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      joseph stiglitz

      A gas station attendant pumps gas on August 15, 2020 in Somers Point, New Jersey.

      Higher Interest Rates Only Brought More Pain

      In the name of taming inflation, central banks have deliberately set themselves on a path to cause a recession--or to worsen it if it comes anyway.

      Joseph Stiglitz
      Dec 09, 2022

      Central banks' unwavering determination to increase interest rates is truly remarkable. In the name of taming inflation, they have deliberately set themselves on a path to cause a recession--or to worsen it if it comes anyway. Moreover, they openly acknowledge the pain their policies will cause, even if they don't emphasize that it is the poor and marginalized, not their friends on Wall Street, who will bear the brunt of it. And in the United States, this pain will disproportionately befall people of color.

      As a new Roosevelt Institute report that I co-authored shows, any benefits from the extra interest-rate-driven reduction in inflation will be minimal, compared to what would have happened anyway. Inflation already appears to be easing. It may be moderating more slowly than optimists hoped a year ago--before Russia's war in Ukraine--but it is moderating nonetheless, and for the same reasons that optimists had outlined. For example, high auto prices, caused by a shortage of computer chips, would come down as the bottlenecks were resolved. That has been happening, and car inventories have indeed been rising.

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      Wall Street
      Demonstrators participate in the March for Our Lives Los Angeles rally on March 24, 2018.

      The Not-So-Silent Progressive Majority in the US

      History will likely show that Biden's management of the Russia-Ukraine war has been masterful

      Joseph Stiglitz
      Nov 25, 2022

      The world heaved a sigh of relief this month when the feared "red wave" of Republican victories in the US midterm elections failed to materialize. While the Republicans took the House of Representatives by a narrow margin, the Democrats held on to the Senate. The Republican Party's performance was not only worse than expected; it was the worst midterm performance in decades for a party not in control of the White House.

      Americans are tired of the name-calling and the scare tactics. Whether they realize it or not, most support a progressive agenda and its promise to deliver higher living standards for all.

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      Opinion
      Joseph Stiglitz
      Bernie Sanders

      In Defense of Workers, Sanders Says 'The Fed Must Stop Raising Interest Rates'

      "Our goal must not be to 'get wages down,'" the democratic socialist senator asserted. "Our goal must be to end corporate greed."

      Brett Wilkins
      Oct 20, 2022

      U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders on Thursday reaffirmed that, with record corporate profits and declining median wages, federal policymakers should focus not on aggressively raising interest rates, but rather on tackling corporate greed and economic policies that benefit working-class Americans.

      "I think it is wrong to be saying that the way we're going to deal with inflation is by lowering wages and increasing unemployment."

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