Who’d a thought it? Unemployment leaps 0.5% in a month

Published in April 9th, 2009

As usual, the latest set of data from the ABS on the economy was “unexpectedly worse” than (neoclassical) economists had been expecting. The consensus was for a 0.2% increase over the month of March, from 5.2 to 5.4 percent. In fact, it leapt by two and a half times as much, to 5.7%.
This was right [...]

Steve Keen’s Debtwatch No. 33 April 2009: Lies, Damned Lies, and Housing Statistics

Published in April 6th, 2009

Posted by Steve Keen in Australia, Debtwatch, RBA

146 Comments

“Lies, damned lies, and statistics” is part of a phrase attributed to Benjamin Disraeli and popularised in the United States by Mark Twain: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” The statement refers to the persuasive power of numbers, the use of statistics to bolster weak arguments, and the tendency of [...]

And you think I’m ornery (2)

Published in April 1st, 2009

Posted by Steve Keen in Debtwatch

185 Comments

I’ve just been sent this link to a hilarious face-off between Max Keiser and an Economics Professor. Max calls the Wall Street speculators “financial terrorists”, calls for decapitation as in days of olde…
The most fun I got out of this was watching the Professor’s discomfort, and his attempts to understand the crisis in terms of [...]

Osinski’s “Manhattan Project”

Published in March 31st, 2009

Posted by Steve Keen in Debtwatch

47 Comments

There’s an interesting story in the New York Magazine by Michael Osinski–the author of the main software package used to create the CMOs and CDOs that have helped cripple the financial system.
Osinski’s story is worth a read in its own right. But what I found curious about it was that he appears unaware of a [...]

Big Ideas: In place of a podcast

Published in March 30th, 2009

Posted by Steve Keen in Debtwatch

18 Comments

I’m still having difficulties getting my podcasts up and running at the moment, so in lieu here is a link to the ABC Radio National Big Ideas recording of an Evatt Foundation forum on the Global Financial Crisis.
Speakers were Bernie Fraser, ex-Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, myself, and Garry Weiss, a corporate lawyer (this [...]

Neoclassical Economics: mad, bad, and dangerous to know

Published in March 24th, 2009

Posted by Steve Keen in Debtwatch

274 Comments

The whole of the most recent Real World Economics Review (formerly known as the Post-Autistic Economics Review) is devoted to the question of “How should the collapse of the world financial system affect economics?”.
My paper, which led volume 49, is reproduced below. If you’d like to read the entire volume, click here for the online [...]

Let 1001 Flowers Bloom…

Published in March 22nd, 2009

Posted by Steve Keen in Debtwatch

37 Comments

This is a facetious way of letting you all know that, as of about 5 minutes ago, there are now 1,000 users (plus yours truly) subcribed to this blog.
The average daily unique readership count is currently 5,500, which I believe implies roughly 3-5 times that many readers on a monthly basis.
I also know from feedback [...]

FHB Boost is Australia’s “Sub-prime Lite”

Published in March 22nd, 2009

Posted by Steve Keen in Debtwatch

109 Comments

The First Home Owners Boost (as it is officially known) has certainly given the Government bang for its buck. By spending roughly $200 million of its own money to date, it has added about $3 billion to the housing market. But the additional $2.8 billion has come from increased mortgage debt taken on by those [...]

James Galbraith: No Return to Normal

Published in March 21st, 2009

Posted by Steve Keen in Debtwatch

31 Comments

James Galbraith has written a very good analysis of the crisis and why the policies being followed in the USA (and, by implication, here) will not work.
I reproduce some extracts here to give you a flavour of the article, but I recommend a read of the full paper in the Washington Monthly–thanks to blog member [...]

“It’s just a flesh wound…”

Published in March 17th, 2009

Posted by Steve Keen in Debtwatch, Money dynamics, RBA

127 Comments

It seems we’ve moved from Stanley Kubrick to John Cleese. Rory Robertson’s reply to my “Rory Robertson Designs a Car” post reminds me of one of my many favourite scenes from Monty Python, the fight between King Arthur and the Black Knight:
King Arthur: [after Arthur's cut off both of the Black Knight's arms] Look, you stupid [...]

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