What Have we Learned From the Crisis?
A lecture about the crisis has begun to circulate on the internet. Filmed in 2010, the video is of a lecture at the OECD by one of the UK's most renowned economists.
Robert Skidelsky, lifelong peer in the in British House of Lords, emeritus professor of Economics of Warwick, and award-winning biographer of J.M. Keynes discusses lessons and recommendations resulting from the crisis. Central to his argument: Labor should not pay for the sins of the financial sector. This is especially true considering that the sovereign debt problems began by bailing out the banks....and considering the fact that the bankers themselves are not actually being made to suffer the consequences of their recklessness.
"Policy is now geared to prevent any substantial increase in employment for years ahead". I for one agree that this is NOT the way forward.
As a politician ,Skidelsky has begun to emerge as a leading British voice in opposition to the tide of austerity cuts by the UK and many other G20 nations which is currently taking hold. So far, Skidelsky has not been shy about expressing his point of view in London, Paris, and Brussels.
As for the rest of us, we would do well to listen to the point of view of a scholar who happens to be expert on the great depression to see us through the current debacle, since the similarities between the two are evident.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
About the Speaker:
Robert Alexander, Barron of Skidelsky is an emeritus professor of economics at Warwick and a member of the House of Lords in the UK. He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1994 and has published an award-winning three-volume biography on J.M. Keynes.
No comments:
Post a Comment