Donald Trump is pushing ahead with his protectionist agenda, and possibly with good reason. There were over 17 million manufacturing jobs in the US in 2000, in the 10 years that followed, China joined the WTO and the US lost about a third of those jobs. In this edition of the Debunking Economics podcast Phil Dobbie asks Steve Keen whether protectionism is valid in this day and age. What of the conventional philosophy that trying to do everything locally avoids economies of scale and pushes prices up for everyone? Steve’s argument, you need a complex economy to produce efficiency and innovation. It’s the lack of protectionism that has stymied growth in many economies. But there are exceptions, especially for an Elon Musk fan boy like Steve!
Climate Crisis
Danny Dorling – How the rich fuel climate change
A short, but well done piece by the BBC featuring Danny Dorling. Watch here
Finance
The Gig – Big Tech on its Heels This Week
There was so much going on this week we decided to do this special 6 minute flash pod to keep our listeners up to date! We’ve been tracking gig workers’ legal battles around the world […]
Economics
The MMT Podcast – Warren Mosler: What Do Central Banks Do?
Patricia and Christian talk to MMT founder Warren Mosler about quantitative easing, interest rates, inflation and all things MMT in the current context. Listen here
Paradox is proponents of free trade still hang onto the notion that their respective countries should have positive trade balances with everyone else – impossible. Throughout Britain’s domination of world trade in 19th century it had a negative trade balance.