Subjects Archives: Economic Crisis

The United States is in the midst of a severe housing crisis that is of its own making. This crisis results from several generations of awful housing policies, some of which date back a half century to the Nixon Administration (1968-1973). 

Most people, including even trained economists, fail to appreciate the fact that an exchange rate depreciation, if it is to work in reducing the trade deficit in a capitalist economy, must necessarily hurt the working class by lowering the real wage rate

All of the social gains made by the working class in the course of more than a century of struggle must be wiped out to pay for the drive by the American ruling class to remove, by force of arms, Russia and China as obstacles to US hegemony, even if it means triggering a nuclear war.

Joe Biden is continuing the ignoble tradition of colluding with republicans while pretending to fight them. The latest debt limit drama is another betrayal of the people.

The Trudeau government is pressing Mexico to maintain its loosely regulated, pro-capitalist mining policies.

Economist Michael Hudson discusses the collapse of four U.S. banks in two months, giant JP Morgan Chase taking over First Republic Bank, and how government regulators are in bed with the bankers.

If you want to win back the trust of people, you have to protect them from the excesses of the financial world.

Before it collapsed and its billionaire depositors were bailed out by the U.S. government, Silicon Valley Bank successfully lobbied Congress to remove regulations on it. A senator admitted, “I understand why Americans are angry, even disgusted”.

Ottawa’s anxieties about a power to the East are neuralgic, irrational, and grimly familiar.

Bank stock prices have stabilized at the start of this week. And all the key officials at the Federal Reserve, the U.S. Treasury and the European Central Bank are reassuring investors that the crisis is over.

According to a February 2023 Federal Deposit and Insurance Corporation (FDIC) audit, 563 U.S. banks have failed and/or come under regulatory authority since 2021.

We see again that banks have access to the protection of an unlimited nanny state, while others are left to fend for themselves.

The collapse in rapid succession of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank confirms the extremely damaging character of U.S. stimulus policies.

Economist Michael Hudson responds to the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Silvergate, and explains the similarities with the 2008 financial crash and the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s.

Silicon Valley Bank, the 16th largest in the U.S., was shut down on March 10 and put under the control of the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation.

When Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post for $250 million in 2013, he didn’t transform it into a paper that elevated the perspectives of the wealthy elite—it had already been that for decades.

Jayati Ghosh warns against historically disastrous approaches to the sovereign-debt crisis hitting low- and middle-income countries.

On January 12, Cuba took the presidency of the G77+China for the first time in history after being elected in September 2022 during the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

As a rainbow of social movements in Peru prepare for a general strike starting on 4 January the country is polarised between party politicians’ intrigues and action of the masses on the streets. 

The people of Puerto Rico woke up on the morning of September 19 only to relive a nightmare. Two days before Hurricane Maria’s five-year anniversary, on September 18, Hurricane Fiona made landfall on the island’s southwest coast. The storm caused widespread flooding, landslides and power outages. At least 16 people have died as a result.