Veille 2.1

Inflation is a disease that disproportionately afflicts the poor. Even before Vladimir Putin unleashed his brutal war on Ukraine, whose byproducts include soaring energy and food prices, inflation was already over 7.5% in the US and above 5% in Europe and the UK. Calls for its taming are, therefore, fully justified – and the interest rate rise in the US, with the same expected in the UK, comes as no surprise. That said, we know from history that the cure for inflation tends to devastate the poor even more. The new wrinkle we face today is that the supposed solutions threaten not only to deal another cruel blow to the disadvantaged but, ominously, to snuff out the desperately needed green transition.

Grieks econoom Yanis Varoufakis ziet drie redenen waarom de laatste klimaatconferentie opnieuw een debacle is geworden: een wereldwijd probleem van free-riding (de onrechtmatige overconsumptie van basisgrondstoffen door de grote bedrijven), het gebrek aan internationale coördinatie en ... het kapitalisme.

Net zero is popular among polluters for good reason – it’s toothless compared to emissions restrictions and a carbon tax