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American Common Sense on Europe: The NYT largely adopting the logic of the Modest Proposal, and even Jeffrey Sachs making sympathetic noises
, 07/07/2011
For some time the rest of the world has been finding it hard to follow the passionate infighting in the US over the federal budget. Only two years after Barrack Obama’s landslide, the United States became, effectively, ungovernable. The current standoff regarding the mystical (to non-Americans) debt ceiling causes a mixture of consternation and incredulity […]
FALSITY MOST FOUL: Why Jean Claude Juncker is precisely, and inexcusably, wrong regarding the Greek crisis and its causes
, 07/07/2011
Jean Claude Juncker has, in the past, taken courageous positions that exuded far-sightedness.[1] However, his latest intervention regarding the Greek debt crisis reveals a serious inability to grasp the euro crisis in its entirety. On 3rd July he told Focus Magazin that "[t]he sovereignty of Greece will be massively limited", referring of course to the [...]Liberty, Justice and Crisis: A competition for readers
, 07/07/2011
Two days ago, my MPhil students, sat their end of First Year final examination in a course entitled Economics as a Social Science (offered in the context of UADPhilEcon). I thought you might be interested to see the ‘cruel’ questions I set for them. Would you care to provide answers? Perhaps we can have a […]
How much for your children? Discussing the Greek crisis on the Keiser Report
, 06/07/2011
Interviewed by Max Keiser for the Keiser Report. Click here and go to 14′
Declaration by distinguished former European Leaders in Support of the Modest Proposal’s main tenets: The urgent need for a fresh New Deal for Europe
, 04/07/2011
Europe’s most serious deficit is political. A dearth of political will, democratic legitimacy and purposeful, farsighted leadership is responsible for the Eurozone’s repeated failures to get to grip with the Crisis’ different manifestations. Proposals like that our own Modest Proposal, of Tremonti-Yuncker and others offered Europe obvious alternatives to the current policy mix which exacerbates […]
Radio and TV interviews on the Euro/Greek Crisis and the Modest Proposal. Plus an announcement…
, 03/07/2011
For those interested, a number of links to recent radio and TV interviews on the latest twists and turns of the Greek-euro crisis follow: In conversation with Trevor Chappell, on ABC Radio National (27 June 2011) Interviewed in the As It Happens leading news and current affairs program of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) – […]
The Modest Proposal featured in UBS Client Magazine (Wealth Management Research) and in Basler Zeitung (Swiss Financial Newspaper)
, 30/06/2011
That these are turbulent times I need not remind you of. But when ‘radical’ views (like our Modest Proposal) are (A) endorsed by, on the one hand, demonstrators on the streets of Athens (whom I addressed in past weeks) and (B) promoted by banking colossus UBS in its recent Wearlth Management Research […]
When French Folly and German Naiveté unite against Greek debt: Another sorry episode of how not to deal with a systemic crisis
, 28/06/2011
While crises are the laboratory of the future, the euro crisis is proving more like the alchemist’s lair. Back in November, the brilliant idea was touted, with considerable fanfare, of having the EFSF buy (at a discount) Greek and Irish bonds in the secondary market (in order to effect a non-default haircut). Despite the excitement […]
The Penny Is Dropping: Mervyn King, Daniel Gros, Jim O'Neill, and the increasing relevance of the Modest Proposal
, 26/06/2011
This blog has been risking its readers’ sanity by repeating ad nauseam, and in a myriad different guises, the claim that the euro crisis is, at root, a chain of bank insolvencies causally attached to another (derivative) chain of member-state insolvencies. And that, as such, all attempts to deal with the resulting Crisis by rivers […]
Misleading Parliaments: The essence of Greek Bailouts Mk1 & Mk2
, 20/06/2011
Misleading parliament is, in normal times, frowned upon by the political class. Misleading several parliaments at once is, on the other hand, the current state of play in the European Union.
Making amends: Restoring the voice of an Irish activist (which I had, unwittingly, played a part in suppressing)
, 20/06/2011
In my previous post, I mentioned a debate between Daniel Gross, a German based colleague and myself. (You can hear it here – beginning on the 38th minute). Well, in saying that, I was as guilty as the BBC anchor of silencing a fourth voice on that program. That of Kate Bopp, an Irish activist, […]
Presenting the case for the Modest Proposal on Irish and Scottish radio, plus a BBC World Service debate with Daniel Gros and a German based colleague (in which a surprising degree of agreement was reached)
, 19/06/2011
Newstalk Dublin, interviewed (extensively) on the Modest Proposal by Karen Coleman, for a program called Wide Angle (Sunday 19th June 2011) [GO TO PART B: From 3′ onwards] http://media.newstalk.ie/listenback/229/sunday/1/popup BBC Radio Scotland, longish interview by Ken McDonald on the Greek Crisis, in which I present the Modest Proposal, without naming it. A pleasant experience, making […]
The penny may be dropping? Five interviews/debates in which yours truly struggles to make a self-evident point (Al Jazeera, BBC, ABC, Bloomberg, Die Zeit)
, 17/06/2011
During the past 24 hours I was involved in a large number of interviews with non-Greek media outlets. For those interested, a collection of links is provided below. The main reason for bothering you with these interviews is that they reveal a gradual Gestalt shift. Whereas a year ago no one in the media took […]
The European conundrum (as I experienced it in a TV debate last night)
, 16/06/2011
Permit me dear reader to say nothing about the farce unfolding in Athens presently, except perhaps to comment that when an economy unravels its political regime follows. Today’s post concerns a TV debate in which I participated yesterday. It was hosted by the French global channel France24 and featured two French economists, myself and a […]
Beyond the Crisis: Markets, planning and a utopian vision (inspired by the American National Football League)
, 15/06/2011
The Crisis, especially in Europe (not to mention Greece), is all consuming. Every day our minds are highjacked by its latest twist. Today, here in Athens, a general strike has temporarily suspended the news’ cycle and given me a few moments to reflect. I thought that today’s post, reflecting this… reflective moment, should transcend that […]
The Greek Crisis and the Threat to Political Liberalism: A cautionary tale for Ireland, Portugal, the whole of Europe
, 12/06/2011
If 1929 has taught us anything, it is that a major (capital ‘c’) Crisis poses a lethal threat to (a) currency unions (e.g. the Gold Standard then, the euro today) and (b) political liberalism. The latter threat has, so far, featured only as a projection (see here for a relevant argument), rather than an observed […]
Crisis Update: Three interviews on the Euro Crisis, the Greek Crisis and the Modest Proposal (Radio, TV and print)
, 12/06/2011
UBS Interview promoting the modest Proposal And the crisis sails on… (Anyone recall Fellini’s masterpiece “And the ship sails on”?). In todays post you can: (A) listen to a half-hour long radio interview on the euro crisis (interviewed by Doug Henwood, for the Behind the News program – it begins on the 27th minute), (B) […]
The New York Times’ article on our Modest Proposal: My reaction
, 09/06/2011
As regulars of this blog know, its initial purpose was to promote a different way of thinking about the global, euro and Greek crisis and, in particular, to present what Stuart Holland and I call the Modest Proposal for Overcoming the Euro Crisis. (See also the plethora of supporting posts here.) Today, the New York […]
Open letter to the Greek Prime Minister
, 06/06/2011
Dear George, A few days after the 2009 election that brought you to power, you told your cabinet in a televised meeting: "We are anti-authoritarians in authority". Most of your cabinet, men and women who had been craving authority for years, looked at you incredulously, while your detractors mocked you. You seemed rather lonesome at [...]A Manifesto for Modern Political Economics: Extracts from our new book
, 05/06/2011
For the past few years, Joseph Halevi, Nicholas Theocarakis and your blogger have been working on a book whose twin (megalomaniac) purpose was: (a) To highlight the inherent error that parmeates economic thinking (of all guises and forms) while reclaiming all the lost truths that political economists hit upon at some point or rather, and […]
Saviour of Last Resort: The Modest Proposal as the Eurozone’s last line of defence
, 02/06/2011
In his pivotal article in yesterday’s Financial Times, Martin Wolf put the matter starkly: “The eurozone, as designed, has failed.” Paul Krugman quickly added this chilling allegory to Wolf’s detailed argument: “If you ask me, the water level has now dropped so far that the fuel rods are exposed. We really are in meltdown territory.” […]
Greece, Europe and the Global Economy: A debate with readers
, 31/05/2011
My last post (in which I suggested that Greece will never be pushed out of the euro) generated a spirited debate with readers and friends who chipped in their views on this and related matters. Rather than allowing these exchanges to stay within the margins of the previous post’s Comments section, I reproduce them here […]
When push comes to shove? Exposing the incredible threat of Greece's forced exit from the eurozone
, 30/05/2011
A Damocles’ Sword is, supposedly, hanging over Greece. We are told (even by the Greek EU commissioner) that Greeks must either accept that their country will be run, and micromanaged, by a committee of foreign creditors or else that Greece will be kicked out of the eurozone. This threat is founded upon (to put it not […]
Privatisation Without Representation: European democracy's last gasp
, 24/05/2011
Once upon a time, the crying call for parliamentary democracy was: No taxation without representation. Centuries passed and the democratic right to representation in all debates prior to taxation decisions was won. Then came the idea that Europe’ peoples should join together, forming a European Union in order to demonstrate to the rest of the […]