Joseph Stiglitz on America’s Economic Meltdown

Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz explains what drove the US economy off a cliff and what steps need to be taken to rectify the situation during a Nation Institute panel discussion held to mark the release of a new book: “Meltdown: How Greed and Corruption Shattered Our Financial System and How We Can Recover” by Katrina vanden Heuvel and the editors of The Nation.

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25 Responses to Joseph Stiglitz on America’s Economic Meltdown

  1. arzoyan says:

    Capitalism is the wage slavery of immense humanity in a politically manipulated,tyrannical MARKET MECHANISM of artificial scarcity to perpetuate the conditions of servitude and compliance in the interest of the OWNING/RULING CLASS. Capitalism in State dictatorship or Corporate Fascism modality is a monetary control,suppression and deception of the Working Class across the world. We need to reclaim our lives,our Planet for a world of cooperation for our common needs and well being.

  2. arzoyan says:

    Capitalism is the wage slavery of immense humanity in a politically manipulated,tyrannical MARKET SYSTEM OF ARTIFICIAL SCARCITY to perpetuate servitude and exploitation in the interest of the ruling class. Capitalism as system of commodity production for the profit of the ruling class is historically oudated , a decomposing corpse suffocating humanity. We need to evolve ,sharing the Earth in cooperation for our common needs and wellbeing in harmony within and without. Capitalism is evil

  3. perezDeSanFernando says:

    End the Federal Reserve and its artificial credit expansions which lead to the artificial boom and the misallocation of resources. And how about we stop inflating away our prosperity? How are those with few dollars supposed to survive when the powers-that-be are constantly increasing the money supply and thus devaluing everyone’s purchasing power? We need a society of savers and investors, not spenders and debtors. Austrian economics is the cure to the Keynesian disease.

  4. sambking says:

    Sorry. I don’t think so. There is no such thing as “sufficient demand.” Demand happens because prices drop to the point where people want to buy certain things. There is no IDEAL state of demand that can be coerced out of “an economy.” Read von Mises and Rothbard. Read the Austrian School economists. Stiglitz is just another central planner mouthpiece.

  5. tothatextent says:

    No, no more Jews controlling money in America. There are already too many.

  6. shadowgeyser says:

    Deregulation. Right. Please explain the tens of thousands of pages of regulation in the Federal Register, where regulation increases astronomically every time there is a “slump”? See regulations(dot)justia(dot)com for a list. Also, please address how the Act was repealed in the 90’s, and how one vital piece of regulation was left; the FDIC, that incentivized failure.

  7. Someideasandstuff says:

    The “Austrians” are some of the most clueless, yet respected, economists on the planet. Unfortunately, the tea-party doesn’t understand this.
    .

  8. mrwalterwalters says:

    Clueless meaning? Many tenants of the Austrians are the basis for the libertairian movement in America. Austrians may be misguided in their mathematics and lack of sophisticated economic modeling, but their understanding of history and view for the future of the world are right on!

  9. mrwalterwalters says:

    Clueless meaning? Many tenants of the Austrians are the basis for the libertarian movement in America. Austrians may be misguided in their mathematics and lack of sophisticated economic modeling, but their understanding of history and view for the future of the world are right on!

  10. Someideasandstuff says:

    the (tea-party) doesn’t fully understand how our society is made up of more than just our economic system. I’m not saying there aren’t plenty of things that need to be fixed in our government. But if we look at a country like Germany who has an affordable university system and universal healthcare, we should be learning from their models.
    .

  11. whereismybailouttv says:

    Here’s a suggestion. Instead of all of these economists writing more books and cutting each other down, why not band together to be more effective with your message?

    How come there’s no National Association of Economists? How come there’s no Economists lobbying group in D.C.? Is it because of money, fame, fortune, power, groupies?

  12. whereismybailouttv says:

    Maybe these economists secretly want the global depression to continue because it keeps them in business. If the economy was fixed, would anybody:
    listen to them?
    buy their books?
    pay their lecture fees?
    be invited on the cable news shows?

    No they wouldn’t.

  13. Bellantoni says:

    @shadowgeyser The FDIC is deposit insurance, it doesn’t regulate anything at all. It’s there to help these banks out of the messes they make.

  14. Bellantoni says:

    Actually it’s the other way around.

  15. franks2732 says:

    he spoke out and he was right, medium wealth has not increased for over 95% of the worlds population except for the top 5% no one has seen an improvement. Rather the standard of living, disposable income etc have all Plumeted. For all the talk of free markets all we see is continued wealth in the hands of the most wealthy while less money is in the hands of the most needy. What is the solution offered by the robber barons to fix the problem, give them more ability to keep more

  16. Shenlong86 says:

    Historically very few countries developed from “laisse-faire” policies…..most countries developed using an mixture of aggressive imperialistic measures(colonialism) and protectionism…only when their main industries were stronger they started to use the rhetoric of “free market” to impose western style capitalism to less competitive nation…China is Growing So Fast only because they aren’t following the neo-liberal policies like Sub Saharian Africa or South America

  17. gen6k says:

    all economists should try to figure out anticapitalism, it doesnt matter how “liberal” or “conservative”, how “egalitarian” they are in foreign policy or how efficiently market or welfare socialist they are, capitalism will always for eternity, produce war and expolitation….

  18. detox4u says:

    medium income is falling but mean income is rising, clever selective use of statistics, seems that ol Stieglitz is being fairly disingenuous.. The economy has always had cycles which is ameliorated or exacerbated by government interaction. Odd how he pulls sundry mix of facts, US housing, world oil prices, to explain cyclical economic behavior. The whole argument is beyond suspect.

  19. xadam2dudex says:

    the US will have a lost decade between 2010 – 2020 if not longer unless the system is changed.. but those in power will never let that happen.. until the people rise up against the corrupt system the US is headed for a 3rd world country with a poor and rich society

  20. KAAAching1 says:

    agree on some point, disagree with others

  21. KAAAching1 says:

    agree on some points, disagree with others

  22. akkonburike says:

    All right, to show that we aren’t bullshiting you: Stigliz DEFENDED child labor with literally the same excuse — as the early capitalist from Manchester used to DEFEND child labor (note: child labor was successfully banned from England almost a century ago).
    Luckily, their credibility is snapped by self-contradictions: If ‘regulating’ sweatshops and child labor is impossible (according to Krugman) — then who or what can ‘regulate’ finance yet alone globalization?
    Globalization failed.

  23. akkonburike says:

    I hope someday a historian will find this comment. Cos a total nobody figured it out first, suckers ^_^
    Stiglitz and Krugman managed to fool ’em all: The political classes, Academics and high profile journalist (LMD etc) – they shouldnt have risen to prominence they are deceitful: Above somebody wrote “he spoke out against globilization”, but Stigliz is pro globalization!
    You could save the world – if you can drum up a few scientist to refute economics and the NYT, The Economist, Time etc ^_^

  24. CrowdPleeza says:

    What do you all think of Fannie & Freddie Mac execs recently getting sued for subprime fraud by the SEC? These are the first charges brought against those responsible for the financial meltdown.

  25. MillionthUsername says:

    This guy is a Keynesian hack. Like all fascists, he believes that a small group of people have the right to loot others and to “manage” the economy. But in a free society, the economy is the result of voluntary exchange.

    People like this make their living propagandizing for the establishment &lobbying against liberty. Typically, they support centralized government and banking power which create great economic cycles through rabid interventionism and doling out of special privileges to elites.

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