How today’s fiscal austerity is reminiscent of World War I’s economic misunderstandings When World War I broke out in August 1914, economists on both sides forecast that hostilities could not last more than about six months. Wars had grown so expensive that governments quickly would run out of money. It seemed that if Germany could not defeat France by springtime, the Allied and Central Powers would run out of savings and reach what today is called a fiscal cliff and be forced to negotiate a peace agreement. But the Great War dragged on for four destructive years. European governments did what the United States had done after the Civil War broke out in 1861 when the Treasury printed greenbacks. They paid for more fighting simply by printing their own money. Their ...
Finance Capitalism and its Discontents
NEW BOOK: This collection contains the most important interviews and speeches that Professor Michael Hudson, Distinguished Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri (Kansas City), and president of the Institute for the Study of Long-term Economic Trends (ISLET) has given over the past decade (2003-2012). They span the political spectrum from COUNTERPUNCH.COM and KPFK radio's GUNS AND BUTTER to iTULIP.COM and SANKT GEORGE in Berlin. It also includes his now-famous Rlmini, Italy, speeches that were given at a packed sports arena in early 2012 on the topic of how finance capitalism is pushing the world, starting with Europe, into austerity and neo-feudalism. Available in paperback or kindle from Amazon.com for $19.95
Reality economics
A review of Norbert Häring and Niall Douglas, Economists and the Powerful (London: Anthem Press, 2012). “Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.” And if they would destroy economies, they first create a wealthy class on top, and let human nature do the rest. The acquisition of power soon leads to its abuse, to economic and social hubris. By seeking to protect its gains, perpetuate itself and make its wealth hereditary, power elites lock in their position in ways that exclude and injure those below. Turning government into an oligarchy, the wealthy indebt and shift the tax burden onto the less powerful. It is an ancient tale. The Greeks got matters right in seeing how power leads to hubris, bringing about its own downfall. Hubris ...
Austerity, Debt and Unelected Central Bankers
Loans you shouldn't pay back, violent partners, and who triumphs when Germany Banks & Greece go toe to toe. Seek truth from facts with former Chase banker Prof. Michael Hudson, Stockholm Syndrome theorist Dr. Carlos Encinas, anti-EU party boss Peter Mach, Greek Correspondent Nicolas Mottas and Financial Times Associate Editor Wolfgang Munchau.
E Peshine Smith: A Study in Protectionist Growth Theory and American Sectionalism
NY University, PhD, 1968, Michael Hudson Peshine Smith (1814 - 82) was probably the most sophisticated of the pre-Civil War protectionists. What he attempted was no less a task than to transform protectionist economic thought from a body of disparate and often self-contradictory parts into an integrated doctrine of economic growth, and to develop political economy as a quantitative engineering science. Read the rest of my dissertation (PDF 11mb)
