Theodor Horydczak “Pies and paper pie plates” 1933
A great video interview from Dutch business TV channel RTL-Z with a very dear and close friend of The Automatic Earth, Steve Keen (who did several presentations together with Nicole), the only economist in the world who I take serious, and certainly not because we agree on everything; we don’t. But Steve is as close as one can get to taking economics to a scientfic level: see what the numbers say, not bend them to what you would like them to say. You do the grinding, and let the data do the talking.
Steve describes the European situation as being in a “Three Stooges recovery”, and I find that priceless. Just not sure Three is a large enough number to do the situation justice. Note: ignore that silly language, it switches to the Queen’s English fast enough. The interviewer and the rest of the staff find Steve’s version of a debt jubilee (give everyone a fixed amount of “free” money, and force those in debt to use it to pay that down first) very strange and highly controversial. Which is a little strange in itself, because you might expect an investors’ channel to do its homework, and Steve’s been promoting his idea for many years now.
Still, for some reason, giving money to banks has been made far more socially acceptable than giving it to people, an idea with far more potential to actually benefit the economy. As Steve says, it’s very simple to understand for the “ordinary man”, but he needs to explain it time and again to economists and policy makers.
By all means, do let us know what you think about his version of a debt jubilee.
This topic and many others are discussed in Nicole Foss’ new video presentation, Facing the Future, co-presented with Laurence Boomert and available from the Automatic Earth Store. Get your copy now, be much better prepared for 2014, and support The Automatic Earth in the process!
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