
I appeared alongside Ellen Brown on Princetown Community Television in two parts. Enjoy! https://vimeo.com/251359428 https://vimeo.com/252773582 unsplash-logoJosh Calabrese
On finance, real estate and the powers of neoliberalism
By M. Hudson (University of Missouri) and C. Goodhart (LSE) As published by the Center for Economic Policy Research. Abstract In this paper we recall the history of Jubilee debt cancellations, emphasizing what their social purpose was at that time. We note that it would not be possible to copy that procedure exactly nowadays, primarily because most debt/credit relationships are intermediated via financial institutions, such as banks, insurance companies, etc., rather than by governments or wealthy families directly. But we argue that the underlying social purpose of such Jubilees – to keep debt within the reasonable ability to be paid without social and economic polarisation – could be recreated via alternative mechanisms, and we discuss the politico-economic arguments for, and against, doing so. Keywords: Inequality; Debt-Canceling Jubilees; Babylonian and Byzantine Empires; Equity Participation; Student ...
2017: A Banner Year for Corporate Mergers, Which Further Deepens Inequality The RealNews Network, January 2, 2018. Low interest rates, "quantitative easing," and the mitigation of antitrust laws led to more mergers and acquisitions in 2017, but that's only going to fuel greater wealth inequality and tighten the corporate grip on the political system, explains economist Michael Hudson. GREGORY WILPERT: Welcome to The Real News Network. I'm Gregory Wilpert coming to you from Quito, Ecuador. The year 2017 is turning out to be another banner year for the centralization of capital, that is, according to an article in the Financial Times this week, “Global mergers and acquisitions exceeds three trillion dollars for the fourth straight year.” The article goes on to point out the following: Faced with the prospect of Amazon's entry into ...