Science and Its Philosophy From a Marxist Perspective
Do ‘excessive’ wage rises lead to rising inflation and thus drive economies into a wage-price spiral? Back in 1865, at the International Working Men’s Association, Marx debated with IWMA Council member Thomas Weston. Weston, a leader of the carpenter’s union, argued that asking for increased wages was futile because all that would happen would be […]
The wage price spiral refuted
As usual it won’t be possible to report on all the many sessions at this year’s London Historical Materialism conference that took place last weekend. I could only attend a few sessions and concentrated, naturally, on ones to do with Marxist economics. Also, I was participating in two sessions myself that clashed with others that […]
Historical Materialism Conference – monopoly, imperialism, inflation and Ukraine
the-hunt-for-truss-1Download The delusional Truss became the most short-lived Prime Minister in British history. Boris Johnson is trying to regain the Premiership. In the article I posed the question whether the populist wing of the Tory Party had been crushed or not? The answer is it has. Therefore, it is highly unlikely that Johnson will prevail […]
IN THE MARKETS WE TRUSST. A Brief Review of the UK Government’s U-turn in the face of the BOE’s intransigence.
Imagen tomada de Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition.
The announcement that US President’s Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) has got the backing of pro-business, coal-mining owner Democratic Senator Manchin has been greeted with a wave of optimism that the US target of cutting carbon emissions in half before the end of this decade (or 40% compared with 2005 levels), can be met. “This bill will really turbocharge that transition to clean energy, it will transform markets where already solar PV, wind and batteries are in many cases cheaper than incumbent fossil fuels,” said Anand Gopal, executive director of policy at Energy Innovation, an open source research body. “Increasingly I’m more optimistic that keeping the temperature rise under 2C (3.6F) is more reachable. 1.5C is a stretch goal at this point.”
The bill will cut US emissions by between 31% and 44% below 2005 levels by 2030, according to Rhodium Group, a non-partisan research firm. A separate…
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“El riesgo de una recesión global absoluta está aumentando. Si los bancos centrales continúan aumentando sus tasas de política, todo lo que hará será aumentar el costo de los préstamos para los consumidores y las empresas, lo que llevará a las empresas más débiles a la bancarrota y suprimirá la demanda en todos los ámbitos. Claro, eso finalmente puede reducir la inflación, pero solo a través de una depresión.”
Imagen tomada del Banco Mundial.
Is the global inflationary spiral peaking? And if it is and inflation is set to fall over the next year, then has the inflation scare been just a momentary blip and now things will start to turn back to the previously low pace of inflation in the prices of goods and services?
That seems to the view of investors in financial assets in the US, where the stock market has rallied by as much as 20% from lows in mid-June; and both government and corporate bond yields have steadied. Markets seem to believe in what is called the ‘Fed pivot’, where the US Federal Reserve, having hiked its policy rate aggressively since April, will now start to end its hikes going into 2023 as inflation subsides.
Certainly, there is some evidence of peaking inflation in the US where the consumer price inflation (CPI) rate slowed more than expected in July…
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The inflation debate among mainstream economists rages on. Is the accelerating and high inflation rate of commodities here to stay for some time and or is ‘transitory’ and will soon subside? Do central banks need to act fast and firmly to ‘tighten’ monetary policy (ie cut back on injection credit into banks through purchases of […]
The inflation debate
In several previous posts, I have highlighted what are called ‘zombie’ companies (companies whose regular profits do not even cover the cost of servicing their outstanding debts) and so must, to paraphrase former BoE governor Mark Carney, depend on the kindness of their creditors”. An OECD study found that such zombies take up a frighteningly […]
Fallen angels
The debate among economists continues on whether the recent hike in inflation rates in the major economies is due to a ‘supply shock’ or ‘pent-up consumer demand’; and related to that, whether the inflation rise will be ‘transient’ or ‘permanent’. Supply or demand? If prices rise, is it because supply is not rising ‘enough’ or […]
Inflation: supply or demand?
“The economy has made progress toward employment and inflation goals and if progress continues broadly as expected, a moderation in the pace of asset purchases may soon be warranted”, the US Federal Reserve officials said in their September monetary policy statement. The Fed also signalled interest-rate increases may follow more quickly than expected, with 9 […]
The Fed, interest rates and stagflation
