather than forcing them to respond to ours. Without a programme for action, campaigns dissipate as people lose hope. A statement of aims allows us to tell whether or not we are making progress, rather than merely slipping back less rapidly than before. It can also be used to challenge opposition parties and...
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, "Flat-Earth European... →
“The Spanish might justly feel aggrieved, and judging by the comment threads of the Madrid press – “Put Trichet on trial”, “Leave the EU immediately”, “Create a currency for the South” – a vocal minority of Spaniards are going through their moment of EMU Epiphany.
Spain is doing what is required: slashing its twin deficits; biting the bullet on the...
Johann Hari, "Our troops are being betrayed - by... →
“Our policy in Afghanistan consists of a series of insults to the troops we have sent there. Perhaps the most startling is that “our side” is in fact funding the Taliban, who then use the money to shoot back at the troops. The US journalist Aram Roston exposed in the magazine ‘The Nation’ that the American forces are currently paying the Taliban and other insurgents hundreds of millions of...
Haaretz - Veteran diplomat's rebuke of Netanyahu,... →
“Baruch said yesterday: “A basic rule of diplomacy is to listen to both friends and opponents,” adding that “over the past two years we have been finding every opportunity … to turn someone into an opponent. We think the whole world is against us and we don’t have to do an internal accounting. It’s time we checked ourselves.”
More nonsense from the ECB
A couple of comments in response to the ECB hinting that it will raise interest rates shortly: Andrew Watt, “ECB risks recovery and fiscal consolidation for… what exactly?”: Higher rates are a threat to the recovery. They will cost jobs. They will make fiscal consolidation harder at a time when policymakers are urging ordinary working families to make sacrifices to bring deficits and...
Black humour at the United Nations
This week, the United Nations General Assembly suspended the membership of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya in its Human Rights Council. In the press release, the President of the General Assembly, Joseph Deiss recalls “that he had addressed the Human Rights Council’s high-level segment the day before and had noted the importance of a strong Council whose members were committed to strengthening...
Benoît Hamon, "L’heure est à la refondation des... →
“Ce qui compte, c’est d’opérer la réforme radicale de nos institutions, qui permette un réel rééquilibrage des pouvoirs et l’approfondissement de la démocratie.”
Profile of Aaron Gibralter, co-founder of Urtak →
“How can we live in a democratic world unless everyone can share their opinion?”
