Books
The Minotaur's Global Legacy, Part A: The Dimming Sun
, 03/03/2011
On 25th March, European leaders have promised us a comprehensive solution to the eurozone risis. I am not holding my breath but, at the same time, I am redrafting the Modest Proposal for resolving the crisis. It will appear in this blog next week. In the meantime, I return to my Global Minotaur theme. The […]
The fifth of the Global Minotaur's Handmaidens: Toxic economic theory
, 22/02/2011
The last two posts examined four important contributors to the Global Minotaur: to America’s astonishing pre-2008 capacity to attract financing from the capital surpluses of the rest of the world sufficient for the purposes of funding its expanding twin deficits. They were, in turn, (a) the mergers and acquisitions drive, (b) hedging and leverage, (c) The Wal-Mart business model […]
The Minotaur’s Handmaidens Part B: The Wal-Mart business model and Wall Street’s toxic money
, 18/02/2011
In The Minotaur’s Handmaidens Part A, my last post, I looked at two important contributors to the Global Minotaur: to America’s astonishing pre-2008 capacity to attract financing from the capital surpluses of the rest of the world sufficient for the purposes of funding its expanding twin deficits. These two contributors were, on the one hand, the […]
The Minotaur's Handmaidens Part A: Mergers and take overs, Hedging and Leverage
, 16/02/2011
The last post presented the Global Minotaur as a peculiar, yet powerful, Global Surplus Recycling Mechanism (GSRM). Now, I move on to a discussion of the various submechanisms by which the US twin deficits managed to attract financing from the capital surpluses of the rest of the world so that this strange GSRM could operate […]
The Global Minotaur as a most peculiar Global Surplus Recycling Mechanism
, 15/02/2011
Continuing with the story of the Global Minotaur, today’s post looks at it as a most peculiar Global Surplus Recycling Mechanism .(to get up to speed on what this mechanism might be all about, click here) Following the collapse of the Global Plan in 1971, by the end of the 1970s America’s twin deficits had started […]
The Global Minotaur is finished…
, 01/02/2011
Regulars of this blog will know that 31st January 2011 was my deadline for finishing my new book, THE GLOBAL MINOTAUR: America, the True Oirigns of the Financial Crisis, and the Future of the World Economy. Well, I missed my deadline. By two hours and thirty six minutes! As deadline misses come, it was not […]
So, why did the Crash of 2008 happen? A first glimpse of the Global Minotaur
, 15/01/2011
Regular visitors will know that these days I am deeply immersed in the writing of a book about the Crash of 2008 and its after math. One that will bear the title THE GLOBAL MINOTAUR: America, the True Origins of the Financial Crisis and the Future of the World Economy. Well, I just finished a […]
Two challenges to the Modest Proposal Redux
, 14/01/2011
Soon after posting the 2011 version of the Modest Proposal, I received two repudiations: One from a convivial ex banker (whose views have appeared on this blog before) and one from my comrade-in-arms, George Krimpas. Their objections are important and this is why I am posting them here, along with my answers.
The Modest Proposal Redux (a new version for the turbulent 2011)
, 11/01/2011
As the euro crisis will enter its final stages in 2011, and the debate on how to end it will heat up, I thought it important to update the Modest Proposal, in preparation for the debates to come. Click here for a copy. The main difference from the last version concerns the first step: Rather […]
Two New Initiatives for 2011: vitalspace.org and 'The Global Minotaur'
, 03/01/2011
This blog began life a few months ago in response to the European crisis and with a view to campaigning in favour of our Modest Proposal. The New Year comes with a renewed commitment to the Modest Proposal but also with two new initiatives. The first new initiative is called vitalspace.org; a joint project with […]
The Modest Proposal and the Juncker-Tremonti Plan: A comparison
, 14/12/2010
France and Germany have ensured that this week’s European Council will not debate the Juncker-Tremonti plan for addressing the current euro crisis by covering part of existing sovereign debt by issuing eurobonds. Nevertheless rumours of the plan’s death are premature overstated. France and Germany know well that something along the JT plan is unavoidable, if […]
The Modest Proposal fully adopted by Europe’s Trades Union Council. And backed, in part, by Jean Claude Juncker in the FT
, 06/12/2010
In the past few days, our Modest Proposal for the resolution of the euro crisis seems to have made headway on two separate, quite disparate, fronts. On Wednesday 2nd December, the European Trades Unions Council (the confederation of Europe’s trades unions) endorsed it fully and unequivocally in its Agenda Item 5c which came under the […]
The Modest Proposal for the Euro in Greek
, 18/11/2010
Πατήστε εδώ και εδώ (σε δύο δόσεις) για την ελληνική έκδοση της Πρότασής μας για έξοδο της ευρωζώνης από την Κρίση, την οποία στα αγγλικά την αποκαλούμε A Modest Proposal. Ακόμα παρακάτω παραθέτω το κείμενο πρόσφατης ομιλίας μου με παρόμοιο θέμα: Ομιλία Γιάνη Βαρουφάκη στην Εκδήλωση της Επιστημονικής Ένωσης Δικηγόρων, Παρασκευή 26η Νοεμβρίου 2010, Πνευματικό Κέντρο […]
The Modest Proposal for the Euro
, 16/11/2010
A two-part plan for overcoming the eurozone’s crisis, re-designing its crumbling architecture, and reinvigorating the European Project (jointly authored with Stuart Holland, ex Member of Parliament in the UK, a former advisor to Jacques Delors and, currently, Visiting Professor at Coimbra University, Portugal)