On finance, real estate and the powers of neoliberalism
Such is the censorial spirit of neoliberal monetary austerity. Its motto is TINA: There Is No Alternative, and it wants to keep matters this way. As long as it can suppress discussion of how many better alternatives there are, the hope is that the public will remain acquiescent as their living standards shrink and wealth is sucked up to the top of the economic pyramid to the 1%.
Well, the problem is is the financial time frame is very short-term. It’s hit and run. They’re into making a bundle as quick as they can on one project and then go on to the next project. And they leave an economy loaded down with debt, which is what you have from the corporate takeover movement, from the hedge funds, from the leveraged buyouts.
Michael Hudson on the Greek experiment. More at The Real News The Greek crisis is being used to find out how far finance can drive down wages and privatize the public sector. Michael Hudson interviewed by Paul Jay Note: This is my editing of an interview Professor Michael Hudson gave to The Real News Network. I have edited Professor Hudson's interview for clarity and have not changed the meaning of any of his statements. It is posted on this site with Professor Hudson's permission. -- Paul Craig Roberts Transcript PAUL JAY, Senior Editor, TRNN: Welcome to The Real News Network. I'm Paul Jay in Washington. In Greece, the financial elites of Europe have received agreement from the Greek government to another round of what some people are calling savage austerity measures, for example, lowering the minimum wage by 22 percent, a new round ...
As printed in FAZ Feuilleton, 06.02.2012 Schuldenkrise - Gute Bank, böse Bank Warum kapitulieren die Staaten vor der Macht der Banken? Es gibt Beispiele genug in der Geschichte für eine Politik, bei der die Banken produktive Aufgaben hatten. Von MICHAEL HUDSON Wenn es in der Schuldenkrise einen Silberstreif am Horizont gibt, dann ist es die Erkenntnis, dass es so mit den Banken nicht weitergehen kann. Uns bleibt gar nichts anderes übrig, als das System neu zu strukturieren. Die entscheidende Frage ist, wer im Wirtschaftsleben das letzte Wort hat - der Staat oder der Finanzsektor. Vor einem Jahrhundert wusste man noch, wie ein produktiver Bankensektor aussehen sollte. Doch davon haben wir uns weit entfernt. ...
