John Lennon’s best line in a lifetime of song-writing was “life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans”. I had planned today to write about the excellent Atlantic Monthly The Economy Summit 2013 conference I spoke at in Washington on Wednesday, where it seemed that senior figures in the US were finally starting to realise that private debt, not public, was the main game in a debt-deflation.
Then “I read the news today, oh boy”. I woke at 4am on Sunday to the news that the EU has confiscated 10 per cent of depositors’ funds in its ‘bailout’ of Cyprus, in a move that will raise around €6 billion. Lennon didn’t go far enough. It seems political suicide is also what happens when you’re busy making other plans.
This madness in Europe is in part a product of politicians and economists who don’t understand money–or history. Help me develop a monetary and historically aware approach to macroeconomics. There’s just 5 hours left for you to help Kickstart Minsky.
