Odious Debts

Europe Tilts East Towards China (2/2), TRNN, March 22, 2015. SHARMINI PERIES, EXEC. PRODUCER, TRNN: Welcome back to The Real News Network. I'm Sharmini Peries, coming to you from Baltimore. This is segment two with Michael Hudson on the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, a new rival to the World Bank. In segment one we talked about the history of the World Bank and the problems that it has posed in terms of its policies to the developing world and why it is necessary to develop another investment bank of this nature. So Michael is joining us to continue this discussion. And as you know, Michael Hudson is a regular ...

Institutional Discontent

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Europe Tilts East Towards China (1/2) Michael Hudson Report: Britain, German, France and Italy are among those who joined Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank in an expression of their discontent over World Bank polices that force developing countries to depend on the US - March 20, 2015 SHARMINI PERIES, EXEC. PRODUCER, TRNN: Welcome to The Real News Network. I'm Sharmini Peries, coming to you from Baltimore. The Asian Infrastructure Development Bank, an Asian rival to the World Bank, was launched by the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, last year. Initially it was an Asian initiative, but last week, U.K. was the first European country to join the bank information, causing some friction between U.S. and Britain. Now a few more European countries have joined the ranks of China, among them ...

Updated edition – The Bubble and Beyond

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The updated edition of THE BUBBLE AND BEYOND, a chronicle of the on-going post-2008 financial collapse, is now available. It makes plain where money goes versus where it might go - and ought to go. Included: A NEW INDEX, a LIST OF 47 EXHIBITS (illustrations, charts, graphs and models), a BONUS CHAPTER and a BONUS SUMMARY, as well as contemporary quotes and author pull-out quotes. Purchase the new paperback edition here. Kindle. Thankyou for your support.

W-Z: Watered Stock to Zero-Sum

Parts W - Z in the Insider's Economic Dictionary War: Economically, the major cause of national debt and inflation, and often of postwar deflations. Politically, war serves as an excuse to centralize control of government in the hands of the few, and in the Executive Branch of government. Washington Consensus: The neoliberal “conditionalities” imposed on debtor countries by the IMF and World Bank since 1980, forcing their governments to sell off the public domain to U.S. and other international finance capital. Its greatest success was achieved in Russia after 1991, supporting the kleptocrats to privatize – and then sell off – the nation’s mineral and oil wealth, dismantle industry, and impose monetarist austerity rolling back wage levels and living standards, leading to severe depopulation and capital flight. Watered costs: A form of fictitious ...

QE Intentions All Too Obvious

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“Quantitative Easing for Whom? TRNN, March 11, 2015. The European Central Bank’s trillion euro plan will only help keep the banks afloat. SHARMINI PERIES, EXEC. PRODUCER, TRNN: Welcome to The Real News Network. I'm Sharmini Peries, coming to you from Baltimore. In an effort to relieve some pressure on the struggling European economies, Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank, announced a 1 trillion euro quantitative easing package on Monday. Quantitative easing is an unconventional form of monetary policy where a central bank creates new money electronically to buy financial assets like government bonds. And this process aims to directly increase private-sector spending in the economy and return inflation to target. Well, what does that mean and what might be wrong with it is our next topic with Michael Hudson. Michael ...