Tag Archives: The Global Minotaur: A theory of the Global Crisis

[Originally published here] The election of Donald Trump symbolises the demise of a remarkable era. It was a time when we saw the curious spectacle of a superpower, the US, growing stronger because of – rather than despite – its burgeoning deficits. It was also remarkable because of the sudden influx of two billion workers – from China and Eastern Europe – into capitalism’s international supply chain. This combination gave global capitalism a historic boost, while at the same time...

Why is America still important? Below I copy the answer I gave in 2011 in the last chapter of The Global Minotaur: America, Europe and the Future of the World Economy. (For those not familiar with the economic meaning of my Minotaur allegory, read this.) Today, as the Trump Presidency looms, I fear that that conclusion is even more pertinent…  [Excerpt from Chapter 9] The omens are not good. Never before have so many powerful people understood so little about what the world economy needs...

How owning our Resentment can save Australian Politics In this piece, Paul Tyson, honourary Research Fellow at the University of Queensland, outlines his take on the rise of rightwing populist resentment, as a powerful political force, from an Australian perspective. Professor Robert Solomon notes that we all experience strong emotional responses to being the victim of an injustice. Solomon singles out three responses in particular: anger, contempt and resentment. Crucially, these...

[Click here or the image above] Europe doesn’t always like to admit this but it needs the US. The US economy has an outsized effect on Europe’s, while Europe often needs the diplomatic and (sometimes) military heft of the US. All of which means that those of us in Europe are keenly watching what happens in the US this November. Trump’s few foreign-policy pronouncements have filled many Europeans with fear. Are they right to be afraid? Monocle’s Steve Bloomfield is joined by Greece’s...

Click here or… Greece’s former finance minister Yanis Varoufakis calls himself a libertarian Marxist Keynesian — or “completely confused,” as he jokes. So it was hard to predict how he would react to Zambian economist Dambisa Moyo, a more traditional proponent of free markets. The two economists spoke with TED’s European director Bruno Giussani ahead of December’s TEDGlobal conference in Geneva, where they argued that during these uncertain economic times we should question ideologies,...