Washington Consensus Encloses Ukraine

By , , , Permalink

More at The Real News The Real News Network West looks to ramp up gas production, as Vice President Biden's son named leader in Ukrainian gas company Burisma - August 4, 2014 JESSICA DESVARIEUX, TRNN PRODUCER: Welcome to The Real News Network. I'm Jessica Desvarieux in Baltimore. And welcome to this edition of The Hudson Report. Now joining us is Michael Hudson. Michael is a distinguished research professor of economics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Thanks for joining us, Michael. MICHAEL HUDSON, PROF. ECONOMICS, UMKC: Good to be here, Jessica. DESVARIEUX: So, Michael, we've been covering Ukraine quite extensively. And I know you've been keeping track of ...

Escaping the dollar

By , Permalink

More at The Real News Is the New BRICS Bank a Challenge to US Global Financial Power? Michael Hudson and Leo Panitch discuss and debate the significance of the new international development bank created by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - 6 min ago Michael Hudson is a Distinguished Research Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. His two newest books are “The Bubble and Beyond” and “Finance Capitalism and its Discontents,” available on Amazon. Leo Panitch is the Canada Research Chair in Comparative Political Economy and a distinguished research professor of political science at York University in Toronto. He is the author of many books, the most recent of which include ...

Ukraine: Bureaucratic Bliss

By , , Permalink

More at The Real News Transcript WORONCZUK: So, Michael, let's talk about the economic association agreement that Moldova, Georgia, and Ukraine signed with the E.U. last week. Let's get a sense of what are the details of the agreement. And how does this differ from--let's say, in economic terms, from a full-fledged membership with the E.U.? HUDSON: Well, I'm going to begin by putting it in the big picture, and then I'll get to the details. The big picture is that this is a form of colonialism almost identical to what Europe did in Africa and Latin America and the Near East. What it did in the 19th century in Africa, where property was owned communally, was it would go to the chieftains of a given tribe, as it did to ...

EU Voters Turn Against Austerity

By , Permalink

More at The Real News Reflecting on this topic, I add: The US press and newscasts make it appear that Europeans have voted against poor immigrants and foreigners. What they voted against the super-rich, the oligarchy. The “foreigners” being opposed include the United States insisting on drawing NATO into its wars in Libya,Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan – and now, subsidizing Ukraine to confront Russia. The “nationalist” parties voted against the EU constitution written by the oligarchy to favor the banks against labor. It is a neoliberal constitution that prevents governments from running budget deficits of more than 3% of GDP – except of course to bail out banks and bondholders. It centralizes foreign policy in a US- and ...

The New Cold War’s Ukraine Gambit

Michael Hudson The following article is from a new book, Flashpoint in Ukraine, edited by Stephen Lendman. It is currently available from Clarity Press as an e-book, and soon to be printed. Finance in today’s world has become war by non-military means. Its object is the same as that of military conquest: appropriation of land and basic infrastructure, and the rents that can be extracted as tribute. In today’s world this is taken mainly in the form of debt service and privatization. That is how neoliberalism works, subduing economies by indebting their governments and using unpayably high debts as a lever to pry away the public domain at distress prices. It is what today’s New Cold War is all about. Backed by the IMF and European Central Bank (ECB) as knee-breakers in ...

Ukraine: “Go West, Young Man”

By , , Permalink

By Jeffrey Sommers & Michael Hudson As first published on Truth Out "Let them loot." That is the demand of the West when its NGO subsidiaries firebomb government buildings, murder policemen and loot the arms depots of military forts. Kiev is the equivalent of Kosovo as a Slavic city-of-origin. Are we seeing a replay? What would Dick Cheney (or President Obama for that matter) have done if Russian NGOs sponsored separatist movements in Texas, California or New England? How would US police have reacted against armed revolutionaries seizing the armory and throwing Molotov cocktails and bombs at public buildings, killing police, painting swastikas on Jewish houses and claiming vigilante justice? While this does not characterize all of the Ukrainian protesters, it does reflect a fair number of them. If this is ...

Inner Econ Geek

This interview with Profs. Hudson, Bill Black and Randy Wray at UMKC describes how the U.S. Financial sector has become criminalized, and describes how the economy will continue to shrink sharply after the November presidential election. Listen via here KCUR writes: Want to satisfy your inner econ geek? You've come to the right place. On Thursday's Central Standard, we’re having a roundtable talk on all things Post-Keynesian with distinguished UMKC research professors William Black, Randall Wray and Michael Hudson. Find out why the dynamics of private sector are essential to understanding the economy. Plus, we’ll discuss government transparency and accountability. If you're just little rusty on your economic theory and policy, join us at the table for the perfect refresher course.

Financial Conquest or Clean State?

By , , , Permalink

This is an edited and expanded transcript from a live phone interview by Dimitris Yannopoulos for Athens News, September 2012. Dimitris Yannopoulos: As an academic with a strong grounding in economic history as well as banking and a Clean Slate, professor Michael Hudson has built his own school of thought - distanced from both Keynesians and neoliberals – with regard to the stark options facing a contemporary Western world drowning in unsustainable debts of governments and households at the mercy of global banks and financiers. Options for the indebted amount to a choice between feudal-like servitude and freedom, because “debts that can’t be paid, won’t be.” That has become Prof. Hudson’s well-known tag line. He explains his logic in this interview with the Athens News, on the occasion of publication ...