Why the Tea Party & European Right Are Winning Elections More at The Real News Michael Hudson: There is no real left-wing alternative to the right Bio 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. Transcript ANTON WORONCZUK, TRNN PRODUCER: Welcome to The Real News Network. I'm Anton Woronczuk in Baltimore. And welcome to another edition of The Hudson Report. Now joining us is Michael Hudson. He's 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, UMKC: Good to be here, Anton. WORONCZUK: ...
QE reduction in time for next speculative kickoff
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 ...
Anti-Russian sentiment a resource play diversion
Welcome to The Real News Network. I'm Jessica Desvarieux in Baltimore. Hundreds of pro-Russian protesters have seized public buildings in Eastern Ukrainian cities. They're demanding referendums to secede from Ukraine in order to become a part of Russia. Ukrainian officials have blamed Putin for this continued unrest, but it should be noted that Ukraine is a major transit route for natural gas exports to Europe from Russia, and now Russia is warning Ukrainian officials that they need to pay back the $2.2 billion debt owed to the Russian natural gas company Gazprom. German and French officials are also working towards a quick implementation of a $14-18 billion International Monetary Fund loan package to the Ukraine. Now joining us to discuss all of this is our guest, Michael Hudson. Michael is ...
95% Income Growth Goes to the 1%
Interviewed by Lira of Boom Bust, starting at 5 minutes. Pt2 coming soon.
Obama’s Master Class in Demagogy 101
Yesterday President Obama chose Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois (originally founded by anti-slavery activists in the 1830s) to float the economic program he has been working out with Wall Street investment bankers. His aim is to wrap this program in a democratic rhetoric. The speech’s actual content boils down to: “I’m doing fine and housing prices are recovering. The way to heal the economy faster is to make a Public-Private Partnership (with Wall Street) to finance new infrastructure investment. The government will guarantee a return – and if there’s any loss, we (you taxpayers) will bear it.” His political genius was not to sugar-coat the shady parts of his proposals. ...
Government Debt and Deficits Are Not the Problem. Private Debt Is.
There are two quite different perspectives in the set of speeches at this conference. Many on our morning panels – Steve Keen, William Greider, and earlier Yves Smith and Robert Kuttner – have warned about the economy being strapped by debt. The debt we are talking about is private-sector debt. But most officials this afternoon focus on government debt and budget deficits as the problem – especially social spending such as Social Security, not bailouts to the banks and Federal Reserve credit to re-inflate prices for real estate, stocks and bonds. To us this morning, government deficit spending into the economy is the solution. The problem is private debt. And in contrast to Federal Reserve and Treasury bailout policy, we view the problem not as real estate prices too low to ...
The Delicious Irony of Morris Greenberg’s AIG Suit Against the US Treasury
When the financial bubble burst in September 2008, U.S. and European governments responded by shifting bank losses onto their own balance sheets. The pretense is that real growth cannot resume until the banks and speculators are “made whole.” To cover the cost of bailing out the banks, governments now are trying to run budget surpluses. This adds fiscal deflation to the debt deflation left in the bubble’s wake, shrinking the economy at large. Governments are to raise taxes (or simply print new debt to swap for the financial sector’s bad loans and gambles) to reimburse financial institutions whose lending and outright gambling (not to mention the excursion into financial fraud) caused the crisis. ...
2013 – the stage is set
Hudson on the Thom Hartmann Program.
Fiscal Cliff Trojan
More at The Real News November 25, 2012 Fiscal Cliff An Artificial Crisis Michael Hudson: Fiscal cliff was manufactured to shift more of the burden of the crisis onto ordinary people. Transcript PAUL JAY, SENIOR EDITOR, TRNN: Welcome to The Real News Network. I'm Paul Jay in Baltimore. ... Now we are going to begin. And we are told that we're about to go over the cliff, a fiscal cliff, and we need to have massive reform to entitlement programs, Social Security, and others. Now joining us to discuss the crisis (we are told) is Michael Hudson. Michael was a Wall Street financial analyst and is now a distinguished research professor of economics at the University of Missouri–Kansas City. His new book is The Bubble and Beyond. Thanks for joining us, Michael. MICHAEL HUDSON, RESEARCH PROF., ...
Obama Wins for whom?
As published in Counterpunch The Democrats could not have won so handily without the Citizens United ruling. That is what enabled the Koch Brothers to spend their billions to support right-wing candidates that barked and growled like sheep dogs to give voters little civilized option but to vote for “the lesser evil.” This will be President Obama’s epitaph for future historians. Orchestrating the election like a World Wrestling Federation melodrama, the Tea Party’s sponsors threw billions of dollars into the campaign to cast the President’s party in the role of “good cop” against stereotyped opponents attacking women’s rights, Hispanics and nearly every other hyphenated-American interest group. In Connecticut, Senate candidate Linda McMahon spent a reported $97 million (including her earlier ego ...
