The economies of the European Union and the Euro Area both contracted in the 1st quarter of 2013. The renewed contraction in GDP began in mid-2011 and has now run for 18 months on both cases. But, as Chart 1 (above) shows, the recovery from the depths of the recession in both cases was short-lived [...]
Posts under ‘Macroeconomics’
For a Real Jobs Guarantee
May 21st, 2013 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.Unemployment is caused by a lack of jobs. Obvious one would think, but yet this is a contested and controversial for many of our honourable members down in Westminsterland. Received mainstream political wisdom has it that if you’re unfortunate enough to be out of work, it’s down to some quirk of your character. You’re too [...]
Investment not cuts – Labour needs to deliver a decisive break from austerity
May 20th, 2013 by Ben Folley.Ed Miliband has a significant opportunity to decidedly shift the terms of the debate on the economy, but to do so he will have to turn Labour policy on its head. The austerity agenda which has dominated the UK’s economic debate since 2010 is increasingly seen as inseparable from a stagnant economy and growing poverty [...]
Why is Labour so reticent about spelling out the true position on debt?
May 20th, 2013 by Michael Meacher.debtIf there’s one thing that haunts Labour, however much the Tories are determined to commit hara kiri, it is the accusation that ‘Labour was responsible for all this mess in the first place’ by gross over-spending. Since this is not true, why doesn’t Labour refute it at every opportunity? Just before the crash in 2007-8, [...]
How wage cuts damage the economy
May 17th, 2013 by Dave Watson.Pay cuts may drive short term profits and help governments balance the books — but they do nothing for social justice and also damage the economy. Here’s why: Yesterday, at Unison Scotland, we launched a report on the impact of real wage cuts on workers and the economy. It contrasts the increasing wealth of the richest [...]
The recession is a really good time to increase profits?
May 16th, 2013 by Michael Meacher.Lord Young, one of Thatcher’s Business ministers, got himself sacked 10 years ago when he made a deeply callous and insensitive remark. He has obviously not lost the knack because he’s just been reported making comments again of similar ilk. Reminiscent of Jo Moore sending round an email on the day of 9/11 which said [...]
On “tough decisions” (aka “austerity”)
May 13th, 2013 by Bryan Gould.Last week’s YouGov poll, commissioned and published by Progress, showed that, while Labour was accepted as the “nice” party, the Tories were seen as more ready to take the “tough” decisions. The result was interpreted as an endorsement of the need for such “tough” decisions and therefore as bad news for Ed Miliband and an [...]
The ‘socialism’ of Vince Cable: what’s changed?
May 12th, 2013 by David Osler.Such is the magnitude of the event that the definitive account of the financial collapse of September 2008 and its consequences has surely yet to be written. I do not mean by stating that to deride numerous worthwhile attempts at a first draft of history. Journalistic efforts such as Paul Mason’s Meltdown, Elliott and Atkinson’s The Gods [...]
Equality comes with shift of power to the people
May 10th, 2013 by Richard Leonard.People are discontented, disaffected and hungry for change. The so-called consumer society robs us of our universal humanity and our environment of its natural balance. Living standards are squeezed to offset the falling rate of profit. Women’s work in particular continues to be systematically undervalued, with the poorest of the poor hit hardest of all. [...]
Why French radicals are marching – Interview with Mélenchon
May 8th, 2013 by Tom Gill.As French radicals march in Paris Sunday against the austerity policies of Socialist President Hollande, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, co-leader of the Left Party and last year’s Presidential election candidate for the radical Left Front, argues for a broad popular front of resistance. Interview by French Communist daily Humanite: Francois Hollande’s poll rating is very low. How do [...]
