Posts tagged economics

A society that puts equality before freedom will get neither. A society that puts freedom before equality will get a high degree of both.

Happy 100th birthday, iconic economist Milton Friedman, author of Capitalism and Freedom. (via explore-blog)

*smacks on nose with newspaper*

NO.

There’s this thing called history, especially in the 1960s, and this other thing called Latin America… check them both out in regards to Friedman. I’m not railing against explore-blog, but thank sweet baby unicorns this man is dead. There is NO SUCH THING as a laboratory for economics, or there wasn’t before Friedman came along. If I were to say there is ONE REASON for the horrors of capitalism, its absolutely Milton Friedman. 

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, read more political economy (critically). This man was terrible. Sabes? Si? Es verdad?!

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I think we are in for a very serious situation worldwide.

Robert Thompson, a food security expert at the Chicago Council of Global Affairs from the Guardian on the ‘corn crisis’ and respective drought effects on US agriculture.

  1. I predicted this; for agricultural political scientists, this was as plain as day. High market percentage + unstable weather patterns/repetitive history (Dust Bowl) = global vulnerability.
  2. Say what you will about USAG(riculture) - and SAY PLENTY - but this will be devastating for world (wide) hunger.
  3. This experience will (hopefully) inform our knowledge of artificially deflated agricultural markets (corn, US subsidies) and ‘comparative advantage’ … and HOPEFULLY NAFTA.
  4. If you have questions about this situation, global agricultural markets, technicalities (subsidies, comparative advantage, etc), or agricultural trade, ask.

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Summer prep for Introduction to International Relations. …I think this could be an album cover (based on #s) but if Google don’t know, I don’t know ;-) *TELL ME*

Summer prep for Introduction to International Relations.

…I think this could be an album cover (based on #s) but if Google don’t know, I don’t know ;-)

*TELL ME*

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WHY MUST I CHOOSE

BETWEEN FALSE DICHOTOMIES!!!!

Krugman piece ala the Guardian 3 June 2012; Stiglitz piece ala NPR 5 June 2012 … you guys have GOT to coordinate this better. I simply cannot do the pee-dance in one week deciding which I actually have the time to read/listen!

On the Administration’s part, US Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack attempted to cushion the political blow from the cuts, using language that emphasised the record-breaking farm revenue from exports in recent years. High farm incomes have made support for subsidies a political liability, due to the impacts of the ongoing recession.
…
For many observers, its still unclear whether or not there will even be a farm bill in 2012 - estimates have ranged from 15 to 50 percent on chances that any version of the legislation will pass. In the absence of a new Farm Bill, it is likely that Congress will authorise farm expenditures based on current legislation for another year.

See Bridges Weekly (ICTSD) for (HOORAY!) ‘Obama Proposes Billions in Subsidy Cuts as Farm Bills Kicks Off’.

US agricultural subsidies have been distorting the global agricultural market for decades. By supporting the domestic agricultural market (keeping US farmers afloat and US produce costs [artifically] low for the consumer) with subsidies in core crops that the US no longer maintains a competitive edge, global competitors in less developed countries are forced to sell their agricultural products at the same artifically low price in the global marketplace.

At some point, the consumers in the US will feel this; prices on produce will adjust to what US consumers SHOULD have been paying for decades - but due to domestic subsidies and market distortion, they haven’t. I’m very pleased Obama is taking this initiative - as US agricultural subsidies ALONE have been a major reason for the lack of progress on Doha (see previous post) - to rectify the increasing gap between US consumers’ overconsumption and widespread hunger in less developed nations that rely on agricultural exports.

if you’re at all interested in markets, capitalism (anti/pro), finance, financial security, economics, politics, the Eurozone, recessions, downturns, or REVOLUTION … really anything at all in life, WATCH THIS.

this guy… he’s just so completely candid, and its startling.

Goldmann Sachs rules the world…

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