Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Bill Mitchell — Neoliberal economic Groupthink alive and well in Europe

It is Wednesday so only a couple of snippets today. I was going to write about the BBC’s ridiculous attempt to portray Jeremy Corbyn as a sort of Russian-spy-type-dude in its Newsnight segment last Thursday (March 15, 2018). They manipulated his peaked hat (via Photoshop or through lighting) to make it look like a typical Lenin-type “Soviet stooge” hat and presented him against a red Kremlin skyline of Red Square (href=”https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/newsnight-denies-photoshopping-jeremy-corbyn-image-to-make-him-look-russian-a3792681.html”>Source). The BBC denied they had altered the hat but then admitted the BBCs “excellent,hardworking) graphics team … had the contrast increased & … colour treated) but it was only accidental (not!) that he was made to look as Leninesque as possible. Amazing how deep the anti-neoliberal Groupthink has penetrated. This is the public broadcaster! But Groupthink is alive and well in Europe and doing its best to pervert, distort, stifle and suppress debate on important matters relating to democratic freedoms and the failure of the EU.
Bill Mitchell – billy blog
Neoliberal economic Groupthink alive and well in Europe
Bill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia

8 comments:

Matt Franko said...

LOL Pelosi:

“His prophetic voice on the unsustainable trajectory of the debt was invaluable for generations of policymakers on both sides of the aisle. His strong moral leadership to ensure our children and grandchildren inherit a healthy fiscal future leaves a remarkable legacy …“

It must REEEEEAAALLY SUCK to be a Democrat! LOL!

How stupid is the left???

Tom Hickey said...

How stupid is the left???

The Democratic Party establishment is center right. The so-called progressives are centrists.

These is no genuine left in US politics comparable to other countries.

Tom Hickey said...

In other countries where there is a real left, the left doesn't appear to be mostly stupid economically.

Leftists are often good at social, political and economic diagnostics (identifying what's wrong), but poor in etiology (identifying causes) and therapeutics (what need to be done and how to proceed).

Matt Franko said...

“Leftists are often good at social, political and economic diagnostics (identifying what's wrong), but poor in etiology (identifying causes) and therapeutics (what need to be done and how to proceed).”

Agree!!!

They should just be satisfied with assessing the results not trying to get involved with implementations...

Tom Hickey said...

They should just be satisfied with assessing the results not trying to get involved with implementations..

I would say that they just need to up their game.

There are plenty of STEM trained people on the Left. Einstein was a socialist. for example.

Why Socialism?

Calgacus said...

In other countries where there is a real left, the left doesn't appear to be mostly stupid economically.

I think that is living in the past - or the future. They're almost all mostly stupid. Sure, that is how it used to be. But now --- The Greek left is "real", but much, much stupider than anyone in the US. The French left for a long time has been very stupid and to the right of the French right. And that is pretty much the norm for Europe; they're more obsessed with absurd "fiscal responsibility" than the right. Corbyn's Labour is to the left of the UK right, but that is pretty recent.

The Dems are atrocious. But so is most of the rest of the world's left. The problem is that they believe their own and the right's lies more than the right does.

Tom Hickey said...

I wrote, "In other countries where there is a real left, the left doesn't appear to be mostly stupid economically."

This is a typo.

I meant to write "does" rather than doesn't.

Agree with what Calgacus posted.

Matt Franko said...

They’re stupid when it comes to material matters ... they’re not stupid when it comes to non material outcomes... we on the materialist right are stupid about those things...

Need more balance...