A small but moving episode marked the regular annual meeting of the German organization Fighters and Friends of the Spanish Republic 1936-1939 (Kämpfer und Freunde der Spanischen Republik 1936-1939). It was the first such meeting without a single veteran; the last volunteer in Germany, Fritz Teppich, died last winter, and none of the tiny, decreasing […]
Geography Archives: Ireland
More Than Conquerors (Montserrat’s 50th — A Modest Proposal to the Tourist Board)
(For Justin Hero Cassell) I heard a foolish man say the other day that everything of interest on the island of Montserrat can be seen in two days. I kept my own counsel and did not talk of either his mother or his lineage. But the truth is this, friend: It takes a week at […]
Euro Exit? Interview with Economist Alberto Montero Soler
Alberto Montero Soler: First of all, I have to say that those effects would only manifest themselves in the medium term. To propose an exit from the euro as an immediate solution to the deterioration of living conditions of people would mean to deceive them. We are at a crossroads where peripheral economies can only […]
Impoverishing Europe
The crisis is not relinquishing its grip on Europe. From autumn 2008 to early 2009 the world market experienced the deepest slump in economic output since the Second World War. This is a global crisis. Even in emerging economies like China, Brazil, or India economic growth declined and could not compensate for the recession […]
Argentina and the Magic Soybean: The Commodity Export Boom That Wasn’t
One of the great myths about the Argentine economy that is repeated nearly every day is that the rapid growth of the Argentine economy during the past decade has been a “commodity export boom.” For example, the New York Times reported last week: Riding an export boom for commodities like soybeans, Argentina’s economy grew at […]
Not Quite “Ordinary Human Beings” — Anti-Imperialism and the Anti-Humanist Rhetoric of Gilad Atzmon
Attempting to latch onto the just, vital, and growing movement in support of the Palestinian national liberation struggle, Gilad Atzmon is one of a very small and unrepresentative group of writers who have argued (in agreement with many Zionists) that there is no meaningful distinction to be made between Jews in general and Israeli atrocities. […]
Wall Street, Small Business, and the Limits of Corporate Personhood: An Interview with Doug Henwood
Sasha Lilley: Protests against Wall Street have inspired many people to move their money from big banks to smaller banks and credit unions and encourage others to do the same. Why might you be skeptical of this effort? Doug Henwood: There are several reasons. First of all, I think a lot of the big banks […]
Social Democracy’s Great Error: Similarities Between the Schröder and Zapatero Administrations
In circles close to the former Zapatero administration, attempts have been made to represent former Prime Minister Zapatero as the politician who “sacrificed himself to save Spain,” comparing him to former German Chancellor Schröder who, though aware that he would antagonize his electoral base with his clearly neoliberal policies, went ahead with them, for he […]
Tough on Euros, Weak on Nazis
Hurray! Merkel won the day! It took a long night of backroom bargaining, but except for that Tory, David Cameron, all European Union members agreed to save the euro, save the economy, save the world! It had been on the brink of disaster, Sarkozy warned on the eve of the meeting: unless we reach agreement […]
Ireland: Whatever You Do, Don’t Get Sick, Don’t Get Old, and Don’t Be Young
On December 6th, 2011, the Irish government announced a new and harsh austerity plan through a tight budget. The annual budget, now stripped of a regular rise in social welfare payments, is part of a dreaded aspect of living in 21st century Ireland, a country plagued by a seemingly incurable economic depression. Cuts were made […]
Debunking the Greek (and European) Crisis Narrative
In a recent debate the candidates for the Republican presidential nomination treated cutting the deficit as the panacea that would address the European crisis and prevent the United States from having a similar fate. This diagnosis is wrong but it is unfortunately not unique to the Republicans in this country. In fact, it is this […]
Occupy Wall Street: An Opening to Worker-Occupation of Factories and Enterprises in the U.S.
The Social Economy Context The Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement has clearly expressed the hopes and great potentialities of the working class both in the U.S. and globally. The 99 percent are speaking up and saying that they will no longer do the bidding of the 1 percent. In essence it is the revolt […]
The Irish Presidential Election
The Irish presidency is a peculiar thing. For an almost powerless political position, the presidential election is usually quite a hard fought one. The presidency is nothing more than a ceremonial office for whoever gets it, but the upside to it is that they get to live rent-free for seven years in a big house […]
Can BRICS Help Europe?
Last week Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega proposed that the BRICS countries offer help to Europe, either through the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or by buying up European bonds. I can understand the sentiment: The European authorities have created a financial crisis that is already slowing the world economy and could potentially have even worse […]
Elections in Bahrain: The Latest Ruse to Feign Democratic Change and Cover Up Continuing Repression
Elections held in Bahrain over the weekend are the latest ruse by the regime to feign democratic change. While the charade of ballot box rituals is taking place, the trial of health workers expected to appear in court this week is a fresh reminder that repression in the kingdom is far from over. It […]
What Sent the Stock Market Tumbling? It Wasn’t the S&P Downgrade
Time to beat up on really, really bad news reporting. The stock market doesn’t tell people why it does what it does. We have commentators who bloviate on what they think caused the market to rise or fall, but they don’t really know and they could be completely wrong. That is why it was incredibly […]
The Struggle against Stupidity: European and U.S. Governments Continue Wrecking Their Economies
All money managers’ eyes were on the U.S. jobs report this morning after the U.S. stock market yesterday suffered its biggest drop since 2009 and panic surged through financial markets worldwide. The headline numbers were not as bad as many had feared: the U.S. economy added 117,000 jobs in July and the unemployment rate edged […]
Sense and Nonsense in the Balanced Budget Debate: A Socialist Response
The Republicans have successfully changed the main emphasis of the economic debate from job creation to deficit control. Why the urgency for balanced budgets? After all, this anemic “recovery” has set itself apart from all previous post-war turnarounds precisely by its manifest failure to generate jobs. Economic growth needs to considerably exceed 3% per […]
Jamaica Remains Buried Under a Mountain of Debt, Despite Restructuring
As the eurozone authorities move closer to accepting the inevitable Greek debt default/restructuring, there are some who have pointed to the Jamaican debt restructuring of last year as a model. It’s hard to imagine a worse disaster for Greece. It is worth a closer look at what has been done to Jamaica, not only as […]
Why the Euro Is Not Worth Saving
The Euro is crashing today to record lows against the Swiss Franc, and interest rates on Italian and Spanish bonds have hit record highs. This latest episode in the Eurozone crisis is a result of fears that the contagion is now hitting Italy. With a two-trillion dollar economy and $2.45 trillion in debt, Italy is […]
