Alternative Visions – Argentina & the 2018 Crisis in Emerging Market Economies – 05.11.18

Download this episode (right click and save) The show leads with updates on latest evidence of stock buybacks in the US, which will exceed $800b in 2018, with another $500b in dividend payouts. Discussion then follows on the growing share of junk and near junk (triple BBB rated) US corporate bonds issued in the US. How BBB bonds may play …

Alternative Visions – US Stocks Biggest Fall Since October 2008. Causes & Predictions – 02.09.18

Dr. Rasmus delves deeper into this past week’s US and global stock crash. Is it another 2008? Or more like the dotcom tech bust of 2000? Rasmus argues the current decline has characteristics of both 2000 and 2008 and may be therefore even more significant. How tech stock speculation drove 2000 and how property based financial speculation-engineering in derivatives drove …

Alternative Visions – 2017 Year in Review: Trump Year One – 12.29.17

Dr. Rasmus reviews the major economic developments of the past year. Included are the major economic consequences of Trump’s first year in office: tax cuts, environmental, financial and other deregulations, Goldman Sachs running the economy, the Trump ‘bump’ and Trump ‘trade’, Trump free trade policies re. NAFTA, Trump’s replacement of Fed chair Yellen with Powell, the low dollar and Emerging …

Tom Randall – World Energy Hits a Turning Point: Solar That’s Cheaper Than Wind

A transformation is happening in global energy markets that’s worth noting as 2016 comes to an end: Solar power, for the first time, is becoming the cheapest form of new electricity. This has happened in isolated projects in the past: an especially competitive auction in the Middle East, for example, resulting in record-cheap solar costs. But now unsubsidized solar is beginning to outcompete …

Alternative Visions – US Stock Bubble-Causes and Consequences + Italy Banks – 12.09

Jack focuses on the bubble growing in US stock markets, as money capital surges out of bonds and from Europe and emerging markets into US stocks. All US markets are at record levels, with the DOW having tripled since 2009 in value. Jack discusses the various causes and origins of the current bubble, including the global rotation from bonds, anticipated Trump infrastructure spending and massive corporate tax cuts, multi-industry deregulations coming, and devaluing foreign currencies. The recent Saez report on income inequality trends is reviewed in contrast. Why capitalists are switching from monetary, central bank policy now to fiscal policy to continue massive gains for the 1%. Other negative data for the US is reviewed, including productivity trends and public debt. The show concludes with a discussion of the recent Italian referendum and Italian banks and China’s pending currency devaluation and bank problems.

Ellen Brown – “We’ll Look at Everything”: More Reasons Trump’s $1 Trillion Infrastructure Plan Is Terrible

To stimulate the economy, create new jobs and generate new GDP requires an injection of new money. Borrowing from the bond markets or off-balance-sheet in public/private partnerships won’t do it. If Congress won’t issue money directly, it should borrow from banks, which create money on their books when they make loans. The Trump agenda, it seems, is not set in …

Colin Todhunter – What Has Neoliberal Capitalism Ever Done For India?

When India ushered in neoliberal economic reforms during the early 1990s, the promise was job creation, inclusive growth and prosperity for all. But, some 25 years later, what we have seen is almost 400,000 farmers committing suicide, one of the greatest levels of inequality out of all ‘emerging’ economies, a trend towards jobless ‘growth’, an accelerating and massive illegal outflow …

Timothy Wise – Africa Still in the Crosshairs as Land Grabs Intensify

On October 12, the government of Mozambique quietly announced that it would close its Agriculture Promotion Centre (CEPAGRI), the agency created in 2006 to promote large-scale foreign investment in the country’s agricultural sector. In a terse statement, government spokesman Mouzinho Saide gave no reason for the closure, saying only that its functions would be subsumed under a different agency in …