Tag Archives: IMF

The IMF hitman in Europe, one Poul Thomsem recently published a European Money and Finance Forum (SUERF) Policy Note (October 2018) – A Financial Union for the Euro Area – where he basically told us that any changes that the IMF will allow to occur in the Eurozone architecture will be minimal and will not stop Member States “from being forced to undertake large pro-cyclical fiscal adjustments when the next shock or major downturn hits”. The term “large pro-cyclical fiscal adjustments” means...

I'm not a forecaster. I do macro, and worked for Wynne Godley at the Levy, but I feel that there are too many dangers in forecasting. Wynne was also, btw, more concerned with what he called medium term scenarios, than pinpointing when a recession would take place. The obvious joke applies here. Economists have predicted 10 of the last 9 recessions. Having said that let me do the exact opposite and throw caution to the wind.So I'm going out on a limb here. Everybody thinks the recession...

I am back in Australia now and I don’t have to stand on my head to write (a reference to the hassles of trying to maintain some order while travelling to different destinations on an almost daily basis). Last week, the IMF released its so-called – Fiscal Monitor October 2018 – and the mainstream financial press had a ‘picnic’ claiming all sorts of disaster scenarios would follow from the sort of financial situations revealed in the publication. At the time of the publication I was in London...

Backgrounder on Greece (and the IMF and Eurocrats). A sad tale of elite rule and rent extraction off the back of ordinary workers with no power or influence — unless they rise up angry and are willing to pursue it.Michael Roberts BlogGreece: on paroleMichael Roberts

New Brave Europe ha pubblicato questa risposta al pezzo di Marco Revelli su il manifesto che polemizzava con Mélenchon e con il mio articolo su Micromega, questo l'incipit: "Dare a Tsipras quel che è di Tsipras. Una sinistra incapace di riconoscere i propri punti di riferimento e di dar conto del loro merito, pur senza rinunciare al dovere di critica, è destinata alla fine miserevole che ha fatto. Tre anni fa tutti a sgomitare dietro ad «Alexis». Oggi va di moda l’accusa di...

Must-read. Michael Hudson gives the background on Argentina's fall in terms of neoliberal capitalism. Michael Hudson: What really is at issue is whether all debts should be paid, or not? I think that there should be an international rule that no country should be obliged to pay its debts to the wealthy One Percent, especially to a creditor class that prefers to hold its domestic wealth offshore in foreign currencies. No country should be obliged to pay its bondholders if the price of...

 New Brave Europe ha tradotto e pubblicato il pezzo sulla Grecia già uscito su Micromega online. Grazie all'amico Methew Rose. Sergio Cesaratto – Tsipras’s tie. What moral can we draw from the Greek crisis? July 15, 2018 Klaus Regling, the head of the eurozone’s bailout fund and a German, concerning the most recent EU “debt relief” for Grecce: “It is the biggest act of solidarity that the world has ever seen” (Reglings motto seems to be:...

A roundtable with Daniela Gabor, Roberto Lampa and Pablo Bortz, on the IMF and its Programs this Thursday in Buenos Aires, organized by the Masters in Economic Development at the Universidad de San Martín (UNSAM).

Argentina had a balance-of-payments crisis recently and required help. The IMF has agreed for a stand-by arrangement of $50 billion on the condition in the IMF’s own words: “At the core of the government’s economic plan is a rebalancing of the fiscal position. We fully support this priority and welcome the authorities’ intention to accelerate the pace at which they reduce the federal government’s deficit, restoring the primary balance by 2020. This measure will ultimately lessen the...

I am gratified that nine countries—the entire G7 plus Austria and the Czech Republic—have already volunteered for this assessment. This is a major vote of confidence in the new framework. IMF gets a new club to beat the emerging world that is now challenging the West. What's the likelihood of the IMF dealing with corruption in the West. This looks to be just another tool in the box of neoliberalism.Most countries are affected by corruption of one form or another. Corruption in so-called...