Year: 2013
Greek Success Story: The latest Orwellian Turn of the Greek Crisis
, 22/05/2013
Greece’s Prime Minister recently flew to China, to woo Chinese investors. In his bid to be persuasive, he adopted a radical narrative: Greece is a Success Story. A country that almost perished in 2012 is now on the mend; on the road to stabilisation and growth; a wonderful opportunity, currently, for investors to pick up […]
Monetising the… ECB: The latest insult to be added to Greece’s multiplying injuries
, 20/05/2013
Last week another installment of the cruel theatre of the absurd, also known as the ‘Greek Rescue’ (and more recently re-released as ‘Greece’s success story’), was delivered silently: Not for the first time, the bankrupt Greek state borrowed from one arm of the Eurozone to give to another, with massive interest to boot. To be […]
Confessions of an Erratic Marxist: Keynote speech, Subversive Festival, Zagreb, Croatia – 14th May 2013
, 14/05/2013
To listen (as audio only) to my keynote speech at the 6th Subversive Festival (Kino Europa, Zagreb), 14th May 2013, click CONFESSIONS OF AN ERRATIC MARXIST. For the complete program click here. For the abstract as well as full text of my talk…
Raising Awareness in 60" Video Competition
, 10/05/2013
And now for something quite different: Since our words and arguments are failing to have a serious impact, despite their value and reasonableness, perhaps it is time to resort to the artist’s touch. Vital Space invites all artists to participate in the first of a series of open call competitions in the context of our ‘Raising Awareness’ theme. For our first […]
The Utopia of Democracy: May 12th to 18th in Zagreb
, 08/05/2013
Beginning this coming Sunday 12th May, and lasting all of next week, the 6th Subversive Festival will be held in Zagreb. This year’s general theme is: THE UTOPIA OF DEMOCRACY. Speakers will include Tariq Ali, Oliver Stone, Susan George, Franco Bifo, Alexis Tsipras, Jean Luc Melenchon, Eric O. Wright. Slavoj Zizek and… yours truly. It promises […]
Macroeconomic experiments: Abenomics versus Euro-austerity
, 03/05/2013
The ABC’s (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) online periodical, THE DRUM, commissioned me to write an article comparing and contrasting the policy responses to the Crisis of Japan and of the Eurozone. Click here for the ABC’s website. Or read on below…
Taking stock: May Day video discussion with Unite Solidarity International
, 02/05/2013
The video recording of my discussion with Andrew Brady, of USI, below is for ‘true believers’ only. It is a talk from the heart about the Eurozone Crisis on the day when labour around the world heralds the obligation and asserts the right of working people to demand a re-think of the social relations governing […]
Intransigent Bundesbank: Mr Jens Weidmann’s surreptitious campaign to bring back the (greater) Deutsch Mark
, 27/04/2013
Any fair minded reading of the Bundesbank’s latest Constitutional Court deposition must lead to one of two conclusions: Either the Bundesbank has failed to recognise the existentialist threat to the Eurozone (that was placed in suspended animation during the past eight months or so), or the Bundesbank has intentionally opted for a strategy that will, sooner […]
Bitcoin and the dangerous fantasy of ‘apolitical’ money
, 22/04/2013
The Crash of 2008 has infused our societies with enormous scepticism on the role of the authorities, both government and Central Banks. It is quite natural that many dream of a currency that politicians, bankers and central bankers cannot manipulate; a currency of the people by the people for the people. Bitcoin has emerged as […]
Greek Banksters in Action: On the latest twist in the story of mafia-style terror spreading through the Greek polity
, 19/04/2013
Last November I posted a piece entitled A Small Victory for Press Freedom in Greece’s Struggle against Cleptocracy. That story concerned the courageous decision of Kostas Vaxevanis, one of Greece’s few, valiant investigative reporters, to publish the so-called Lagarde List; the list of Swiss bank account holders that Greece’s political class did its utmost to […]
Germany’s continued dependence on the Eurozone’s stragglers
, 12/04/2013
There is a growing consensus among commentators that Germany is de-coupling from France and from the rest of the Eurozone’s deficit regions. That German industry is turning instead to Asia and the rest of the world (even to Britain) for sources of demand for its net exports. However, the data suggests otherwise. Germany remains perfectly […]
Farewell Mrs Thatcher: In spite of everything, you are being missed already
, 09/04/2013
For the purposes of full disclosure, I write these words as someone who, back in the late ‘70s and throughout the ‘80s, joined countless picket lines and demonstrations against Mrs Thatcher’s regime, shouting on top of his voice (and to the detriment of his vocal chords): “Maggie, Maggie, Maggie, Out, Out, Out!”. Indeed, when I […]
On CBC Radio's 'Writers' Program: Interviewed by Eleanor Wachtel on the Global Minotaur
, 08/04/2013
Over the past few years, I have been interviewed extensively on my views of the Crisis and my writings. Of all these interviews, this is the one that I enjoyed giving the most. Eleanor Wachtel generously afforded me the space to talk about Greece, my parents (and my experiences of growing up in Greece in […]
'Coffee' with the General Secretary of the OECD, discussing the Global Crisis; plus a talk on the Global Crisis
, 30/03/2013
As some of this blog’s regulars may remember, on 1st March 2013, I was invited to meet with the General Secretary of the OECD, Mr Angel Gurria, to exchange views on the global economic crisis and to discuss alternative policies that may help end it. Now, the OECD has produced a brochure capturing these meetings as […]
What should the ESM's role be in stemming the banking crisis? A clarification
, 27/03/2013
I have noticed that a number of commentators have misunderstood my position on the Cyprus debacle and, more generally, on the question of how failed banks ought to be dealt with. As I made clear yesterday, I am all for bailing in the creditors, even the uninsured depositors, of failed banks. In fact I have […]
The Good, the Bad and the Extremely Ugly (aspects of the Cyprus deal)
, 25/03/2013
There are some good features of the Cyprus deal and, of course, some bad aspects. However, its repercussions for the Eurozone as a whole are exceptionally ugly and will, I submit, mark a turning point for Europe; a point at which Europe took a nasty turn toward a set of mutually disagreeable outcomes.
On Cyprus, the Eurozone and the Australian economy: A 30' minute interview by Doug Henwood
, 25/03/2013
Behind the News with Doug Henwood: March 21st 2013
On BBC Radio 4, talking Cyprus
, 23/03/2013
Here is the audio that goes with these thoughts on Cyprus:
While waiting for Cyprus' Godot….
, 23/03/2013
Here are some unedited thoughts I just shared with the BBC’s Radio 4 on Cyprus while we are all waiting for the new deal to shape up: Cyprus’ banking sector must shrink. As did Ireland’s, the hard way. What is essential, as every Irishman and woman will tell you, is that the politicians do not […]
Cyprus Parliament's gift to the Eurozone
, 20/03/2013
By voting down the bailout proposal that would violate the deposit insurance agreement between a member-state of the Eurozone and its citizens (see my earlier post for an analysis), Cyprus parliamentarians offered the Eurozone a reprieve from the stupidest and most potentially destructive Eurogroup decision since this Crisis began three years ago. Europe now has, thanks to […]
On ABC Radio National, discussing Greece's sorry state
, 18/03/2013
Interviewed on ABC Radio National, Saturday Extra, on the state of Greece: 16th March 2013
Cyprus’ Stability Levy: Another sad euphemism (updated on 18th March)
, 17/03/2013
They called it a ‘stability levy’, when they meant a tax on Cypriot depositors (including the savings of poor widows and small children) so that they spare holders of Cypriot government bonds (including hedge funds who are now having a party in Mayfair and New York) as well as minimise potential long-term losses by the […]
Lest we forget: The neglected roots of Europe’s slide to authoritarianism
, 14/03/2013
Europe is being torn apart by a titanic clash between (a) the unstoppable popular rage against misanthropic austerity policies and (b) our elites’ immovable commitment to more austerity. Precisely how this clash will play out no one knows, except of course that the odds do not seem to be on the side of the good. […]