DiEM25
NEVER BAILED OUT: Europe's ants and grasshoppers revisited
, 15/12/2011
A new take on Aesop’s tale, tailor-made for our ‘European Moment in History’, at a time when Europe’s collapse is being guaranteed by the dominance of the wrong narrative. What follows is an attempt at an alternative take; one that is more in tune with a decent future for Europe.
No plan for either Europe or Greece: Guest post by Jerry Goldstein
, 13/12/2011
In the interests of fostering dialogue on the issues that matter, I welcome today’s blog entry from long time contributor (and regular critic of my scribblings) Jerry Goldstein. Jerry has a strong background in banking but, and this is highly pertinent, spends most of his time in Athens.
The Modest Proposal in France (plus a supportive article in the Irish Times)
, 13/12/2011
The Modest Proposal can now be read in French (click Une modeste proposition pour surmonter la crise de l’euro), courtesy of Aurore Lalucq of the Veblen Institute (www.veblen-institute.org ). [Here is a recent mention in Le Monde.] And while we are at it, Fintan O’Toole has recently canvassed for the Modest Proposal in an article […]
What the ECB ought to be doing now so as to end the Crisis without Treaty changes, debt buybacks, haircuts or fiscal transfers
, 10/12/2011
In reply to the “Critique on the Modest Proposal” by Andreas Koutras[1] If you think that the Euro-17 Treaty change agreed yesterday will help overcome the eurozone’s Crisis, read no further. If, however, you think that the solution lies not in Treaty changes, but requires other means, including an active role to be played by […]
The essence of the New Eurozone, as envisaged by the latest Treaty Change. Guest post by Joseph Halevi
, 09/12/2011
My good friend, co-author and interlocutor extraordinaire, Joseph Halevi, spends half the year in a small town on the shores of an Italian lake. Upon hearing of the latest Treaty changes to which the euro 17 nations agreed today, he sent me the following message. I can think of no better or more analytically astute […]
The Modest Proposal in the European Parliament: Varoufakis and Holland, on video, presenting
, 08/12/2011
On Thursday 1st December, Stuart Holland and I presented our Modest Proposal to members of the European Parliament. Here is a compilation of one of our presentations – the one featured was hosted by the EU Parliament’s Left Caucus. (While I believe that the eurozone is probably incapable of adopting a rational solution package, like […]
Two eurocrisis guest posts: Diagnosis (by Jan Toporowski) and cure (by Stuart Holland)
, 06/12/2011
While preparing for my tak at the LSE, organised by the Hellenic Observatory, I thought you may be interested in two guest posts. One is by Jan Toporowski (on the deeper causes of the eurozone crisis) and another by Stuart Holland (in which the author draws the parallel between the essence of our Modest Proposal […]
Of Debts and Denial: The Crisis in the context of the post-2008 world – Presentation at the LSE on Tuesday 6th December
, 02/12/2011
In London next Tuesday? Perhaps you may want to come along to this talk. I shall be using the occassion to make the basic claims that: The eurozone, in its original/present form, could never survive the shock of the Crash of 2008, Greece was just as much of a problem for the eurozone as Germany […]
Eurobonds that can work now! A critique of the European Commission’s Green Paper on ‘Stability’ Bonds, by Stuart Holland
, 30/11/2011
Today, Stuart Hoilland and I are in Brussels to talk with euro-MPs about our Modest Proposal. My simple brief is to impress upon them that, at the eleventh hour, ECB-bonds are sine qua non for saving the euro-system. We need, in short, a simple and boring common bond that is guaranteed solely by the only […]
Abandoning a sinking ship? A plan for leaving the euro
, 27/11/2011
As regulars of this blog know, I am of the view that the eurozone’s collapse will be a harbinger of a postmodern 1930s. While virulently opposed to the eurozone’s creation, in its time of crisis I have been campaigning for saving the euro. Of course, as Alain Parguez wrote aptly here, it is impossible to […]
A fresh proposal for escaping the euro crisis. Guest post by Alain Parguez
, 25/11/2011
The following proposal is due to Alain Parguez, Emeritus Professor of Economics, University of Franche-Comté, Besançon-France ( www.neties.com/parguez ). Professor Parguez has been a longstanding critique of European Union affairs. His incisive critique of the eurozone’s architecture predates by many years the current Crisis. Always fascinated by his views , I am grateful for the […]
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 […]