March 2, 2019

The Crisis of Globalisation

In cooperation with our partners from the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung and the Hans Böckler Stiftung, Social Europe examined the different dimensions of the crisis of globalisation and what kind of policy mix could help addressing it. We bring together some of the best analyses and leading voices in the field and try to highlight some of the most innovative solutions to the major political and economic problems associated with the crisis of globalisation.

with contributions by Mark Blyth, Eunice Goes, Javier Lopez, Guillaume Duval, Anke Hassel, Colin Crouch, Jürgen Habermas, Sheri Berman, Paul Collier, Ngaire Woods, Catherine de Vries, David Held, Heikki Patomäki, Gustav Horn, Robert Kuttner and Dani Rodrik.



https://www.socialeurope.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/The-Crisis-of-Globalisation-final.pdf

February 28, 2019

Austerity: 12 Myths Exposed

Belt tightening austerity policies have been the path for most countries shaken by the financial crisis more than ten years ago. The deep spending cuts were often justified based on questionable grounds. Austerity: 12 Myths Exposed debunks commonly held beliefs by the advocates of austerity as the solution to overcome an economic crisis.

Content

PART I: THE AUTHORITY OF AUSTERITY ECONOMICS

The great stagnation and the failure of business investment

Mickey Mouse numbers in economic history: the origins and spinning of 60 / 90 percent debt-to-GDP ratios

PART II: CONTEMPORARY AUSTERITY: RECONSTRUCTING THE IRON CAGE OF PUBLIC FINANCE

The myth of international tax ‘competition’

Privatization reduces the fiscal burden?

Fiscal consolidation: cut spending, solve fiscal problems and increase investment?

PART III: AUSTERITY AND THE EXPLANATION OF ECONOMIC CRISIS

The priority of deficit reduction and the myth of consolidation

Was the euro crisis caused by excessive sovereign debt?

PART IV: THE IMPACT OF DEBT ON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Markets good, public bad—the false promises of market populism

The state must live within its means?

Swabian housewife economics is good for everyone?

PART V: THE IMPACT OF DEBT ON SOCIETY

Two worlds of austerity: mythologies of activation and incentives

Democratic austerity? Social concertation in the neoliberal state


FREE PDF DOWNLOAD

https://www.socialeurope.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Austerity-Print.pdf

February 11, 2019

Greg Palast - In Venezuela, White Supremacy is a Key to Trump's Coup

https://www.gregpalast.com/in-venezuela-white-supremacy-is-a-key-to-trump-coup/

On January 23, right after a phone call from Donald Trump, Juan Guaidó, former speaker of Venezuela’s National Assembly, declared himself president. No voting. When you have official recognition from The Donald, who needs elections? Say what? I can explain what’s going on in Venezuela in three photos:

First, we have Juan Guaidó, self-proclaimed (and Trump-proclaimed) president of the nation, with his wife and child, a photo prominently placed in The New York Times.



Next, the class photo of Guaidó’s party members in the National Assembly, white as snow…



…especially when compared to their political opposites in the third photo, the congress members who support the elected President Nicolás Maduro. The Maduro supporters are nearly all of a darker hue.



This is the story of Venezuela in black and white, the story not told in The New York Times nor the rest of our establishment media. This year’s so-called popular uprising is, at its heart, a furious backlash of the whiter (and wealthier) Venezuelans against their replacement by the larger Mestizo (mixed-race) poor.

Four centuries of white supremacy in Venezuela by those who identify their ancestors as European came to an end with the 1998 election of Hugo Chavez who won with the overwhelming support of the Mestizo majority. This turn away from white supremacy continues under Maduro, Chavez’ chosen successor.


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February 4, 2019

Bill Maher under fire after making fried chicken joke to black congressman Will Hurd

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/bill-maher-fire-making-fried-chicken-joke-black-congressman-will-hurd-164546263.html

Comedian Bill Maher is under fire after making a comment about fried chicken to a black congressman on a recent episode of his HBO show. On Friday’s edition of Real Time With Bill Maher, the political commentator sat down to interview Will Hurd, a Republican congressman from Texas, who is black. The discussion began when Maher asked about why Hurd is a member of the GOP.

“I’m just asking why you’re Republican. Because they’re not good at the debt, that was their big thing. You said limited government, they don’t do that,” Maher said. “What’s in it for you? What is in the Republican Party for you? You were in the CIA!”

“I was in the CIA for almost a decade. I was the dude in the back alleys at 4 o’clock in the morning collecting intelligence on threats to the homeland,” said Hurd, speaking about his background.

“That’s where they collect them, huh?” said Maher. “By the Popeyes Chicken.”

https://twitter.com/CurtisHouck/status/1091581265327910913

https://twitter.com/jelani9/status/1091672983972864000

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February 1, 2019

Billionaire Activist: AOC Is The Centrist, Not Howard Schultz The Beat With Ari Melber MSNBC

New member of Congress, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is having a huge impact on political discourse and the Democratic party, with several potential Presidential candidates reacting to her and criticizing her economic agenda, including Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, who is considering running as an Independent candidate. Venture Capitalist and entrepreneur, Nick Hanauer, tells Ari Melber that Ocasio-Cortez is advocating “for economic policies that benefit the broad majority of citizens” which is in fact more “