Skip to main content

Home/ Financial Crisis and Geopolitics/ Group items tagged Debt

Rss Feed Group items tagged

Giorgio Bertini

This disastrous 'debt crisis' myth « Learning Political Economy - 0 views

  •  
    The most dangerous myth, and one repeated daily in much of the major media, is that these troubles on both sides of the Atlantic are a result of a "debt crisis", and can only be resolved through fiscal tightening. The United States is not facing any public debt crisis at all, with interest payments on the debt at just 1.4% of GDP. Some eurozone countries do have a "debt crisis" - for example, Greece. But this is only because the European authorities have failed to take the necessary steps to resolve it, and have, instead, made it worse by shrinking the economy. In other words, there is no legitimate economic reason for a sovereign debt burden - even an unsustainable one - to result in years of economic stagnation and high unemployment. If the debt needs to be restructured because it is not payable, as in Greece, then that should be done as quickly as possible and with enough debt cancellation to make the resulting debt burden sustainable - as Argentina did with its successful default in 2001.
thinkahol *

Is Student Debt the Next Front in the Consumer Debt Crisis? « naked capitalism - 0 views

  •  
    The media has been so preoccupied with acute symptoms of the debt crisis - sliding home prices, foreclosure abuses, ongoing Euromarket bank/sovereign debt stress, ongoing battles over financial regulation implementation, unhappiness over the Fed's QE2 - that lingering problems are not getting the attention they deserve. High on the list is the how the weak job market is affecting new college and advanced degree program graduates. We have an unspoken social contract: young people who get an education, particularly a "good" education (which means more elite universities, more serious courses of study, graduate degrees) are supposed to be rewarded by higher lifetime earnings. And the prospect of higher lifetime earnings in turn makes it rational to borrow to invest in education. But this whole premise has started to go awry, and the huge uptick in unemployment has started to make matters worse.
Giorgio Bertini

Ackermann interview sparks debate on Greek rescue - 0 views

  •  
    Greece will unlikely be able to pay off its nearly 300 billion euro debt, but the rescue package will enable it to hold out for a few more years, according to Heinemann. "In the end, there will be a restructuring of Greece's debt… but in the meantime before that happens, other countries will make such progress that the danger of a meltdown will no longer exist," he told Deutsche Welle. "This means maybe in 2012 a restructuring of Greece's debt can be undertaken without shock waves being triggered."
thinkahol *

Cheney Was Right About One Thing: Deficits Don't Matter | Truthout - 0 views

  •  
    "De­ficit ter­ror­ists" are gutt­ing govern­ments and forc­ing the privatiza­tion of pub­lic as­sets, all in the name of "de­ficit re­duc­tion." But de­ficits aren't ac­tual­ly a bad thing. In today's moneta­ry scheme, in which most money comes from debt, debt and de­ficits are ac­tual­ly neces­sa­ry to have a st­able money sup­p­ly. The pub­lic debt is the peo­ple's money.
thinkahol *

The Spanish Prisoner - NYTimes.com - 0 views

  •  
    What's striking about Spain, from an American perspective, is how much its economic story resembles our own. Like America, Spain experienced a huge property bubble, accompanied by a huge rise in private-sector debt. Like America, Spain fell into recession when that bubble burst, and has experienced a surge in unemployment. And like America, Spain has seen its budget deficit balloon thanks to plunging revenues and recession-related costs. But unlike America, Spain is on the edge of a debt crisis. The U.S. government is having no trouble financing its deficit, with interest rates on long-term federal debt under 3 percent. Spain, by contrast, has seen its borrowing cost shoot up in recent weeks, reflecting growing fears of a possible future default. Why is Spain in so much trouble? In a word, it's the euro.
thinkahol *

Chinese agency downgrades U.S. credit rating - CNN.com - 0 views

  •  
    Beijing (CNN) -- Although the United States narrowly avoided an unprecedented default following congressional approval of a last-minute compromise plan to raise the debt ceiling, China's leading credit rating agency Wednesday downgraded U.S. sovereign debt after putting it on negative watch last month. The Dagong Global Credit Rating Company, which lowered the United States to A+ last November after the U.S. Federal Reserve decided to continue loosening its monetary policy, announced a further downgrade to A, indicating heightened doubts over Washington's long-term ability to repay its debts.
thinkahol *

Debt and Delusion - Robert J. Shiller - Project Syndicate - 0 views

  •  
    The fundamental problem that much of the world faces today is that investors are overreacting to debt-to-GDP ratios, fearful of some magic threshold, and demanding fiscal-austerity programs too soon. They are asking governments to cut expenditure while their economies are still vulnerable. Households are running scared, so they cut expenditures as well, and businesses are being dissuaded from borrowing to finance capital expenditures. The lesson is simple: We should worry less about debt ratios and thresholds, and more about our inability to see these indicators for the artificial - and often irrelevant - constructs that they are.
Giorgio Bertini

Explaining Europe's Debt Crisis - Video - 0 views

  •  
    As fear continues to spread over the impact of the Greek debt crisis, more people are questioning how such a small country could impact markets around the world.
Giorgio Bertini

Analysis - The eurozone's troubles pose serious and widespread global risks - 0 views

  •  
    In their recent book on the history of financial crises, Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff note that banking crises are frequently succeeded by sovereign debt crises, as governments are forced to assume private liabilities to keep their national financial systems afloat. The 1997-98 Asian crisis provides a relatively recent example of how private debts can rapidly become public liabilities if a default threatens the overall economy.
thinkahol *

We can only cut debt by borrowing | Martin Wolf's Exchange | FT.com - 1 views

  •  
    "You can't cut debt by borrowing." How often have you read or heard this comment from "austerians" (a nice variant on "Austrians"), who complain about the huge fiscal deficits that have followed the financial crisis? The obvious response is: so what?
Giorgio Bertini

European debt crisis: the possible domino effect - 0 views

  •  
    As Spain's credit rating is downgraded a day after Standard & Poor's cut its ratings on Greek and Portuguese debt, how far could the eurozone's debt contagion spread?
thinkahol *

What is Debt? - An Interview with Economic Anthropologist David Graeber « nak... - 0 views

  •  
    David Graeber currently holds the position of Reader in Social Anthropology at Goldsmiths University London. Prior to this he was an associate professor of anthropology at Yale University. He is the author of 'Debt: The First 5,000 Years' which is available from Amazon. Interview conducted by Philip Pilkington, a journalist and writer based in Dublin, Ireland.
Giorgio Bertini

The Greek spirit of resistance turns its guns on the IMF - 0 views

  •  
    Years of national denial about looming bankruptcy have turned to resentment as Greece is told how it must tackle its debt crisis
Giorgio Bertini

The Mother of All Bubbles: Huge National Debts Could Push Euro Zone into Bankruptcy - 0 views

  •  
    Greece is only the beginning. The world's leading economies have long lived beyond their means, and the financial crisis caused government debt to swell dramatically. Now the bill is coming due, but not all countries will be able to pay it.
Giorgio Bertini

Geithner admits battle over debt limit has damaged confidence in the US economy - Merco... - 0 views

  •  
    US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said he is not sure whether the bitterly fought debt agreement to be considered by the US Senate will avoid a downgrade of the U.S. top-tier credit rating.
thinkahol *

Economist's View: "The Greatest Increase in Poverty and Hardship Produced by Any Law in... - 0 views

  •  
    Mathew Yglesias: CBPP Analysis of John Boehner's Plan: The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities concludes that if enacted, John Boehner's debt ceiling plan "could well produce the greatest increase in poverty and hardship produced by any law in modern U.S. history." That sounds to me like something that would create strong incentives to not be poor and, indeed, to fully incentive richness. Consequently, we'll have massive economic growth. Right? Think of all the old people who will be willing to do odd jobs, whatever, in order to pay for health care. No more free-riding from grandma and grandpa to slow the economy down. The CBPP adds: This may sound hyperbolic, but it is not. The mathematics are inexorable. ... In short, the Boehner plan would force policymakers to choose among cutting the incomes and health benefits of ordinary retirees, repealing the guts of health reform and leaving an estimated 34 million more Americans uninsured, and savaging the safety net for the poor. It would do so even as it shielded all tax breaks, including the many lucrative tax breaks for the wealthiest and most powerful individuals and corporations. As for the way the debt ceiling talks are going, what a disaster.
thinkahol *

America's creditor identifies its budget problem - Glenn Greenwald - Salon.com - 0 views

  •  
    Since America's political and media class steadfastly ignore this glaringly obvious point, it's nice (albeit self-interested) of the Chinese to point it out for us.  As we endlessly hear about a massive debt crisis, the current President has started one optional war that has already exceeded its estimated costs, plans to continue (if not escalate) two more, is drone-attacking a new country on a seemingly weekly basis, expands sprawling covert military actions in still other countries, builds new overseas detention facilities, all while offering only the most modest, symbolic and illusory "cuts" in military spending.  The alleged need to slash the financial security of American citizens -- and the notion that America faces a severe debt crisis -- would be more persuasive if the country didn't continue its posture of Endless War and feeding the insatiable, bloated National Security State (to say nothing of the equally insatible and wasteful Drug War and its evil spawn, the increasingly privatized American Prison State, which the Obama administration is expanding as aggressively as the War on Terror).
Giorgio Bertini

Derivatives Cloud the Possible Fallout From a Greek Default « Learning Politi... - 0 views

  •  
    In years past, when financial crises in Argentina and Russia left those countries unable to make good on their government debts, they simply defaulted. But this time around, swaps and other sorts of contracts have become so common and so intertwined in the financial markets that there are fears among regulators and financial players about how a Greek default would play out among derivatives holders. No one seems to be sure, in large part because the world of derivatives is so murky. But the possibility that some company out there may have insured billions of dollars of European debt has added a new tension to the sovereign default debate.
Giorgio Bertini

Europe's Debt Woes Start to Complicate China's Money Moves - 0 views

  •  
    Spreading problems in Europe's sovereign debt markets pose potential challenges for China, which has been stepping up its investments in European government bonds and relies on Europe as its biggest export market.
1 - 20 of 79 Next › Last »
Showing 20 items per page