Read all posts from ‘Austerity: Less is More?’

A struggling middle class watched from the sidelines while Congress mangled a ‘miscellaneous fiscal reform’ through the Senate and passed it in ‘fast-track’ mode, creating great concern among millions of households. When Mexico’s President Enrique Peña Nieto took up office in 2012, he came in embracing his role as the […]

Here is a fictional scenario. I’m a contestant on a quiz show called Who Wants to be a Millionaire. I’ve managed to answer all the questions correctly up to now and there’s only one more question separating me from the million dollar prize. I’m on the edge of my seat […]

  Twenty cents, that’s what we’re talking about. The massive mobilization of the Brazilian population in June was sparked off by the fight to get rid of the 20 cent hike in public transport fares. Students were the first to call for the marches, which this time had a new […]

Money is, as Bernard Lietaer describes it: the ‘iron ring’ we have put through our own noses which now drags us around. We’ve forgotten that we designed the ring in the first place, and that it is within our capacity to reshape it. What Lietaer is telling us is that […]

  Lean times have fallen on America. Barring a massive political bargain, this year’s federal budget will clock in at below $3.45 trillion, down $150 billion from the previous year (a 4% decrease). Missing are $42.7 billion in defense spending, $28.7 billion in domestic discretionary spending, $9.9 billion in Medicare, […]