European Crisis
A sadly apt poem for Europe's current course…
, 24/11/2011
Who is in charge of the clattering train The axles creak and the couplings strain The pace is hot and the points are near Sleep has deadened the driver’s ear And the signals flash in the night in vain For Death is in charge of the clattering train. [From an old, yellowing copy of Punch […]
End the European Blame Game! Keynote at the British Foreign Press Association's 2011 Awards Night
, 24/11/2011
The Foreign Press Association, London, paid me the compliment of inviting me to deliver a keynote speech at its 2011 Annual Awards Night. Here is the text of my talk (kindly transcribed by a journalist that wishes to remain anonymous).
On The Euro’s Fading Future: In conversation with Henry Farrell (with a reference to the ill fated Baroso eurobond proposals)
, 24/11/2011
In this video conversation with Henry Farrell (Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at George Washington University) we are discussing the euro crisis. Note that at around the 20th minute of the discussion I explain why, in my opinion, Baroso’s eurobond proposal is dead in the water. I argue that Baroso’s European Commission is desperately […]
The Euro Crisis Conference videos are now available (University of Texas, 3rd and 4th Nov.)
, 22/11/2011
James Galbraith was the unstoppable force behind the Crisis in the Eurozone Conference that took place at the Lyndon B. Johnson Graduate School fo Government, University of Texas, on 3rd and 4th November. (Click here for the program.) My great regret is that such a magnificent conference could never be held in… Europe. For Europe […]
The Brussels Eurocracy is embracing eurobonds. But they seem determined to hold the wrong end of the stick
, 20/11/2011
Only yesterday, La Stampa (Turin’s daily newspaper) reported that Brussels is contemplating three possibilities regarding Eurobonds. The paper is quoting from the so-called Green Book on the Feasibility of Stability Bonds: (1) complete transfer of national treasury bonds to a European agency with joint guarantees (EU and member states) (2) Blue vs Red bonds, with […]
A simple and boring common bond
, 17/11/2011
On Europe’s last chance, Wolgang Munchhau’s error and the urgent need for ECB-bonds: Our euro-chickens are coming home to roost. Europe has only one last chance to reverse the eurozone’s disintegration: It must issue a new form of euro-denominated bond which will: (a) arrest the ‘popcorn effect’ (a much better term than the domino effect) that […]
On the US, European and Greek Crisis: A double act with Rick Wolff at the Brecht Forum
, 17/11/2011
On 8th November 2011, Rick Wolff invited me to a double act at the Brecht Forum (downtown NYC). Our topic: Rick gave a brilliant wrap up of the recent developments on the US Crisis front. My brief was to start with Greece before discussing more broadly the European debacle. Afterwards Costas Panayotakis commented on my […]
"The crisis in the eurozone" by James K. Galbraith
, 14/11/2011
The continent is destroying the weak to protect the strong. But will that be enough? Click here
Why is the euro at the end of its tether? When did the rot set in?
, 14/11/2011
Interviewed by Doug Henwood in New York. 11th November 2011. Click here.
On the Brussels' Agreement: Europe's Reverse Alchemy in full throttle
, 11/11/2011
The official unveiling of a systemic crisis One knows that there is something rotten in the world economy when the fate of a Greek PM makes headlines all over the world and for a whole week. Greece is not, and ought not to be, that important. But Italy is. And so is, from a global […]
The Euro, Greece, the World Economy: Part B, a debate with Colin Bradford and Mattias Matthijs. (Canadian Public TV)
, 09/11/2011
Here comes the second part of my hour long interview-debate on the Crisis. Not only did Steve Paikin prove an excellent, well read, internviewer but, to boot, I had the pleasure and honour of debating, in the program’s second part, with Colin Bradford (Brookings Institute and Project Leader of Brookings-CIGI Global Governance Reform Project) and Mattias […]
The Euro, Greece, the World Economy: Part A of an hour long interview on 'The Agenda' with Steve Paikin (Canadian Public TV)
, 09/11/2011
The Agenda with Steve Paikin, an in-depth current affairs program on Canadian public TV, kindly afforded me an hour long interview on all aspects of the Crisis (Greece, euro, global).
The Global Minotaur: Book launch at the University of Columbia, today – with Alan Beattie, Justin Fox and Mark Mazower
, 09/11/2011
An event-discussion on my new book will take place today at Columbia University under the title: The Global Minotaur: The Crash of 2008 and the Euro-Zone Crisis in Historical Perspective. The meeting has been organised by Professor Mark Mazower, Director of the Heyman Center at Columbia, who will chair the proceedings. Alongside him, I shall be [...]Discussing the Global-European-cum-Greek-cum-Global Crisis at the Brecht Forum, NY. Tonight at 19.30
, 08/11/2011
Tonight, I shall have the pleasure of being an invitee of Professor Rick Wolff. If you are in Manhattan, please join us. Rick (the author of Capitalism Hits the Fan: The global economic meltdown and what to do about it, Northampton, Mass.: Olive Branch Press, 2010) presents a monthly series at the Brecht Forum (see below for […]
The Modest Proposal in Toronto. Today, Monday 7th November, 16.00
, 07/11/2011
7th November, University of Toronto: Invited to speak on The Euro and the European Crisis by the Munk School of Global Affairs at Toronto University. The advertisement states: “As the eurozone crisis is unfolding, threatening in the process to infect the global economy, the debate currently raging in Europe (on how to tackle the cascading defaults and insolvencies) […]
From a Referendum not called to the reinforcement of a dangerous illusion
, 06/11/2011
After the Referendum Call turned out to be a cheap trick by the Greek PM, Papandreou promised to do a Jeanne D’ Arc (i.e. to sacrifice himself to save the nation) before trying to pull a Hosni Mubarak (i.e. “Allow me to remain in power in order to usher in the next regime”). With all […]
Want to follow the U of Texas Conference on the Euro Crisis and the Modest Proposal?
, 03/11/2011
While awaiting the news from Athens on the shape of the new government, why not tune in to the ‘Crisis in the Eurozone‘ conference. It promises to be interesting and to do what Europe is not particularly good at: To delve into the deeper causes of the Crisis and discuss real, not fictitious, solutions. Click […]
Time to resign Mr Papandreou
, 02/11/2011
Last week, the European Union Council agreed on a set of policies for tackling the euro crisis. It was hoped that the new agreement (hereafter referred to as the October Agreement) would be a decisive step toward resolving a slow burning crisis that threatened to derail the euro, plunge the EU itself into a process [...]The Modest Proposal in Toronto. Today, Monday 7th November, 16.00
, 01/11/2011
7th November, University of Toronto: Invited to speak on The Euro and the European Crisis by the Munk School of Global Affairs at Toronto University. The advertisement states: “As the eurozone crisis is unfolding, threatening in the process to infect the global economy, the debate currently raging in Europe (on how to tackle the cascading defaults and insolvencies) […]
The Modest Proposal in N. America: First stop Austin, Texas
, 01/11/2011
For the next fortnight, posting will be intermittent and a little sparse. This is because I shall be on the road, on a lecture tour that will begin in Austin, move to Toronto and end up in New York. For details, see here. For now, I shall leave Greece safe in the thought that our […]
CDS buyers, feminists and Marx: Odd bedfellows in the era of the euro crisis
, 29/10/2011
“Here is our offer: Accept a 50% haircut on your Greek bonds. If you choose not to consent, and it is your prerogative not to, we shall give the green light to Greece to declare a 100% default.” This was in essence the deal that Mr Dallara accepted in the wee hours of the morning on […]
A leveraged EFSF or an ECB-brokered debt conversion? Europe's recent scheme for resolving the crisis versus our Modest Proposal
, 29/10/2011
In my recent ABC TV interview I suggested that the latest euro agreement (announced on 27th October 2011) was a triumph of Orwellian double-speak. They created discord and they called it agreement. In this post I want to unpick a crucial repercussion of this latest piece of euro-fraud.
Europe's newest Orwellian moment: On ABC TV's Lateline discussing the latest plan to save the euro
, 28/10/2011
The ABC’s Lateline (Australia’s flagship news and current affairs evening tv program) afforded me the opportunity to delve into the details (or lack thereof) of the latest European effort to combat the euro crisis. For the transcript and video (kindly provided by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation)…
Another emblematic EU non-event: A first reaction to the latest EU 'agreement'
, 27/10/2011
With the din of the debate on what the new EU anti-Crisis ‘agreement’ means in our ears, and after a long night of anxious observation of our leaders’ deliberations, it is terribly easy to lose sight of the only truth about this new twist in the euro crisis saga: There has been no agreement to […]