STOCK MARKETS: A case of too much icing and not enough cake.
June 27, 2020 5 Comments
AS FOR THE STOCK MARKETS, COVID-19 IS IN THE REAR VIEW MIRROR.
June 7, 2020 6 Comments
May unemployment article numbered
I have replaced the original article. All that is different is that the Graphs are now numbered correctly.
PUTTING PROVID BEFORE WORKERS TO REOPEN THE ECONOMY.
May 13, 2020 5 Comments
It is now the height of winter in Africa and time to take stock of the Covid related death rate comparisons detailed in the article, to determine whether the conclusions remain valid.
Total deaths in the USA, UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain (G6) amounted to 313,891 compared to 201,192 deaths when the article was written.
Total deaths in Africa amounted to 22,945 compared to 1591 when the article was written.
Though the ratio of deaths per head of population between the G6 and Africa has reduced, deaths per head in Africa stand at only 3.4% that found in the G6. Africa with a population of 1.3 billion has had fewer deaths than any of the G6 countries mentioned bar Germany.
The conclusions in the articles continue to hold.
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ as at 6th August 2020.
A ZOOM DISCUSSION WITH MICHAEL ROBERTS ON THE PROSPECTS FOR THE WORLD ECONOMY post-LOCKDOWN.
May 7, 2020 11 Comments
This is a very topical discussion and one with which the Bank of England has engaged in. It projects a 14% fall in GDP this year (the most in 300 years) followed by a 15% jump next year. This means a net rise in GDP of 1% over two years. This bounce back could have been justified had the world economy been in good health, instead of suffering a severe underlying condition, chronically low profitability. In the face of a profit crisis, Brexit and a fracturing global economy, that projection of bounce back is the most optimistic since capital first deprived labourers of their instruments of production turning them into an industrial proletariat.
THE DYSFUNCTIONAL NEO-LIBERAL STATE.
May 2, 2020 7 Comments
In today’s Financial Times, an article titled “Consultants Under Fire Over Speed of Contracts” is critical of the UK government’s outsourcing of critical responses to controlling the pandemic. The lack of capacity in the state forced the cabinet to rely on the Big Four Accountancy firms and McKinsey for building hospitals and sourcing equipment. Call them intensive care accountants. None of these contracts were tendered, no value was put on them, nor was there any disclosure of the fees paid despite the 30 days disclosure period having elapsed. This pandemic has revealed the limitations of the neo-liberal state and its vulnerability to extortion.
In war and in sickness, there is always money to be made by the connected capitalists.
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