LATEST NEWS OPINION CLIMATE ECONOMY POLITICS RIGHTS & JUSTICE WAR & PEACE

james galbraith

The Fed's War on Inflation Is Really an Attack on Workers

The takeaway for American workers: The Fed is not your friend.

US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has now committed to putting US monetary policy on a course of rising interest rates, which could boost the short-term rate (on federal funds and treasury bills) by at least 200 basis points by the end of 2024. Thus, Powell yielded to pressure from economists and financiers, resurrecting a playbook that the Fed has followed for 50 years--and that should have remained in its vault.

The stated reason for tightening monetary policy is to "fight inflation." But interest-rate hikes will do nothing to counteract inflation in the short run and will work against price increases in the long run only by bringing on yet another economic crash. Behind the policy is a mysterious theory linking interest rates to the money supply, and the money supply to the price level. This "monetarist" theory goes unstated these days for good reason: it was largely abandoned 40 years ago after it contributed to a financial debacle.

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Opinion

To Stop Far-Reaching Threat of Bolsonaro, 300+ Economists Sign Joint Declaration to Defend Brazil's Democracy

"We believe that democracy, search for peace, individual freedoms, plurality of opinions, tackling prejudice and inequalities (of income, race, regional and gender) are non-negotiable and essential values."

Faced with the looming threat that right-wing candidate Jair Bolsonaro could soon win the second-round of elections and become the next president of Brazil, hundreds of economists from across the country and around the globe have joined forces to declare their support for Fernando Haddad, the Workers' Party candidate, in order to save the nation's democracy and protect "essential values" like social inclusion, peace, and equal protection under the law.

"We believe that democracy, search for peace, individual freedoms, plurality of opinions, tackling prejudice and inequalities (of income, race, regional and gender) are non-negotiable and essential values." --Declaration of Economists in Support of Brazilian Democracy While not all signers of the declaration against Bolsonaro necessarily agree with every bit of Haddad's economic plan, they warn that a victory by the nation's regressive and far-right forces puts "Brazilian democracy and the institutions of the rule of Law" at stake.

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News

What Do Those People Want?

It's simple: progress.

Where is the Democratic Party? The Party of the People is stuck in the status quo--- the still reigning, old-line hierarchy of the Democratic party is unwilling to just be dedicated to well, to the democratic interests of its own political base. People know from real-life experience that the economy has been rigged against them for the benefit of the uber-rich and the political system has been totally corrupted by the bipartisan pay-to-play ethic that protects the status quo from interference by us commoners. While Republicans are a wholly-owned corporate subsidiary, unabashedly dedicated the narrow interests of the moneyed elites, the Dems' congressional elders, key party officials, entrenched consultants and corporate funders continue to push bland, business-as-usual candidates running on a pusillanimous policy agenda of vague "reforms" that don't actually change anything. Then the party establishment wonders why such people stray or stay home in November!

What do those people want?

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Opinion

Authoritarianism is putting everything we value in danger

Authoritarianism is putting everything we value in danger

The Fed's War on Inflation Is Really an Attack on Workers

The takeaway for American workers: The Fed is not your friend.

To Stop Far-Reaching Threat of Bolsonaro, 300+ Economists Sign Joint Declaration to Defend Brazil's Democracy

"We believe that democracy, search for peace, individual freedoms, plurality of opinions, tackling prejudice and inequalities (of income, race, regional and gender) are non-negotiable and essential values."

Declaration of Economists in Support of Brazilian Democracy

What Do Those People Want?

It's simple: progress.

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