The Daily Blog Open Mic Wednesday 13th January 2016

3 Comments

1. This is great listening…the best of RNZ …and by Kim Hill…with the maker of the ‘Four Horsemen’…and on Neoliberalism

   http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/audio/201759223/ross-ashcroft-economics-and-europe

   Ross Ashcroft: economics and Europe

   “Ross Ashcroft is a independent British filmmaker, renegade economist, broadcaster and strategist. He is the founder of the creative partnership Motherlode, and the online platform Renegade Inc.

   His 2011 debut feature documentary, Four Horsemen, has played in more than thirty countries and was nominated for the Oxfam Global Justice Award.

   He also chairs the Soul of Europe trust which works at peace building and fighting islamophobia across the continent.

   Ross Ashcroft talks to Kim Hill.”

   http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/201759223

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2. Think this should have been in your top stories.

   ‘Sell everything ahead of stock market crash, say RBS economists
   Investors face a “cataclysmic year” where stock markets could fall by up to 20% and oil could slump to $16 a barrel, economists at the Royal Bank of Scotland have warned.’

   Read more…..

   http://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jan/12/sell-everything-ahead-of-stock-market-crash-say-rbs-economists

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   1. In ffect, the RBS is issuing a self-fulfilling prophecy;

      “In a note to its clients the bank said: “Sell everything except high quality bonds. “

      Whilst my sympathies toward corporate share-holders is not that great, it is usually workers and their families that suffer any economic downturn. This was evidenced by the 2007/08 Global Financial Crisis and resultant Great Recession where, in New Zealand, unemployment jumped by 95,000.

      The upshot of this isn’t just financial stress on families and people losing their homes, but an increase in unemployment payments, funded by tax-payers. (And with reduced tax revenue caused by seven tax cuts since 1986, governments then have to cut spending elsewhere to fund higher social welfare demands.)

      And to add insult to injury, your then get ill-informed right wing fools who have no understanding of economic forces impacting of employment, and instead blame the increasing numbers of unemployed on “dole bludgers” and their “life style”. Because to fully understand what caused 95,000 New Zealanders to lose their jobs, and push unemployment from 3.4% in 2007, to 7.2% in 2012, would be a tacit admission of failure of a key part of capitalism.

      If another Recession is looming, I fear for the fall-out on ordinary workers and their families. It will not be pleasant.

      Reply