Monthly Archives: May 2012

Triple witching hour for austerity:Hollande wins in France, Labour in Britain, anti-austerity in Greece.

Posted on May 6, 2012 by haroldchorneyeconomist

A small but significant earthquake has occurred over the past few days in Europe. The victory of the Socialist party in the Presidential race combined with the election results in Greece along with the drubbing of the Conservative and Liberal … Continue reading →

Posted in austerity, business cycles, classical economics, deficit hysteria, deficits and debt, European debt crisis, European unemployment, France politics+economy, Greek sovereign debt crisis, Mr.Papandreou and democracy, progressives, treasury view, UK local elections, Uncategorized, unemployment | Leave a comment

François Hollande Wins:Exit Polls claim;Greece votes to repudiate austerity

Posted on May 6, 2012 by haroldchorneyeconomist

François Hollande has won the French Presidential election with 51.9 % of the vote according to French exit polls. Nicholas Sarkozy has obtained 48.1 % of the vote according to these exit polls. It is an historic victory for the … Continue reading →

Posted in European debt crisis, European unemployment, France politics+economy, Greek sovereign debt crisis, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Greece votes on Sunday: anti austerity parties likely to capture more than 50 % of the vote.

Posted on May 6, 2012 by haroldchorneyeconomist

Greek voters go to the polls in a few hours and it appears from the polls and expert analysis that the two major parties New Democracy and the Greek socialist party Pasok may together not get more than 40 or … Continue reading →

Posted in austerity, Greek sovereign debt crisis, Mr.Papandreou and democracy, Uncategorized, unemployment | 1 Comment

More evidence that stimulus increases growth and reduces public debt

Posted on May 4, 2012 by haroldchorneyeconomist

Stimulus produces faster economic growth and also leads to less public debt. I and other Keynesians have argued this for years. Here is an excellent piece of research by a young economist from Italy who has also taught at LSE … Continue reading →

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US unemployment rate falls to 8.1 %, U6 unchanged at 14.5 %

Posted on May 4, 2012 by haroldchorneyeconomist

The U.S. created 115,000 net new jobs in April and the unemployment rate fell to 8.1 % from 8.2 % But the total number of people in the work force also declined, perhaps because of increasing retirement. The broader definition … Continue reading →

Posted in full employment, U.S., unemployment | Leave a comment

Labour sweeps British local elections.London vote counted tomorrow.

Posted on May 4, 2012 by haroldchorneyeconomist

So far at 3 am Greenwich time the Labour party in the U.K. has plenty to cheer about. With 85 0f 181 councils reporting their results Labour has won 44 of them a gain so far of 19, the Conservatives … Continue reading →

Posted in UK local elections, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Hollande debates Sarkozy:Informative, intense and entertaining.

Posted on May 3, 2012 by haroldchorneyeconomist

Yesterday I spent close to three hours watching the debate between the two finalists in the campaign for the French presidency, Nicholas Sarkozy the current President and François Hollande the candidate of the Parti socialiste. I have to say that … Continue reading →

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Euro area unemployment rises to 10.9 %

Posted on May 3, 2012 by haroldchorneyeconomist

According to Eurostat unemployment has increased in the Euro area to 10.9 %. This is a clear sign that austerity policies do not result in lower unemployment. Below I reproduce courtesy of Eurostat part of their press release. March 2012 … Continue reading →

Posted in austerity, European unemployment, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Canadian GDP falls 0.2 % in February:slowdown underway yet Government promotes austerity

Posted on May 1, 2012 by haroldchorneyeconomist

The Canadian government is busy cutting programs and jobs and laying off some 18,000 civil servants. No surprise the economy is shrinking in response to this foolish ideologically inspired austerity. The central bank has made noises about raising interest rates. … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment