Finance and the Economy

A Monetary Reset Where The Rich Don’t Own Everything

May 4, 2022 Ellen Brown, Scheer Post. Create! Debt, Finance and the Economy, Inflation, wealth inequality

In ancient Mesopotamia, it was called a Jubilee. When debts at interest grew too high to be repaid, the slate was wiped clean. Debts were forgiven, the debtors’ prisons were opened, and the serfs returned to work their plots of land. This could be done because the king was the representative of the gods who were said to own the land, and thus was the creditor to whom the debts were owed. The same policy was advocated in the Book of Leviticus, though it is unclear to what extent this biblical Jubilee was implemented. That sort of across-the-board debt forgiveness can’t be done today because most of the creditors are private lenders. Banks, landlords and pension fund investors would go bankrupt if their contractual rights to repayment were simply wiped out.

The Different Ways That US And Chinese Governments Use Their Power

May 2, 2022 Richard D. Wolff, Counter Punch. Educate! Capitalism, China, Finance and the Economy, Global Economy

Russia’s war on Ukraine both reflects and deepens a global split that should remind us of Karl Marx’s famous remark: “No social order ever disappears before all the productive forces, for which there is room in it, have been developed; and new higher relations of production never appear before the material conditions of their existence have matured in the womb of the old society.” The United Kingdom already lost its particular social order—its empire—while the United States is now losing its. Despite differences, both of these social orders shared a mostly private form of capitalist relations of production (the organization of enterprises centered around private employers and employees). That social order has given way to a different, mostly public form of capitalist relations of production where state officials are major employers.

I Cannot Live On Tomorrow’s Bread

April 29, 2022 Vijay Prashad, Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. Educate! Finance and the Economy, Global Economy, Inflation

On April 19, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) released its annual World Economic Outlook, which forecasted a severe slowdown in global growth along with soaring prices. ‘For 2022, inflation is projected at 5.7 percent in advanced economies and 8.7 percent in emerging market and developing economies – 1.8 and 2.8 percentage points higher than projected in … January’, the report noted. IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva offered a sobering reflection on the data: ‘Inflation is reaching the highest levels seen in decades. Sharply higher prices for food and fertilizers put pressure on households worldwide – especially for the poorest. And we know that food crises can unleash social unrest’.

One Simple Trick To Protect Workers From Inflation

April 29, 2022 Hamilton Nolan, In These Times. Strategize! Finance and the Economy, Inflation, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

Inflation is an economic phenomenon whose nuances remain a mystery even to economists. That hasn’t stopped politicians from wielding it as a weapon to villainize anyone they wish, from environmentalists (blamed for rising gas prices) to annoying outsiders (condemned for driving up housing costs). In reality, we know one group will always pay the price for inflation and bear the burden of increasing costs: working people. Yet the most important practical tool for protecting workers from the ravages of inflation — unionization— is almost totally absent from today’s panicked political dialogue. In the same way that seemingly every foreign war is compared with World War II, every bout of high inflation in America triggers immediate comparison to the late 1970s.

The Ukraine Crisis Can’t Save Biden

April 26, 2022 Margaret Kimberley, Black Agenda Report. Educate! Finance and the Economy, Joe Biden, NATO, Propaganda, Russia, Ukraine

The United States, its NATO allies, and their partners in corporate media are engaging in an unprecedented war propaganda effort. Their goal is to get and maintain public support for their actions against Russia which are playing out in Ukraine. The messaging is constant and isn’t at all subtle. One cannot go online for any purpose without seeing exhortations to help Ukrainian children, buy products colored in blue and yellow, or somehow “stand with Ukraine.” What passes for news about Ukraine is usually little more than anti-Russian screeds, sourced by “anonymous officials” eager to reveal claims that Vladimir Putin has untold billions of dollars stashed away, or that Russians are protesting, refusing to fight, or fleeing their country.

Corporate Profits Have Contributed Disproportionately To Inflation

April 25, 2022 Josh Bivens, Economic Policy Institute. Educate! Child Care, Finance and the Economy, Inflation, Taxes

The inflation spike of 2021 and 2022 has presented real policy challenges. In order to better understand this policy debate, it is imperative to look at prices and how they are being affected. The price of just about everything in the U.S. economy can be broken down into the three main components of cost. These include labor costs, non-labor inputs, and the “mark-up” of profits over the first two components. Good data on these separate cost components exist for the non-financial corporate (NFC) sector—those companies that produce goods and services—of the economy, which makes up roughly 75% of the entire private sector. Since the trough of the COVID-19 recession in the second quarter of 2020, overall prices in the NFC sector have risen at an annualized rate of 6.1%—a pronounced acceleration over the 1.8% price growth that characterized the pre-pandemic business cycle of 2007–2019.

IMF Cuts Growth Forecast And Targets Wages

April 20, 2022 Nick Beams, WSWS. Educate! COVID-19, Finance and the Economy, International Monetary Fund, Supply Chain

In its World Economic Outlook report issued yesterday, the IMF said global growth for this year would be 3.6 percent, down 0.8 percentage points from its estimate in January and 1.3 percentage points lower than the forecast six months ago. For 2021, it said growth would come in at 6.1 percent. These figures, however, only partially depict a picture of a rapidly worsening economic outlook amid continuing supply chain constrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic and surging inflation, exacerbated by the war in Ukraine and tighter monetary policy, as central banks lift interest rates. The WEO report said “unusually high uncertainty” surrounded its forecasts and “downside risks to the global outlook dominate.”

87% Of IMF Loans Forcing Austerity On Crisis-Ravaged Nations: Analysis

April 20, 2022 Brett Wilkins, Common Dreams. Educate! Austerity, Finance and the Economy, Global Economy, International Monetary Fund

The conditions of nearly 90% of the International Monetary Fund's pandemic-related loans are forcing developing nations suffering some of the world's worst humanitarian crises to implement austerity measures that fuel further impoverishment and inequality, an analysis published Tuesday by Oxfam International revealed. Oxfam found that "13 out of the 15 IMF loan programs negotiated during the second year of the pandemic require new austerity measures such as taxes on food and fuel or spending cuts that could put vital public services at risk." This stands in stark contrast with IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva's admonition to the European Union last year that the wealthy bloc should not endanger its economic recovery with "the suffocating force of austerity."

If You Like A 4-Day Workweek, You’ll Love The 5-Hour Workday

April 14, 2022 In These Times. Create! Finance and the Economy, Work Week, Worker Rights and Jobs

As always, the devil is in the details. Some companies are rolling out shorter workdays alongside fewer breaks and more worker surveillance in an effort to wring maximum output out of every minute. So that’s not great. And the tightly controlled implementation allows few opportunities for workers to form relationships or discuss shared problems, the building blocks of collective action. The four-day workweek, meanwhile, is being tested on a larger scale in some European countries, and Rep. Mark Takano (D‑Calif.) has introduced legislation to shorten the standard workweek to 32 hours (making employees eligible for overtime pay sooner). But a longer weekend, for example, doesn’t do much for hourly workers or low-wage shift workers struggling to make ends meet. As part of the larger project to make our working lives more humane, the question of shorter workdays or workweeks is a classic case of, “Why not both?”

Here’s What The Situation In Ukraine Means For US Agriculture

April 12, 2022 Johnathan Hettinger, Investigate Midwest. Educate! Finance and the Economy, Food and Agriculture, Russia, Ukraine

As Ukraine continues to fight against Russian forces, experts warned of potential fallout for the U.S. agriculture industry. On Feb. 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation” in Ukraine, and Russian troops stormed into the country. Reportedly, tens of thousands have died, and about half a million people have fled their homes, according to The New York Times. The same day as Putin’s announcement, Ukraine's military halted all commercial activities at its ports in the Black Sea. Also that day, a missile struck a ship chartered by Cargill, according to Reuters. Multinational agricultural corporations stopped operations in Ukraine as farmers expect the Russian invasion of the country — and the subsequent economic sanctions — to drive up already high prices for fertilizer, a key input for U.S. growers, according to interviews and company statements.

Child Care And Elder Care Investments Are A Tool For Reducing Inflation

April 11, 2022 Josh Bivens, Economic Policy Institute. Create! Finance and the Economy, Health Care, Inflation

Policymakers should look for any tool that can help restrain inflationary pressures without causing significant collateral damage. One such tool could be investments in child care and elder care. By subsidizing families’ use of child care and elder care and providing direct investments to providers, such investments could boost future labor supply by allowing working-age parents and children who want to look for paid employment to do so while remaining confident their family members are receiving care. Further, these investments can help dampen inflationary pressures—that rising wages could in theory contribute to—even well before they fully take effect.

The Dollar Devours The Euro

April 10, 2022 Michael Hudson, The Saker. Educate! Finance and the Economy, NATO, US Dollar, US Imperialism

As President Biden and U.S. national-security reports announced, China was seen as the major enemy. Despite China’s helpful role in enabling corporate America to drive down labor’s wage rates by de-industrializing the U.S. economy in favor of Chinese industrialization, China’s growth was recognized as posing the Ultimate Terror: prosperity through socialism. Socialist industrialization always has been perceived to be the great enemy of the rentier economy that has taken over most nations in the century since World War I ended, and especially since the 1980s. The result today is a clash of economic systems – socialist industrialization vs. neoliberal finance capitalism.

Venezuela’s Economy Will Grow 20% In 2022, Despite Illegal US Sanctions

April 9, 2022 Ben Norton, Multipolarista. Educate! Finance and the Economy, Sanctions, Venezuela

The major Switzerland-based bank Credit Suisse has predicted that Venezuela’s real GDP growth will be 20% in 2022. The prominent Western financial institution also forecasted that Venezuela’s real GDP will increase by an additional 8% in 2023. These predictions come despite an illegal US blockade imposed on Venezuela, which has starved the government of revenue, locked it out of the international financial system, and fueled an economic crisis. The top United Nations expert on sanctions estimated that the Venezuelan government lost 99% of its revenue due to the Western unilateral coercive measures, which are illegal under international law. “Unilateral sanctions increasingly imposed by the United States, the European Union and other countries have exacerbated the [economic crisis],” stated Alena Douhan

US Facing Up To $2 Trillion Bill Each Year From Climate Crisis By 2100

April 8, 2022 Louise Boyle, The Independent. Educate! Biden administration, climate crisis, Finance and the Economy, Insurance

Failing to take action on the climate crisis and surrendering to a worsening spiral of wildfires, heatwaves, flooding, and extreme storms, could leave the federal government with an annual bill of $2 trillion by the end of the century, according to new federal analysis. President Joe Biden released his federal budget for fiscal year 2023 last week which included $44.9bn to tackle the climate crisis, close to a 60 per cent increase from 2021. The budget also included a formal accounting on the financial risks of climate change to the US government for the first time. The analysis, conducted by the chief economist in the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and the associate director for climate, energy, environment, and science, found that US gross domestic product (GDP) could be slashed 3 to 10 per cent by the end of this century.

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