On the one hand, we can understand why Greeks do not to want to pay for the false and self-serving promises of the politicians and bureaucrats who brought the country into its current predicaments. So repudiation of the state’s debt may be the least costly solution, at least for ordinary people. Continue reading →

This is the most revolting video I have seen. Heads should fall, quasi literally — that is, criminal prosecutions should be launched — or perhaps literally full stop. And the indecent “war on drugs”, which is a war on the people, should be aborted immediately. Give Leviathan an inch, he will take a mile.

http://www.latribune.fr/opinions/tribunes/20120514trib000698378/qui-sera-porte-sur-le-bouclier-obamix-ou-romnex-.html

Read my latest La Tribune column: “Qui sera porté sur le bouclier, Obamix ou Romnex?”

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/4e0a21fc-2261-11e1-acdc-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1unqREWIh

The Financial Times is one of the best economic and financial newspapers in the world. It is also a good mirror of the conventional wisdom about the economy and the state.

On December 11, 2011, the newspaper ran a story on the growing public debt crisis in Europe. “Markets and governments”, the journalist argued, “face an uphill struggle … as new figures reveal that the borrowing of industrialised governments has surged”. The story cited an OECD official commenting that “market events seem to reflect situations whereby animal spirits dominate market dynamics, thereby pushing up sovereign borrowing rates with serious consequences for the sustainability of sovereign debt.” Continue reading →