Europe’s new Iron Lady is even criticizing Trichet for doing some little covert easing on the side. Traditionally, central banks have been sacred to German governments. And yes, right-wing teutons would have us believe that the country is still traumatized by a bout of hyperinflation happening 85 years ago, so that monetary orthodoxy and financial rigor shall never be doubted, much less undermined. So Ms Merkel, while the country is sinking into a hole dragging the whole of Europe into unemployment and eurozone is falling into deflation (it wouldn’t if the ECB were doing some serious quantitative easing), is worrying about inflation and fiscal profligacy. Call it the Maastricht fixation. Hope the european and national elections punish here. If that weren’t the case, it’d be as if europeans had signed their own pink slip and rewarded Europe’s present élites for the mess they got us into and cannot get us out of.

(!new! check out this:
http://zoescope.wordpress.com/2008/12/22/comparing-usa-outlay)

Capitalism is in crisis. Neoliberalism is dead. Neoconservatism is deader.

We are in the Great Recession, the biggest slump since the Great Depression. And 2009 will see many more us unemployed and our wages slashed.

America, Europe, China, Russia, all the regions of the world are reeling from the consequences of the financial tsunami. The Zero Interest Rate is the last bastion of business-as-usual capitalism. Massive inflation will come next, as Central Banks will print money and buy bonds and assets to avoid deflation.

This situation presents ample opportunities for radicals of all stripes to put forward new forms of conflict, political organization and social relations, but the possibility of an authoritarian solution looms just as large, exploiting the fear and uncertainty of the millions who will be laid off, or live in the shadow knowing they could be next.

This blog comes from people that predicted the oncoming of a recession of historical proportions as early as 2004 and wanna share their knowledge of macroeconomics, political economy, and the riot sciences with people at large, starting from women, youth, immigrants, and including students, activists, unionists, free-thinkers, rabble-rousers. One thing: we might be lefties, libertarian marxians, pink radicals, green hacktivists or what have you, but we certainly are not dogmatic.

We wanna look at the chaotically unfolding economic, social, geopolitical reality with a critical mind which makes use of the tools of radical social theory and keynesian-kaleckian macroeconomics.

We wanna know how things happen for, to, and by movements. We wanna describe and discuss how insurgent strata affect socioeconomic reality and determine the redistribution from capital to labor, from state to multitude, from investment bankers to office temps.

So we’ll write, explain, report on the crisis and its consequences, while trying to keep it entertaining, and expect that you do the same. Let’s get the facts straight, keep the theory grounded, and start building in the cracks exposed by the Great Recession.