Sunday 26 June 2016

Triggering panic in the EU markets

In 2014 the stock markets slowdown was related to the shadow of Grexit.  And since last Friday, June 25th, Brexit vote and its implications have been threatening global markets.
There is no doubt that the Brexit referendum is a very important protest against the political elite, which is not taking into account the needs of the working class.  Consequently, EU policy makers are  afraid other people, such as Greeks, Spaniards and Italians, may follow the Britons. Politicians clearly foresee a situation in which Brexit  will cause a whole series of referendum through European countries, with the aim to leave the EU. In other words, the EU political elite foresees a domino effect of the Brexit referendum across Europe.
Moreover, Britain has voted to split up with the European Union in the same week Spain holds general election. And it may be interesting to underline that, according to surveys, 72 percent of the Spanish people do not trust the European Union.
In this perspective, there isn't any logical relationship between Brexit vote and market slowdown, considering that the British Stock market didn't fall so sharply, compared with Italian and Greek shares: it  dropped about 3 percent last Friday, although referendum has resulted in financial uncertainty and more than 60 percent of Scotland voters want to remain in the EU. On the contrary, broader European shares dropped by an average of 8.6 percent last Friday.
Is it  a conspiracy? It's to easy to see that a political elite has triggered panic in the stock market. EU policy makers have shown  to the people, who live in the EU countries, how a campaign to leave the EU will affect their savings. There is only a system of rule or government that may give them the right to do that to the European people: it's an authoritarian regime.  

Thursday 16 June 2016

Economic policy doesn't combat inequality anymore

Why policy makers don't understand the importance of an economic policy based on progressive redistribution? Flat taxation can't raise living standards and doesn't help economic growth.
As it is know, since the late 1980s the incomes of the very rich have been boosting. Consequently, the big problem for the bottom 90% of  Western countries workers  has been the rise inequality.
An interesting interview with the economist Joshua Bivens (https://www.washingtonpost.com) shows that fighting inequality may increase the rate of overall growth in the economy. 


Friday 3 June 2016

Destroying the social state

One of  the most striking problems that social states everywhere must face in the twenty-first century is related to the achievement of social rights, such as education, health and retirement. This challenge may mark an immense step forward in historical terms. And those topics are strictly related to taxation and its choices between progressive, flat and regressive system.
Unfortunately, it's easy to see that economy is still working for billionaires, considering that:
  • high managers and billionaires pay lower taxes than nurses or construction workers;
  • the biggest banks around the world are bigger now than they were before the 2008 financial crisis;
  • the richest 1% has captured 90% of all income growth since the recovery began.