Listen to my two recent Alternative Visions radio shows where I sum up the 10 most important US and global economic events of last year, 2019 in the first post; and in the second the 10 most important US economic and political events for the last decade, 2010-19. Understanding the past helps understand the current juncture, 2020, as well as identifies possibilities for future decade, 2020-29, to come.
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For 2019 SHOW GO TO:
https://www.podbean.com/site/EpisodeDownload/PBCDB794684W6
For 2010-2019 SHOW GO TO:
https://www.podbean.com/site/EpisodeDownload/PBD0EDD7K4WUG
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SHOW CONTENT ANNOUNCEMENTS FOR BOTH
2019 Alternative Visions Show:
Dr. Rasmus reviews the 10 most important US and global economic events of 2019. Topics include the Fed’s 2016-18 interest rate hike policy reversal and 2019 interest rate cuts; the 2019 Repo market crisis; Trump’s trade wars ( USMCA and China deals); the US 5 mo. manufacturing recession now worsening; the 9 mo. long 2019 contraction in US real investment; the stock market and bond boom of 2019 (and what’s driving it); Trump’s official budget deficit now >$1 trillion & continued tax cutting; and US debt—public and private—surpassing $60 trillion. Globally, the top 10 events include: global trade stagnation, global manufacturing recession, central banks’ shift again to QE, global stock market boom, $15 trillion in negative interest rates, >$10 trillion in global non-performing bank loans, emergence of initial alternatives to the US dominated SWIFT international payments system, Latin American economies’ currency crises, growing financial instability in India, and China’s economy slowing GDP and rising debt and emerging defaults.
2010-2019 Alternative Visions Show
Today’s show delves deeper and looks at the 10 most important US economic and political events of the past decade, since the great recession and financial crash of 2007-09. Topics covered include: Obama’s failed economic recovery program of 2009, Obama’s $6 trillion in extended Bush tax cuts for the rich and business, the $1T austerity program of 2011 cutting social programs, the Federal Reserve Bank’s $5T bailout of the banks and investors via QE and zero interest rates for banks for 7 years, the US debt acceleration for government, households and business, the financial asset market boom and bubbles (stocks, bonds, derivatives, etc.) still underway, $10 trillion in corporate stock buybacks and dividend payouts, the deregulation of the ACA and Dodd-Frank healthcare and bank Acts of 2010, and the rise of digital currencies like Bitcoin, Libra (proposed), and others. On the political side of the past decade, most important events include the Supreme Court passage of Citizens United, Obama’s failure to bail out Main St. in 2010 and Democrat party debacle in the 2010 midterm elections, the shift in the ‘Red’ states and consequent spread of voter suppression, gerrymandering, and red state dominance of the electoral college, Trump’s transformation of the Republican party into a sycophant base and personal following, the cultural decline of America witnessed in rising opioid addiction, gun killings, and suicides, the Muller Report and Democrats outmaneuvered by Trump, and the Impeachment of Trump in 2019.
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