A week or so ago I did an interview by Skype videolink with Taryn Hart of Occupied Media, talking about the issues raised by Occupy Wall Street. It’s now available online. I never watch myself on video, but I did listen to the whole thing and, allowing for a fair number of ums, ahs, and circumlocutions, I think the questions gave me the chance to state my ideas, and in some cases to work out on the spot what I thought about various issues.
{ 4 comments }
Taryn Hart 11.01.11 at 2:49 am
You won’t watch yourself? You look great – I’m convinced you’re lying about all of that “trained in the 70s” stuff.
Tim Wilkinson 11.01.11 at 10:25 am
Can we hope for some bookblogging of the new austerity chapter? I’m certain many besides me would be very interested. At this stage of the nascent occupy movement, it could be extremely useful and influential as well as merely fascinating.
For my part I’m still vaguely thinking of compiling a factsheet on the UK situation (http://occupylsx.org/?page_id=172 seems a bit unfocussed – perhaps something more like http://www.wisconsinsfuture.org/organizing_pages/popularEd/Budget/Fiscal_facts.pdf , mut mut) – which is complicated by the fact that the ‘cuts’ agenda is opportunistic and ideological rather than even a misguided attempt at reducing the deficit (not huge nor all that urgent IIUC) or the debt (which is pretty huge due to the bank bailout). Just heard, btw and e.g., that the UK govt have announced a US style programme of private industry employment of prison labour, which they are not even pretending is aimed at the vaunted economic state of emergency that is supposedly their singleminded focus. Should help with -job creation- overcoming the idleness epidemic.
RE: arguments for cutting down the size and influence of the financial sector as well as making whatever (token) attempts to reduce the level of risk it externalises as can be done without so reducing it.
I continue, a touch monomanacially, to push the myth of FISIM as a good place to start: a prosperous industry showing a negligibly positive, or even negative, contribution to the national product would of itself be a bad thing, wouldn’t it?
And in the UK at least , it does rather seem as though there has been some kind of ‘crowding out’ by the FIRE sector of less bubble-prone, more reality-based industry – though due to govt policy of running down ‘real’ industry since the 80s more than to ‘market forces’ alone, I daresay.
John Quiggin 11.01.11 at 11:51 pm
Thanks Taryn – flattery will get you everywhere :-)
Tim – austerity bookblogging is definitely on the way, and i will be interested to see anything you come up with
Antti Nannimus 11.02.11 at 1:58 am
Hi Prof. Quiggin,
If you don’t wanna watch yourself–it’s okay by us.
Have a nice diay,
Antti
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