Economics

Let the banks fail 2008 was a year of financial disaster and near government collapse. The crisis has been deemed by economists as the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression of 1930s. But in the worldwide turmoil, the country…

By Martin Khor* Recent government actions by Indonesia and India to issue compulsory licenses are extending the trend in Asia to increase access to cheaper medicines to treat serious ailments, especially HIV/AIDS, cancer and hepatitis B. The supply of generic…

The manifest: In recent months, the impact on our lives of the so-called crisis has intensified and politicians show no will or capacity to act upon it. So, we are building our own politics, we are taking the initiative, revealing…

By Shastri Ramachandaran* As skeletons keep tumbling out of the cupboard of a government besieged by corruption charges, an agitated people may well despair that battling corruption in India’s officialdom is a Sisyphean task. Far from gaining in momentum, the…

Record unemployment rates and budget cuts implemented by governments have caused a fall in consumer confidence within the Eurozone, the European Commission (EC) reported on Thursday. The indicator dropped to a negative 25.9 points from a negative 24.6 in August,…

China’s voracious appetite for natural resources has driven a boom of investments and aid to African countries. In the Southern African country of Zambia, Chinese companies are building roads, hospitals, sports stadia as well as reviving copper mines abandoned in…

In Southern Spain, Juan Manuel Sánchez Gordillo, mayor of the small town of Marinaleda, is helping organize a growing protest movement against the austerity measures imposed by the Spanish government. Sánchez Gordillo and the landless peasants that follow him are…

The International Monetary Fund’s director, Christine Lagarde, caused outrage in May 2012 when she said that what Greeks should do is help themselves collectively by all paying their taxes. Few days after, The Guardian made public that her salary –$467,940 a…

The United Nations is calling for a number of new taxes in a bid to help aid the world’s poor. In a new report, the World Economic and Social Survey calls for proposals including taxes on carbon emissions, financial transactions, and on the world’s billionaires. Robert Vos of the U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs unveiled the report.

When it becomes clear to everyone that the all-powerful economists have little to offer other than more cuts, more austerity measures, more insults (“go pay your taxes” or “you’re poor because you are lazy”), then people realise it’s up to them, and real human creativity takes over. That’s how a crisis becomes an opportunity.