Far from embodying some timeless ‘Olympic spirit’, the 2012 Games reflect the injustice and inequality of the current economic system, writes David Renton. Long before John Carlos stood beside Tommie Smith to give their famous clenched-fist salutes on the podium at the 1968 Olympics, he was a boy growing up in Harlem. ‘When I first learned about the existence of the Olympics,’ he recalls, ‘my reaction was d ...

There’s a famous scene in Casablanca where the police chief, Captain Renault, arrives to close Rick’s cafe and announces: “I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!” A croupier hands him a bundle of notes: “Your winnings, sir.” Renault pockets the cash and orders: “Everybody out at once!” ...

Thanks to lax international tax rules the world’s super rich have siphoned at least $21 trillion -- more than 50 percent larger than the entire U.S. economy -- into secretive tax-free havens, according to a study by UK campaign group Tax Justice Network. The report by James Henry, a former chief economist at international consultancy McKinsey & Co., shows how with the help of private banks the money has ...

”The Greek economy is truly broken. The circuits of credit are so badly damaged that even efficient, profitable firms have been cut out of the capital markets …. Moreover, the new spending cuts… will give the forces of recession another boost. To cut a long story short, there is no doubt that such loosening up will simply prolong the agonising death of the Greek social economy.” –Yanis Varoufakis, economist ...

For the architect of the euro, taking macroeconomics away from elected politicians and forcing deregulation were part of the plan The idea that the euro has "failed" is dangerously naive. The euro is doing exactly what its progenitor – and the wealthy 1%-ers who adopted it – predicted and planned for it to do. That progenitor is former University of Chicago economist Robert Mundell. The architect of "supply ...

We now have a debt structure that will lead to ructions between the EU, the IMF and a Greece asked to consent to suicide. Is the eurozone crisis ending with a whimper? This view is currently gaining ground for several reasons. First, the European Central Bank has buoyed banks by supplying €1tn-worth of liquidity since last December. Second, Greek debt has been restructured, a new bailout has been agreed, an ...

Ever since Greece hit the skids, we’ve heard a lot about what’s wrong with everything Greek. Some of the accusations are true, some are false — but all of them are beside the point. Yes, there are big failings in Greece’s economy, its politics and no doubt its society. But those failings aren’t what caused the crisis that is tearing Greece apart, and threatens to spread across Europe. No, the origins of thi ...

“Austerity has failed because Greek society has been destroyed, the production base has been dissolved. Our country has been in a deep recession for five consecutive years. This has never happened in Europe in peacetime.” –Alexis Tsipras, leader of Greece’s Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) Europe is a trainwreck. The signs of a credit crunch are popping up in countries on the periphery, a slow-motion ...

In the millions of words written about Europe’s debt crisis, Germany is typically cast as the responsible adult and Greece as the profligate child. Prudent Germany, the narrative goes, is loath to bail out freeloading Greece, which borrowed more than it could afford and now must suffer the consequences. Would it surprise you to know that Europe’s taxpayers have provided as much financial support to Germany ...

It's the inescapable question: would Greece now be better off outside the eurozone than inside? There are powerful and plausible arguments both ways. Those who answer in the negative point out that Athens is still, despite years of massive cuts, spending more than it takes in tax revenues. This means that if the country were to default on its debts and leave the eurozone tomorrow, it would have to impose br ...