The Forgotten Ones

It is clear now that all out war will be the result of unholy jihad in Kenya, the emerging democratic republic on Africa's central coast. Al Qaida may be the source behind the latest violence or it may be a loose coalition of Islamic warlords.

Students in Kenya
What will their future bring?

Either way innocent Kenyans suffer. The US (and our European allies) have declared a World War on terrorism. How is it then that the central African continent remains a forgotten and a fertile frontier for jihadi operatives to spread their violence and political poison?

Neo-clasical Delusions

Steve Keen

Krugman is right on many of the points that he makes in his article but it is the things that he doesn't mention that stand out most dramatically. Neo-classical economists make the mistake of disregarding the private sector debt, as if it wasn't a part of the economic problems that currently envelops the globe.

The shortcomings of neo-classical theories is apparent in their lack of having economic models that actually predict economic downturns.  Steve Keen and Nouriel Roubini are two economists (among others) that were predicting the collapse before it happened.  Their warnings were mostly ignored because they broke ranks with the prevailing theories that are like dogma to to most economists.

Steve Keen has written a book entitled "Debunking Economics" that lays out the failures of neo-classical theories.  He uses mathematical modeling as a means of developing economic models that can actually predict financial downturns.

It's time for economics to adopt more rigorus standards and let go of theories that have little or no connection to economic realities.  In the meantime the immediate future looks pretty gloomy.

Reviewing National Debts

Personally, I feel much the same way about the debt as Paul Krugman presents in this article:

Nobody Understands Debt

...and perhaps a little background on the subject can be gleaned from wikipedia:

Government debt