Austerity: The History of a Dangerous Idea | Mark Blyth | Talks at Google
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN commenters bring it up in economics and politics threads as a historical critique of austerity policy and the thinking behind it.
What it is
Mark Blyth's Talks at Google presentation based on his book on austerity. He argues that government debt came largely from bailing out banks, and that budget cuts are a misguided response to the financial crisis.
Recommended by 1 HN commenters across 1 different months, 2015 to 2018.
What Hacker News said
Recommends wycx · 2016-12 · on “All Hollowed Out the lonely poverty of America’s white working class”
Thomas Frank on Listen Liberal: [LINK] I also suggest the following talk by Mark Blyth: [LINK] which concisely outlines the economics behind the decline of western middle classes, and the link to sentiment against mainstream political parties. If you are interested in how bad things look for europe (from 2013, but the fundamentals have not changed): [this video]
Cites isoos · 2015-07 · on “Minister No More”
Maybe austerity is a really bad idea. It has its place in the general monetary toolbox [1], but history shows that it is really not worth to use only that (Mark Blyth: Austerity - The History of a Dangerous Idea [2]). Also, even the IMF has studies where the positive effects of austerity are questioned [3]. [1] [LINK] [2] [this video] [3] [LINK] Also, the EU needs much more wealth redistribution than it is currently happening, and austerity acts contrary to that: [LINK]
Cites wycx · 2016-11 · on “Robots and industrialization in developing countries [pdf]”
I wonder, to transition from a democracy with widely distributed production, to a non-democratic regime with concentrated production, without initiating revolution, is it necessary to prepare by destruction of community at the local level and reduction of population's level of education, given educated, connected citizens are more likely to revolt than disconnected, starving, illiterate peasants. That is not something that can be done overnight. However, I am not sure it is likely that western democracies with diverse economies can regress to sufficiently concentrated ownership of production to facilitate a dictatorial regime. In the case of the US, 0.1% of 350 million is still 350,000, so t
Cites throw2016 · 2018-11 · on “UK austerity has inflicted 'great misery' on citizens, UN says”
Wonder how long before he is sacked. Rare instance of establishment official bucking the narrative. These kind of reports are usually made about 'inconvenient regimes'. Austerity [1] is a dubious predatory ideology pushed by neoliberal economists parroting the mantra of freemarkets, privatization while pushing crude policies that benefit special interests. The modus operandi is defund public services, raise a ruckus about ensuing chaos and build the rationale for privatization. A country with its own currency is a not a household. In the case of the US the dollar being the global reserve currency provides even more freedom compared to any other country. Simplistic household type comparisons