Naked Keynesianism

From the new issue of the Review of Keynesian Economics (ROKE). By Marica Frangakis from the Nicos Poulantzas Institute, Athens, Greece. From the abstract:Greece is the country in which the eurozone's public debt crisis began in late 2009. The policy response of the EU elites was to provide financial assistance on condition that a strict austerity-cum-deregulation policy is applied under the watchful guidance of the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the IMF (the so-called...

Slow (really slow) posting this summer. Here a few links to Jamie's role on the Greek Ministry of Finance Working Group convened by Varoufakis. Here he clearly says that: "At no time was the Working Group engaged in advocating exit or any policy choice. The job was strictly to study the operational issues that would arise if Greece were forced to issue scrip or if it were forced out of the euro." So it was a plan B in case of Grexpulsion, not a tactical negotiation tool or a threat of...

 Who's your daddy? Just finished my summer macro class (last Friday actually; grades were due Monday). One of the things that always becomes important in the course is how to define the break between Keynes, or at least Keynes and the Old Neoclassical Synthesis, on the one hand, and Friedman and Lucas, in the case of the latter both the New Classical models (monetary misperception) and Real Business Cycle (RBC) models, on the other. Many authors suggest that Lucas should be considered,...

Lapavitsas says exit is the only option. He may be right, of course, since the European institutions are impermeable to change. Via Real News Network.

"A progressive Europe—the Europe of sustainable growth and social cohesion—would be one thing. The gridlocked, reactionary, petty, and vicious Europe that actually exists is another. It cannot and should not last for very long."By James K. GalbraithThe full brutality of the European position on Greece emerged last weekend, when Europe’s leaders rejected the Greek surrender document of June 9, and insisted instead on unconditional surrender plus reparations. The new diktat—formally accepted by...

Not yet!The Left should create a popular front against the EUBy Stavros D. Mavroudeas* (Guest blogger)In the 5th of July 2015 the huge majority of the Greek people (61%) rejected the insolent demands of the EU for the extension and deepening of the austerity and pro-capital restructuring policies in Greece. These demands were codified in the so-called Juncker Plan for Greece that set barbaric terms for the extension of the previous austerity program (the 2nd Economic Adjustment Program for...

The results of the new Greek bailout announced Sunday should not be a surprise. The program requires tax increases, pension cuts, weakening of collective bargaining clauses, and “ambitious” primary surplus targets, which would require € 13 billion in spending cuts, in exchange for € 50 billion to avert default and the collapse of banks. The adjustment program will deepen the already incredibly prolonged and severe collapse of the Greek economy. It implements a draconian fiscal adjustment,...

Via the Economistes Aterrés blog a dispatch from the 1919 Peace negotiations.Thanks to the departure of an arrogant negotiator, serious negotiations can now beginThe negotiations on the Treaty of Versailles have so far been disrupted by the attitude of a British negotiator, a certain John Maynard Keynes. He has a flamboyant personality and dubious morals, and has consistently employed an arrogant and professional tone to crush other negotiators with his contempt.Ignoring the elementary...