Friday, March 7, 2014

Deflation is not benign

Noam Chomsky (2014) "How to Ruin an Economy; Some Simple Ways"

Noam Chomsky (2014) "How to Ruin an Economy; Some Simple Ways" is great!



Adam Smith coined the phrase Vile Maxim to describe the goals of the masters of society.  "All for ourselves and none for anybody else."  That's the essence of neoliberalism.  Chomsky describes how it works (drive for short-term profits), who is for it (the richest nations of the world), who provides most of the opposition (so-called "primitive" indigenous societies), where it's going (total catastrophe), and what we can do (many good ways to oppose it, but we haven't got much time).

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Disinflation here in USA

Krugman was discussion disinflation in Europe, showing the concentration of wage increases at zero.

I replied.

Disinflation is right here in the USA as well, with a major driver being the US Government itself, driven by the VSP in Chief, Barack Obama. Exactly where have Federal wages gone in the past 5 years since Obama enacted a wage freeze (not to mention shut downs and hourly cutbacks)? Well, it's worse, actually, as jobs have been hugely cut as well, and a new pile is just hitting the fan as returning war veterans are being laid off, and orders to the military industrial complex cut back, and when new jobs are created, they get staffed by bottom feeder contractors. So good paying jobs are being replaced by low paying jobs, when they are being replaced at all. We should be replacing useless military spending with Plan B renewable energy development. But with Fracking, we've got no energy shortage, just a climate that's getting worse faster and faster, and a beautiful country being turned into toxic waste dump.