Fuck Austerity, Time for a JIG
Whenever somebody on the street asks me for spare change, which seems to be happening a lot lately, it reminds me of the song Coin Laundry by Lisa Mitchell. Your mileage may vary, but I think it is...
View ArticleLast Refuge of the Scoundrels
When all else fails, give it a Nobel Peace Prize. I hear the Greek and Spanish youth are singing, "All we are saying, is give EU a chance." What a sick joke. (Yes, as usual, I'm late on the news. …...
View Article2013 New Year's Resolutions
To make resolutions – let alone follow them – takes derring do, and has never been attempted here at heteconomist. Perhaps it will never be re-attempted. But, what the heck, we only live once, at least...
View ArticleI'm Not One For "Family Values", But …
When I was young and heard politicians extol the virtues of "family values" and blame a decline in them on moral atrophy, I wondered how they couldn't see that it was their economic policies, with...
View ArticleMore Disconcerting Shrinkage
Liars in prominent positions have made big claims for "contractionary expansion". We are supposed to believe that if the government cuts back expenditure on education, healthcare and public services,...
View ArticleMMT Too Hot to Handle for Bulgaria's Mainstream Newspapers
Living in a country in which 70 percent of print journalists are owned by Rupert Murdoch's evil empire, and many of the rest someday hope to be, my expectations of the "news" media are low. Even so, it...
View ArticleA Return to the Dark Ages
It doesn't matter what shade of authoritarianism the 0.1% cloak themselves in, they have always wanted the same thing: a return to the Dark Ages. Liberal education, open inquiry, transparency, freedom...
View ArticleThree Ideas Threatening to Orthodoxy
Neoclassical economics, which remains the prevailing orthodoxy, emerged in the late nineteenth century as apologetics in the context of rising working-class opposition to capitalism. Classical...
View ArticleWhy Neoliberals Pretend Private Debt Doesn't Matter and Public "Debt" Does
The neoliberal policy approach in the decades leading up to the crisis basically amounted to enticing or pushing people into increasing levels of private debt. With private debt burdens mounting in...
View ArticleLet's Not Beat Ourselves Up: We're Just in the Minority
The news of one of neoliberalism's champions kicking the bucket has eventually trickled down to heteconomist land. Few keystrokes will be wasted here on that score other than to lament that she did not...
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There Would Be No Capitalism Without the State
Often, in trying to get at the “essentials” of how a capitalist economy functions, we consider a simplified model of a closed economy without government. Through such models it is possible to make the...
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Maybe It’s Just That Most People Are Really Quite Right Wing
[Preface. If this post seems confused, it reflects my own confusion. If at times it seems pessimistic, it reflects a sense of pessimism that not often, but occasionally, afflicts me. If its conclusion...
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Syriza – A Sign of Life on the Left
I’ve been reticent to offer thoughts on Syriza’s victory in the Greek elections. Quite simply, there are many others who, knowing much more about the institutional, legislative and cultural realities,...
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We’re Wealthier Now, We Can’t Afford That Anymore
Have you noticed how things we used to be able to do are beyond our capabilities now? We finally reached a point where we were able to provide free university education. Then we grew wealthier, and...
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Unfulfilled Potential
A monetarily sovereign government is one that issues its own currency and is the currency’s sole issuer. Ideally, it allows the currency’s value to float in relation to other currencies in foreign...
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More Disconcerting Shrinkage
Liars in prominent positions have made big claims for “contractionary expansion”. We are supposed to believe that if the government cuts back expenditure on education, healthcare and public services,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
I’m Not One For “Family Values”, But …
When I was young and heard politicians extol the virtues of “family values” and blame a decline in them on moral atrophy, I wondered how they couldn’t see that it was their economic policies, with...
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