Ann Pettifor
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I'm Ann Pettifor - new economist, director of Advocacy International, PRIME Economics, analyst of the global financial system (debtonation.org), and a co-author of the Green New Deal.

I predicted an Anglo-American debt-deflationary crisis back in 2003, and am known for my work on sovereign debt and international finance, including co-founding the Jubilee 2000 (Drop the Debt) campaign.

My books include Real World Economic Outlook - the legacy of globalization, debt and deflation, and The Coming First World Debt Crisis, both published by Palgrave Macmillan.

I'm currently a fellow of the new economics foundation and Executive Director of Advocacy International and PRIME (Policy Research in Macroeconomics).

Blog Entries by Ann Pettifor

It's Official: There Is a Money Tree

(16) Comments | Posted March 24, 2013 | 7:36 PM

George Osborne, the British Chancellor, has publicly disagreed with his prime minister on a fundamental issue of monetary policy - in an official Treasury report.

The prime minister recently argued that "There's no magic money tree to fund" what he called "this ever more wishful borrowing and spending".

...
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This Was Not a Budget Statement, it Was a Defeatist Political Capitulation to Despair

(8) Comments | Posted December 5, 2012 | 6:00 PM

Two million unemployed and one million under-employed people; a construction industry mired in deepening slump; green energy suppliers ignored; retailers with few customers coming through the door - all these listened to a British Chancellor carefully today, and heard only one thing.

There is no hope. Nothing...

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The Vampire Squid's Tentacles Now Embrace the Bank of England

(18) Comments | Posted November 26, 2012 | 10:32 AM

Matt Taibi of Rolling Stone was right about the Vampire Squid: "the first thing you need to know about Goldman Sachs is that it's everywhere."

Now a scion of Goldman Sachs is to be the governor of the Bank of England.

The Chancellor's announcement today is audacious. He...

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The IMF and the End of Austerity

(37) Comments | Posted October 23, 2012 | 7:13 AM

At their annual meeting in Tokyo this year, IMF economists destroyed the case for austerity. While their analysis constituted a small part of a routine report - the World Economic Outlook - and was technical in form, the devastating impact of their conclusions could not be ignored by...

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The Case Against a Third Runway

(2) Comments | Posted September 7, 2012 | 5:16 AM

So just what has changed in the Heathrow debate, apart from the increasingly febrile political atmosphere? Supporters of the third runway (R3) claim our economy will be disastrously damaged if it doesn't proceed. But few supporting facts are put forward. This is not surprising, because the evidence is thin indeed....

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Austerity is Not the Right Strategy

(96) Comments | Posted July 19, 2012 | 8:24 AM

The British government's economic strategy is in tatters.

On the one hand the Chancellor, the Rt. Hon. George Osborne has just offered assurances to the private sector that the British taxpayer will guarantee £50bn of new infrastructure investment and exports.

On the other, the coalition's deficit reduction programme has largely...

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Greece as Whipping Boy for 'Troika' Bullies

(184) Comments | Posted September 23, 2011 | 10:40 AM

As mayhem breaks out on stock markets; as Eurozone banks freeze up; and as the global financial system approaches a frightening 'danger zone,' the champions of the globalised 'free market' and of the Euro are in search of a scapegoat.

Instead of accepting that it is the broken banking...

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An Open Letter to the People of Greece: Restore the Drachma

(195) Comments | Posted June 21, 2011 | 10:03 AM

We write to encourage you -- to urge you on in your resistance.

In your defiance, you understand Greece is slave to the interests of private wealth.

You must understand too that it is private wealth that needs Greece. Greece does not need private wealth.

As is obvious to you...

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If Japan Can Address Her Crises, Then the U.S. Can Address Job and Energy Insecurity

(48) Comments | Posted March 21, 2011 | 11:57 AM

The disaster in Japan is almost beyond comprehension. Without minimizing the scale of the humanitarian tragedy, it is already possible to discern the emerging economic debate.

Stock markets immediately anticipated the potential benefits to Japan's construction industries and their suppliers. Policy makers in the U.K. and Europe, who are busy...

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Happy Anniversary, Mr. Keynes

(140) Comments | Posted February 10, 2011 | 12:42 PM

Co-authored by Victoria Chick

Never has a book on economics been so anticipated.

John Maynard Keynes's The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money was published 75 years ago today. Back then, there were queues outside the Economists' Bookshop in Houghton Street, London. Opening hours had to be extended to...

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The Broken Global Banking System

(182) Comments | Posted October 3, 2010 | 8:49 PM

Let's be honest: the banking system is now fully dysfunctional. It has failed in its primary purpose: to act as a machine for lending into the real economy. Instead the banking system has been turned on its head, and become a borrowing machine.

HuffPost readers, I know, are smart...

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A Lesson in Power by World Leaders

(6) Comments | Posted June 7, 2010 | 6:32 PM

It's not often that you get to sit in the same room with a group of world leaders and hear their wisdom, ideas and experiences at the personal and political levels.

I've just enjoyed that privilege. And the world leaders were all women.

The occasion is a conference of thousands...

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The Real Deal in London

(53) Comments | Posted May 8, 2010 | 8:11 PM

Britain's political elites are doing deals this weekend, trying to form a government. Gingerly making their way across the shifting tectonic plates of public opinion; wary of being tripped up again by voters.

For, let's face it, the British electorate are no fools.

As the governor of the...

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Standard and Poor's: The Voice of Sanity on the Deficit

(145) Comments | Posted May 3, 2010 | 11:21 PM

It might seem extraordinary, but in the midst of deficit-cutting mania it is a rating agency, Standard and Poor's, that is talking common sense about government debt.

By doing so they are challenging members of the international Austerity Party -- a political party that dominates economic debate across the...

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Does Greece Have a Tea Party?

(60) Comments | Posted April 25, 2010 | 10:18 PM

The humiliating surrender of Greece's economic autonomy came just last Friday, 23 April, 2010. The democratically elected Prime Minister, George Papandreou transferred to unelected officials in Brussels and Washington the power to determine Greece's fiscal policy. In other words, decisions about taxation, and how tax revenues should be...

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Microsoft's Actions Show America's True Colors in China

(112) Comments | Posted March 29, 2010 | 12:12 PM

Microsoft's decision to stay doing business in China, in contrast to Google's stand on censorship, is attacked by Rep. Chris Smith as "enabling tyranny." But the company's stance is perhaps more straightforward than that of Google's. China is important to Microsoft, and the company is not...

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Iceland's Referendum -- At Last the People Can Choose

(140) Comments | Posted March 5, 2010 | 5:00 PM

By Ann Pettifor and Jeremy Smith, Advocacy International.

The people of Iceland have a deep democratic tradition. In Saturday's referendum they have the opportunity to assert their sovereignty and autonomy.

Their leadership and example will encourage people in other democracies to reject harsh cuts in public services...

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How Greece's Crisis Could Impact America

(138) Comments | Posted February 26, 2010 | 11:19 PM

Citizens are rightly angry at the way both the Bush and Obama administrations, aided by Governor Ben Bernanke -- pretty well unconditionally bailed-out the bankers of Wall St., just like governments in Europe and Asia.

While politicians and regulators rushed to dampen the flames of financial crisis with taxpayer...

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A Tale of Two Presidents

(250) Comments | Posted January 5, 2010 | 8:38 PM

A tale of two presidents. One is president of a country of about 300,000 people -- Iceland -- a country about the size of Virginia, President Olafur R. Grimsson. The second is president of a country of about 300,000,000 people, the United States. President Obama.

Both their presidencies have...

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Strengthening The Levees Against Unemployment And Rising Debt

(126) Comments | Posted November 24, 2009 | 8:22 PM

Some may wonder why I cheered when White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel announced that the president plans to cut the deficit, because he "does not want to keep on adding to the debt."

It's no secret that conservative economists believe that the way to cut the...

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