-
WHEN FATE INTERVENES…, by François Leclerc
Guest post. Translated from the French by Tim Gupwell.
In the blink of an eye, discussions have switched focus. The issue of growth which was at the forefront has rapidly surrendered its place to the elaboration of a plan for the supervision of the banks and the rescue of those in need. Improvisation…
-
LE MONDE-ÉCONOMIE, Ordinary scandals, Monday 4 – Tuesday 5 June 2012
My most recent column in the French daily paper Le Monde : Les pigeons de facebook. Translated from the French by Tim Gupwell.
In the book which he dedicated to the 1929 Crash (*), John Kenneth Galbraith, made the remark that if everyone talks frequently of fraud during periods of crisis, it is not…
-
APPEAL TO ALL THE PARLIAMENTARIANS WHO ENVISAGE VOTING THE “BALANCED BUDGET RULE”
Translated from the French by Tim Gupwell.
The inept formulation of the financial stability pact, as well as the “balanced budget rule” which is derived from it, require (as I recalled in a recent column for Le Monde-Économie) a nation’s growth rate to be equal or superior to the level of the “average” coupon…
-
THE DESTRUCTION OF OUR PLANET IS PROGRAMMED
Translated from the French by Tim Gupwell.
In our capitalist system, the « advances » which are consented to by some, the holders of capital or « capitalists », in order to render a production process possible or to allow a consumer to consume are remunerated by interest payments. In my book Le prix (2010),…
-
THE TOWERING MOUNTAIN, SWAYING FROM SIDE TO SIDE, by François Leclerc
Guest post. Translated from the French by Tim Gupwell.
“There is a first assessment, then a second, a third, a fourth…..It’s the worst possible way of doing things because everybody ends up doing the right thing but at the highest possible cost and price”. Who was it speaking so harshly yesterday of…
-
THE IRONY OF HISTORY
Translated from the French by Tim Gupwell.
I have made the observation here that what leads us to desire change is never the projection of an idyllic image of a new future world to which we aspire, but rather the present moment in which we live become intolerable.
Irony plays a considerable role in history…
-
THE REGULATORS’ INDIGESTIBLE COOKERY, by François Leclerc
Guest post. Translated from the French by Tim Gupwell.
The debate on growth which is starting to take shape has overshadowed an event which is less spectacular but just as decisive. It concerns the deleveraging of banks, which will have an influence on growth as it is accompanied by a reduction in credit for the…
-
QUESTIONS STILL IN NEED TO BE SOLVED (VI) PREDICAMENT OF PRIVATE PROPERTY
An English translation by Bernard Bouvet of the post “QUESTIONS À RÉSOUDRE (VI) DILEMMES DE LA PROPRIÉTÉ PRIVÉE”.
Private property, as we saw previously, allows you or I to selfishly take advantage of our planet’s generosity towards us and claim ownership of what she bears within her or what she produces spontaneously thanks…
-
QUESTIONS STILL IN NEED TO BE SOLVED (V) HOW IS THE AMOUNT OF SURPLUS VALUE DETERMINED
March 7th, 2012 by Paul Jorion |
An English translation by Jean-Loup Komarower of the post QUESTIONS À RÉSOUDRE (V) COMMENT SE DÉTERMINE LE SURPLUS
A set of inputs contribute…
-
QUESTIONS STILL IN NEED TO BE SOLVED (II) PROFIT, THE SOURCE OF ALL OUR ILLS
An English translation by Jean-Loup Komarower of the post QUESTIONS À RÉSOUDRE (II) LE PROFIT, SOURCE DE TOUS NOS MAUX
Robert Owen (1771-1858) was a Welsh social reformer, one of the founders of the cooperative movement. As a very early socialist who was blamed for being strictly speaking a “communist”, he considered profit as the…
-
“No Matter What We Do, It Will Still Be The Same”
An English translation by Bernard Bouvet of my « QUOI QU’ON FASSE, CE SERA LA MÊME CHOSE ! » of March 11.
77% of you, my dear blog readers, not all of you, but a “comfortable majority” of you, happens to be French. Your country is now in full “election showbiz” mode,…
-
GREEK DEBT SPECULATORS, NEUTRALISED
An English translation by Bernard Bouvet of my post “Les spéculateurs sur la dette grecque, neutralisés”.
Last Friday’s ruling by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) that the much talked about Greek debt swap, or the so-called private sector initiative (PSI), does not represent a “credit event” and, therefore does not trigger Credit…
-
Hellenic Securitisation S.A. – Request for Information, by Panagiotis Grigoriou
Guest post. Translated from the French by Bernard Bouvet.
This is Athens!
We are barely able to recover from Memorandum 2 (see the latest entry (Sightseeing Athens) on my blog “Greek Crisis”). The Shock Strategy, when undergone as a…patient, doesn’t give you any respite. Multi-risk, multi-faceted, a total weapon. In the…
-
MR. STIGLITZ HASN’T BEEN TIPPED OFF
An English translation by Bernard Bouvet of my post: M. Stiglitz n’est pas au courant.
What caused it? Is it the one year 7% decline in Greece’s GDP in 2011, 16% altogether since the crisis began in 2007? Or perhaps the defections among members of the Greek parliament during Sunday’s vote, followed by exclusions…
-
IT IS TIME TO RESTRUCTURE CAPITALISM
An English translation which can be read here of my post “Refonder le capitalisme”: Le moment est venu by Frankly.
It Is Time to Restructure Capitalism
Is there anything more depressing than the spectacle of the short-term remedies that are being applied at present with a view to…
-
Gale Warning on Market Risk Management
On Friday, in a single forward-market trading session, gold lost 5.8% of its value, and silver lost 17.8%. Considering the present state of the financial markets and the overall condition of the economy, which for the past few weeks has been entering the second phase of the ‘W’ double dip which began in 2007, this might…
-
MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE: About “The network of global corporate control”, by S. Vitali, J. B. Glattfelder, S. Battiston
A passionate discussion has started on my French blog about the article The network of global corporate control, by S. Vitali, J. B. Glattfelder, S. Battiston.
I’m hoping that a parallel discussion in English starts here.
Here an excerpt of the paper to whet your appetite:
… nearly 4/10 of the control…
-
TAVAKOLI vs. JORION. The Subprime Crisis: an orchestrated or spontaneous Ponzi Process?
A translation by Bénédicte of my post of September 3rd: TAVAKOLI vs. JORION. LA CRISE DES SUBPRIMES : PYRAMIDE ORCHESTRÉE OU SPONTANÉE ?
You will find in my “La crise du capitalisme américain” (The Crisis of American Capitalism) (La Découverte 2007; Le Croquant 2009), written between November 2004 and October 2005,…