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What's been going on
Hi Everyone,
I have been working on a couple of larger projects recently, which is why there have not been as many updates. Both are pretty exciting, and I am looking forward to sharing them with you shortly.
If you know someone who you think would enjoy the blog, please consider giving them a gift subscription!
In the meantime, here are a few “greatest hits” which I hope are good examples of what this blog offers - a historical perspective on economics and democracy that also helps us inform and course correct today:
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The History of Hyperinflation in Germany after WWI is Dangerously Wrong. Here's Why That Matters.
Many economists, historians and news articles will seek to explain the dangers of hyperinflation by citing Germany, but the history is almost entirely wrong. In the mid-1920s, there was a period of hyperinflation in Germany when the value of money dropped so badly that people were wheeling money around in wheelbarrows or used it as wallpaper (all true).
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Canada's Capital Gains Tax Hike Closes a Loophole Being Used to Fleece Canadians on Debt, Housing and Rent
The blowback on proposed change to Canada’s capital gains tax in the Federal Budget has been greeted with the usual shower of bovine scatology. As I wrote earlier, the quality of Canada’s policy debates on economics is absolute dreck, and this is …
And this final story - which should really be one of the most important political stories of the year - the fact that U.S. oil producers effectively decided to join with OPEC and fix oil prices, leading to record profits in the U.S. and Canada.
The record profits drove up inflation across the U.S. and Canada - about a quarter of all inflation. The cost per Canadian was over $4,000 over two years.
The funds went to shareholders and to pay off debt, not to invest in new production - which means that folks in the oil industry - workers, truckers, suppliers, manufacturers - didn’t share in the cartel-generated windfall, which was over $100-billion in a single year.
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The National Interest Part 4: Price-Fixing, Petro-Politics & Petro-Propaganda
I was midway through writing this piece when I came across this astonishing piece of news - that US oil companies worked with OPEC to drive up the price of oil. The impact was incredible, as Matt Stoller writes - it caused 27% of all inflation increases in 2021 in the U.S.. According to Stoller,
Thank you for your support!
Dougald