March, 2023 | Michael Hudson

The Treasury Privatized?

By Michael Thursday, March 30, 2023 Articles, Interviews Geopolitical Economy Hour Permalink

Geopolitical Economy Hour #6 https://youtu.be/y1je89h1eIg Posted to youtube 2023.03.25 RADHIKA DESAI: Hello everyone, and welcome to the sixth Geopolitical Economy Hour, the fortnightly show on the political and geopolitical economy of our time. I'm Radhika Desai. MICHAEL HUDSON: And I'm Michael Hudson. RADHIKA DESAI: As you know, the last time when we closed we were scheduled to do our fourth and final show on the subject of dedollarization. However, as you know, the best laid plans can be thrown awry by, as Harold MacMillan said, "Events, my dear boy, events." Since we published the fifth show we've had what looks like the biggest financial crisis since 2008 and 2020 on our hands, with the usual flurries of bailouts and emergency actions, which in other words amounts simply to a socialism for the rich. So of course Michael ...

Introducing China’s Leading Economist

By Michael Tuesday, March 28, 2023 Articles China Permalink

Through my work at the Global University for Sustainability, I have come to know Professor Wen Tiejun. He provides a key analysis of the ten crises China has endured. I highly recommend his book to you (PDF), kindly donated to the reform community as an open access book. There are 10 lectures that accompany the book (below). Professor Tiejun and I also participated in a joint discussion you may enjoy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIeS72tf6aw https://our-global-u.org/oguorg/en/series-no-5-chinas-real-experiences-professor-wen-tiejun-on-ten-cyclical-economic-crises-in-china-1949-2016/

The Collapse of Antiquity – release

By Michael Wednesday, March 22, 2023 Books The Collapse of Antiquity Permalink

The Collapse of Antiquity: Greece and Rome as Civilization’s Oligarchic Turning Point Available on Amazon or Digital (ebook) via CounterPunch. The Collapse of Antiquity, the sequel to Michael Hudson’s “...and forgive them their debts,” is the latest in his trilogy on the history of debt. It describes how the dynamics of interest-bearing debt led to the rise of rentier oligarchies in classical Greece and Rome. This caused economic polarization, widespread austerity, revolts, wars and ultimately the collapse of Rome into serfdom and feudalism. That collapse bequeathed to the subsequent Western civilization a pro-creditor legal philosophy that has led to today’s creditor oligarchies. In telling this story, The Collapse of Antiquity reveals the eerie parallels between the collapsing Roman world and today’s debt-burdened Western economies. Endorsements “In this monumental work, Michael Hudson overturns what most of ...

With Dennis Kucinich on the Financialized Economy, Collapse

By Michael Tuesday, March 21, 2023 Financial, Interviews No tags Permalink

Dennis Kucinich & Michael Hudson Analyze the Banking Collapses: a lightly edited transcript March 15, 2023 https://youtu.be/KyFLdwArOm8 Overview: This was an impromptu conversation precipitated by former Congressman Dennis Kucinich to have a deep dive discussion with a former economic advisor, Michael Hudson, on the shockingly large recent bank collapses. As the former chair of the powerful Government Oversight Subcommittee, Kucinich had a ringside seat in unraveling the bank collapses after the housing bubble burst. He confronted the players in the field with withering questions in Congressional hearings. Now Kucinich wanted important feedback from a banking insider on how this crisis was different than the one in 2008. Kucinich knew that Hudson was a former Wall Street banker/investment professional who worked for Chase Bank and then the Hudson Institute as well as ...

Bond Market Play Reveals Systemic Crisis

By Michael Thursday, March 16, 2023 Interviews Geopolitical Economy Report Permalink

Economist Michael Hudson analyzes the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, Silvergate, and Signature Bank, explaining the similarities to the 2008 financial crash. In this discussion with Geopolitical Economy Report editor Ben Norton, Hudson also addresses the US government bailout (which it isn’t calling a bailout), the role of the Federal Reserve and Treasury, the factor of cryptocurrency, and the danger of derivatives. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvm9qrXhqf8 Podcast https://soundcloud.com/geopoliticaleconomy/banks-collapsed-economist-michael-hudson?si=1aa9bf7793654f4fbb516d2daa00ffa2&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing Transcript BEN NORTON: Hi everyone, I’m Ben Norton. I have the pleasure of being joined by someone I think is one of the most important economists in the world, Michael Hudson. And I should say that we should wish Professor Hudson a happy birthday. Today is March 14th. It’s his birthday, and he turns eighty-four today. How do you feel Michael? MICHAEL HUDSON: Just like I feel every other day. I usually feel ...

Dollar Diplomacy Down

By Michael Thursday, March 16, 2023 Articles Geopolitical Economy Hour Permalink

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRlOfxWR-qE RADHIKA DESAI: Hi everyone. Welcome to the fifth Geopolitical Economy Hour, the fortnightly show about the political and geopolitical economy of our times. I'm Radhika Desai. MICHAEL HUDSON: And I'm Michael Hudson. RADHIKA DESAI: So this is our third and final show on the theme of de-dollarization, based on our work, particularly on Geopolitical Economy that I wrote in 2013 and Super Imperialism that Michael wrote some decades ago and has recently reissued. Based on my Geopolitical Economy and Michael's Super Imperialism and also of course our article which we co-wrote called "Beyond the Dollar Creditocracy". As many of you know we have structured our discussion around some ten questions. So as you see in this slide they are all here. In the first show we answered the first five questions. In the second ...

The Mechanics of a Bond Market and its Impact on the Banking Crisis

By Michael Wednesday, March 15, 2023 Articles, Financial Financial sector Permalink

Why the Bank Crisis is Not Over The crashes of Silvergate, Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and the related bank insolvencies are much more serious than the 2008-09 crash. The problem at that time was crooked banks making bad mortgage loans. Debtors were unable to pay and were defaulting, and it turned out that the real estate that they had pledged as collateral was fraudulently overvalued, “mark-to-fantasy” junk mortgages made by false valuations of the property’s actual market price and the borrower’s income. Banks sold these loans to institutional buyers such as pension funds, German savings banks and other gullible buyers who had drunk Alan Greenspan's neoliberal Kool Aid, believing that banks would not cheat them. Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) investments had no such default risk. The Treasury always can pay, simply ...

Why the Banking System is Breaking Up

By Michael Sunday, March 12, 2023 Articles banks Permalink

Support my work via Patreon The collapses of Silvergate and Silicon Valley Bank are like icebergs calving off from the Antarctic glacier. The financial analogy to the global warming causing this collapse is the rising temperature of interest rates, which spiked last Thursday and Friday to close at 4.60 percent for the U.S. Treasury’s two-year bonds. Bank depositors meanwhile were still being paid only 0.2 percent on their deposits. That has led to a steady withdrawal of funds from banks – and a corresponding decline in commercial bank balances with the Federal Reserve. Most media reports reflect a prayer that the bank runs will be localized, as if there is no context or environmental cause. There is general embarrassment to explain how the breakup of banks that is now gaining momentum is ...