The 2015 Federal Budget Ended Pension Protections for Millions of Retirees (Videos)

BLANK Jan 5, 2015 A rule sneaked into the new federal budget endangers retiring Americans by eliminating the government's legal obligation to insure pensions in the event the funds cannot pay retirees. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )

Michael Hudson: American Sanctions on Russia Backfire as Putin Partners With China

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Nov 15, 2014 Out of the week's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings has emerged the understanding that "the center of global economic investment is shifting to Asia, leaving the United States out as well as Europe," economist Michael Hudson says. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Russia-Ukraine Gas Deal Comes at a Price (Updated)

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Nov 1, 2014 Aid from the International Monetary Fund will enable Ukraine to pay billions in debt to Russia's primary gas company and free up enough of Ukraine's budget to allow the country to buy fuel through the winter. But the IMF deal entails major reforms to the country's energy industry. Dig deeper ( 5 Min. Read )

The New Cold War’s Ukraine Gambit

By Michael Hudson Oct 23, 2014 With the IMF and European Central Bank acting as knee-breakers in what has become a financial extension of NATO, the U.S. and its allied investors aim to appropriate the wealth that kleptocrats took from the public domain of Russia, Ukraine and other post-Soviet economies, as well as whatever assets remain. Dig deeper ( 31 Min. Read )

The Insider’s Economic Dictionary: S Is for Saint-Simon

By Michael Hudson Aug 9, 2014 Sex: The topic that has proved strong enough to displace religious and academic discussion about property and wealth as the driving force in human affairs and evolution. Dig deeper ( 8 Min. Read )

Voters Reject Traditional Left Parties in EU Parliament Elections

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Jun 1, 2014 "The U.S. press and newscasts make it appear that Europeans have voted against poor immigrants and foreigners," economist Michael Hudson adds to an interview he had done with The Real News Network. "What they voted against [was] the super-rich, the oligarchy." Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

The Insider’s Economic Dictionary: R Is for Rentier

By Michael Hudson Apr 14, 2014 Race to the bottom: A term for dog-eat-dog competition by which countries compete by cutting wage levels so as to produce in the cheapest market, not by raising wages and labor productivity. Dig deeper ( 8 Min. Read )

The Insider’s Economic Dictionary: P Is for Ponzi

By Michael Hudson Apr 13, 2014 Parasitism: In biology, parasites develop a strategy of gaining control of the host’s brain in order to obtain nourishment by masquerading as its natural progeny or as a part of its body. For economies, the brain in question is the government. Dig deeper ( 11 Min. Read )

Ukrainian Hangovers

By Jeffrey Sommers and Michael Hudson, CounterPunch Mar 17, 2014 The Crimean population's only protection from U.S.-sponsored regional and ethnic political division comes from Russia. That is the gift Obama has given Putin, making him a defender of Ukraine rather than the aggressor. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )

Ukraine: ‘Go West, Young Man’

By Jeffrey Sommers and Michael Hudson, Truthout Mar 2, 2014 When other countries seek to defend a multi-ethnic secular state, the U.S. foreign office has backed the fundamentalists for nearly the past half-century in all cases. This should be the subtext for reporting on the Ukrainian uprising that seems to have been carefully timed to coincide with Sochi. Dig deeper ( 8 Min. Read )

Russia’s Economic Development to Offset Terrorist Fervor?

By Jeffery Sommers and Michael Hudson Feb 27, 2014 Nothing would go further toward rebuilding prosperity in Russia than a national program to transform the country’s infrastructure. Sochi has shown the way forward, and that is the real story the Western media have sidestepped. Dig deeper ( 7 Min. Read )

Monopoly’s Poster Children

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Feb 17, 2014 Economist Michael Hudson talks about how the economic crisis, austerity, U.S. economic policy and decisions made by local political parties shaped Ireland's economy. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )