Ben Bernanke, chairman of the US Federal Reserve, should be applauded for boldly putting employment over price stability in his latest move to keep interest rates low and to purchase mortgage-backed securities. Bernanke’s critics (and Bernanke himself) have rightly said that monetary policy is not enough, however. To truly generate employment-led growth in the US, those critics say more fiscal policy is needed.
Let's Not Get 'Carried Away' by Ben Bernanke's Latest Twist
Ben Bernanke, chairman of the US Federal Reserve, should be applauded for boldly putting employment over price stability in his latest move to keep interest rates low and to purchase mortgage-backed securities. Bernanke’s critics (and Bernanke himself) have rightly said that monetary policy is not enough, however. To truly generate employment-led growth in the US, those critics say more fiscal policy is needed.
Occupy Roundup: A Global Movement Turns One
Eli Epstein-Deutsch, Triple Crisis Assistant Editor
This September 17th, a flurry of actions and gatherings in and around Zuccotti Park marked the anniversary of the beginning of the Occupy Wall Street protest, which gripped the media last fall and sparked copycat encampments and marches across the world. What this all means depends on who you ask. To its critics, including Andrew Ross Sorkin at the New York Times, OWS is but a passing craze that has proved itself to be an empty suit (or an empty Guy Fawkes mask).
Mostly, he points to its lack of concrete policy accomplishments in the United States, though it has undeniably had a significant effect on the national discourse (even Mitt Romney paid lip service to the “99%.”) Moreover, “Occupy” has spread far beyond the bounds of the United States, influencing and framing politics internationally, from Madrid to Seoul to Rio. Encampments in Frankfurt and Hong Kong, indeed, long outlasted their Anglophone counterparts, only to be dismantled in the last few months. It seems clear to us that much of the global Occupy story remains to be written…
Economic Prospects: Getting Real on Jobs and the Environment
Robert Pollin, Guest Blogger
President Obama’s 2009 economic stimulus program—the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)—represented a dramatic forward advance on the issue of jobs and the environment. The ARRA included roughly $100 billion in clean energy investments as part of the overall $787 billion two-year measure. The ARRA also embraced the concept that green investments could serve as a significant new engine of job opportunities throughout the economy. This idea directly contradicted the long-dominant view that the goals of environmental sustainability and job creation were inevitably and painfully at odds.
India's supermarket move shows its tired government has run out of ideas
Allowing foreign chains such as Tesco to open in India will drive up unemployment and exploit small producers.
India’s ruling coalition has been rocked after its second-largest partner withdrew this week. The latest round of political instability comes about because prime minister Manmohan Singh announced a number of economic measures without consulting his allies. The announcements – that diesel prices were to be raised, and that India’s retail and domestic aviation sectors were to be opened up to overseas companies such as Tesco – were the government’s attempt to woo back foreign investors who had become cynical about India’s growth prospects.
India’s supermarket move shows its tired government has run out of ideas
Allowing foreign chains such as Tesco to open in India will drive up unemployment and exploit small producers.
India’s ruling coalition has been rocked after its second-largest partner withdrew this week. The latest round of political instability comes about because prime minister Manmohan Singh announced a number of economic measures without consulting his allies. The announcements – that diesel prices were to be raised, and that India’s retail and domestic aviation sectors were to be opened up to overseas companies such as Tesco – were the government’s attempt to woo back foreign investors who had become cynical about India’s growth prospects.
Africa can win the fight against poverty if it can keep its resources onshore
The growth surge observed in Africa before the global financial crisis (about 6 percent real GDP growth rate during 2001-2008) and its resilience during the crisis (2.8 percent growth) continue to nurture optimism with regard to the continent’s future economic prospects. These developments feed hopes that ‘Yes, Africa can’[1] win the war against poverty, hunger, and deprivation.
Indeed, at the continental level, there has been a steady decline of the poverty headcount from 59% in 1994 to 48% in 2008. However, the long-term gains in poverty reduction appear modest, with only a 3 percentage point drop over 3 decades from 1981 to 2008.[2] But most importantly, even as the poverty headcount declined, the absolute number of the poor has increased steadily from 205 million to 386 million during this period, in contrast to Asia where the poverty headcount and the number of the poor have declined simultaneously. Thus for Africa the glass is half-full or half-empty depending on the observer’s degree of optimism.
Obamacare a boon after all
Lo and behold, Mitt Romney says he will now support parts of the Affordable Care Act, which the Republicans disdainfully call Obamacare. The Financial Times called it a u-turn. My prediction is that the word Obamacare will conjure up the same positive connotations as Medicare now does.
Developing countries: from the “de-coupling thesis” to victims of the global crisis
It wasn’t so long ago that the “decoupling” thesis took hold: i.e., that developing countries had de-coupled their economies from the advanced countries, and were growing at far higher rates.
The (silent) accompanying tune was that these emerging and poor countries no longer need assistance from the rich nations, which had become the new laggards of the global economy.
When the 2008-2010 financial crisis hit, it was obvious that de-coupling did not hold, as developing countries experienced plunging exports, decline in commodity prices, lowered GNP rates and some poorer ones wobbled on the brink of new debt crises.
Featured Event: A National Teach-in and Press Conference on Economic Inequality
All day today, noted economists including Triple Crisis Blogger Jeff Madrick, Michael Hudson, Dean Baker and more are holding a live webinar called “Solutions to America’s Critical Inequality Crisis.” The conference was organized as part of the action events surrounding the first anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street protests, which sounded the alarm regarding growing economic injustice inside and outside the United States. The panelists will discuss both the causes of rising economic inequality and policies that could help mitigate it.
Audiences anywhere in the world can register online to join the conference call and ask questions to directly to the scholars by clicking here:
http://myaccount.maestroconference.com/conference/register/EU2CN2XB458KHF
Or go to http://ows20.nycga.net/ for more information.
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