The economic crisis that Obama rode to victory in 2008 also rode him down in the 2010 elections. Obama and his economic advisors badly “mismanaged the crisis.” While the Obama team seems to have learned little from its failure, we need to draw its lessons if we are to reduce the costly social consequences of […]
Geography Archives: Americas
South America, Central America, United States & Canada
Morales Laments Exclusion of His Proposal from Cancún Summit
Bolivian President Evo Morales lamented this Friday that his proposal as well as that of Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez, calling on the rich countries to halve their greenhouse gas emissions, has not been welcomed into the Cancún Summit on climate change to be held next week. Morales indicated at a press conference that the petitions […]
Currency War and US Imperialism: Interview with Samir Amin
There has been much publicity about the so-called “currency war” arising from the discussions at the recent G20 meeting. Can you explain what is meant by currency war? The discourse, the rhetoric, on the currency war is very superficial and even misleading. As everybody knows, what is being said is that the Chinese yuan is […]
Gates’ False Iran Premise: Sanctions Will Not Sow Internal Discord and Change Iran’s Nuclear Calculations
Since returning to government service to take up his current position, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has been a sober skeptic about the wisdom of military strikes against Iranian nuclear targets — under President Obama as well as under President George W. Bush, and regardless of whether such strikes would be carried out by the […]
Squeezing Iran: The European Connection
Negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program are due to start again shortly, and once again the European Union is called upon as a “mediator.” This is no minor challenge. With Iran insisting on discussing Israel’s nuclear capacity and the United States preparing a tougher uranium swap agreement, a deal seems as far away as ever. Nevertheless, […]
Ireland Should Study the Lessons of Argentina
When a firefighter or medical team make a rescue, the person is usually better off as a result. This is less clear when the rescuer is the European Central Bank (ECB) or the IMF. Ireland is currently experiencing a 14.1 percent unemployment rate. As a result of bailout conditions that will require more cuts in […]
“Keep Negotiating Firmly with Private Creditors”
Some time before the offer [at the meetings with the IMF and the WB in Dubai on 22 September 2003], [Argentine Economy Minister Roberto] Lavagna was already preparing the ground: he realized that after the offer “there are going to be sad faces everywhere.” And indeed the first reaction of the creditors was rejection. […]
Haircuts: Estimating Investor Losses in Sovereign Debt Restructurings, 1998-2005
Table 14 summarizes the main technical characteristics of the debt restructurings studied in this paper: the size of the exchange, the participation rate, the numbers of instruments tendered and new instruments issued, the options available to investors, etc. Table 15 contains the main results, both in terms of the level and dispersion of NPV […]
Noam Chomsky on Hopes and Prospects for Activism: “We Can Achieve a Lot”
Acclaimed philosopher and activist Noam Chomsky is Institute Professor Emeritus of Linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He shared his perspectives on international affairs, economics, and other themes in an interview conducted at his office in Boston on September 14, 2010. Keane Bhatt: Your new book Hopes and Prospects begins with the story of […]
China’s Export Conundrum
In 2009, the European Union, United States and Mexico filed a complaint with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) against China’s export restrictions on certain raw materials, including bauxite, coke, fluorspar, silicon carbide and zinc. They said that, firstly, these constraints — in the form of export taxes, quotas, licences and so on — caused […]
Who Benefits from Deflation?
Paul Jay: So if you’ve got more or less zero percent inflation and you’re getting 3 percent on your bond, you’re making 3 percent. But if inflation’s 3 percent and you’re getting 3 percent on your bond, you’re down to zero. Now, the Fed is saying that we can do this quantitative easing, increasing […]
European Authorities Pushing Ireland Down the Wrong Track
As another one of the so-called “PIIGS” countries is being led to the slaughterhouse, it is worth asking whether all the carnage advocated by the European authorities is really necessary. Ireland is in its third year of recession and income per person has already declined by more than 20 percent since 2007. Unemployment has more […]
Cuba’s Economic Reform: Interview with Oscar Martínez
Oscar Martínez is Deputy Head of the International Relations Department of the Cuban Communist Party. This interview was conducted during the South African Communist Party visit to Cuba this month. What is the nature of the economic problems Cuba is currently experiencing? In the context of our other problems, the US economic and financial […]
Excerpts from FAO’s Food Outlook (November 2010)
International prices of most agricultural commodities have increased in recent months, some sharply. The FAO Food Price index has gained 34 points since the previous Food Outlook report in June, averaging 197 points in October, only 16 points short from its peak in June 2008. The upward movements of prices were connected with several factors, […]
Core Inflation Virtually Flat since July
The Consumer Price Index rose 0.2 percent in October as the inflation in the price of energy rebounded to 2.6 percent in the month. The overall price of core consumer goods and services remained virtually flat for the third consecutive month. Over that time, the core rate of inflation has been only 0.2 percent, annualized. […]
Haiti: A Seismic Election
Juliana Ruhfus: In these elections Haitians actually have a choice between no less than 19 different presidential candidates. . . . Haiti’s political history has been one of revolt, dictatorship, and violence. . . . Democracy arrived in the country in 1990, with the election of the priest Jean-Bertrand Aristide. But, over the following […]
The Value of Money
Paul Jay: On November 7, the president of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick, issued a statement calling for the reintroduction of some form of gold standard to establish the value of money. Why now? . . . Is Robert Zoellick’s proposal grasping at straws? Jane D’Arista: Well, what you’re saying is quite right. The […]
The Gains from Trade: South American Economic Integration and the Resolution of Conflict
It has long been argued that expanding commercial relations between countries acts as an incentive for nations to avoid hostilities up to and including armed conflict. Indeed this was a major impetus behind the economic integration of Europe1 after World War II, which led to the European Union and more recently the currency union of […]
Can We Afford Cost-Saving Efficiency?
So there are no technological fixes [to the environmental problem caused by increasing consumption] in sight? I’ve gone on from the basic footprint concept to demonstrate a couple of other interesting spin-offs. The assumption seems to be, in the mainstream, that improved technology, improved material and energy efficiency will help to solve this problem. […]
David Brooks’ Apocalypse
“Elections come and go, but the United States is still careening toward bankruptcy. By 2020, the U.S. will be spending $1 trillion a year just to pay the interest on the national debt. Sometime between now and then the catastrophe will come. It will come with amazing swiftness. The bond markets are with you until […]
