Democracy Now: China stocks over consumption

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Watch the video on the Democracy Now site Black Monday is how economists are describing Monday’s market turmoil, which saw stock prices tumble across the globe, from China to Europe to the United States. China’s stock indices fell over 8 percent on Monday and another 7 percent today. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average initially fell a record 1,100 points before closing down nearly 600 points. The decline also caused oil prices to plunge to their lowest levels in almost six years. To make sense of what’s really behind the fluctuations in the market, we are joined by economist Michael Hudson, president of the Institute for the Study of Long-Term Economic Trends, a Wall Street financial analyst and author of the book, "Killing the Host: How Financial Parasites and ...

Fed Cornered

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JESSICA DESVARIEUX, PRODUCER, TRNN: Welcome to The Real News Network. I'm Jessica Desvarieux in Baltimore. So the big question in the world of economics is whether or not the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates and end their bond buying program known as quantitative easing. Chair Janet Yellen will give a quarterly economic and interest rate forecast at a meeting between June 16th and the 17th. But what would her announcement mean for everyday people? Joining us to discuss all this and the man behind the Hudson Report is Michael Hudson. Michael is a distinguished research professor of economics at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. His latest book is Killing the Host: How Financial Parasites and Debt Bondage Destroy the Global Economy. Thank you, Michael, for joining us. So Michael, just briefly ...

QE reduction in time for next speculative kickoff

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More at The Real News JESSICA DESVARIEUX, TRNN PRODUCER: It's been about four years since the financial crash, and the Federal Reserve has been scaling back its program of monthly purchases of government and mortgage bonds. Each month, they've tapered off their purchases by $10 billion, and they're on track for spending $45 billion this year, which is a big dip, considering they spent $85 billion last year. There are certainly a lot of numbers there and financial terms that we need to break down. And now joining us is our guest to give us that bottom line, Michael Hudson. He's a distinguished research professor of economics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Thanks for joining us, Michael. MICHAEL HUDSON, PROF. ECONOMICS, UMKC: Thank you, Jessica. DESVARIEUX: So, Michael, just briefly remind our viewers what is ...

The 1% and Piketty

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More at The Real News 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. His two newest books are The Bubble and Beyond and Finance Capitalism and Its Discontents. Thanks for joining us, Michael. MICHAEL HUDSON, PROF. ECONOMICS, UNIV. OF MISSOURI, KANSAS CITY: Thank you, Jessica. DESVARIEUX: So, Michael, this week we're going to be talking about the very popular book by French economist Thomas Piketty. It's a 700-page book that takes on the topic of income inequality. Why do you think so many people are talking about this book? What's in it that has people buzzing? HUDSON: Statistics. It shows that wealth ...

Global Property Ponzi Policy

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I appear at the 12 minute mark. Max Keiser focuses on the global property ponzi game. The UK housing policy 'Help to Buy' - a 15% underwriting of loans under £600,000 is a technique to re-inflate land prices. A 15% rise will bail out the bad loans UK banks have made. Meanwhile the tax dodging continues globally as property speculation is ignored.

Banking on Student Debt

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More at The Real News Student debt is the new growth zone for banking revenues. With no student bankruptcy permitted, this is akin to a low risk revenue stream for the financial industry, now second in size to mortgage debt. Solution to Student Debt is to Get the Banks Out of the Education Business Michael Hudson: Crippling student debt, which is also a drag on the whole economy, developed as governments pushed the burden of higher education costs onto students and pushed them into the arms of the banks - PAUL JAY, SENIOR EDITOR, TRNN: Welcome to The Real News Network. I'm Paul Jay in Baltimore. A recent New York Times editorial about the student debt says this: ...

QE3 = Jobs for Wall St

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More at The Real News PAUL JAY, SENIOR EDITOR, TRNN: Welcome to The Real News Network. I'm Paul Jay in Baltimore. Ben Bernanke, the head of the Federal Reserve, announced a few days ago QE3, quantitative easing three, and now he says they're going to continue to buy assets, multibillion dollars of purchases, until the unemployment rate goes down. He was then followed by the European Central Bank and the central bank of Japan that are introducing their own monetary stimulus policies. Now joining us to discuss how effective all this might be is Michael Hudson. Michael's a former Wall Street financial analyst and now ...