I’ve been arguing that Europe needs an orderly debt restructuring for Greece to avoid much worse consequences. There’s video below of my guest host appearance on CNBC’s Worldwide Exchange with Nicole Lapin May 23, 2011, discussing the challenges facing Europe as it struggles with Greece’s debt crisis.
A CNBC follow-up article, “Will Eurobonding Save the Day?” further discussed a proposal which I support -originally made by the Brussels-based think tank Bruegel- to pool European debt into a more liquid Euro-bond. Actually, it would involve two kinds of Euro-bonds: senior “Blue bonds” representing debt under 60% of each nation’s GDP, and junior “Red bonds,” for higher amounts, which would trade at much higher yields reflecting the increased risk. The Bretton Woods Project also has cited my argument for an orderly pre-emptive default in a June 13 article, “IMF’s European Austerity Drive Goes On Despite Failures and Protests“
Today’s debt crises among European sovereigns and US underwater mortgage holders both have much in common with a similar chronicle of debt foretold in Argentina a decade ago: the answer that involves the least amount of pain is a swift restructuring. In “Chronicle of a Debt Foretold,” a new paper for the World Economic Roundtable, organized jointly by the World Policy Institute and the Economic Growth Program of the New America Foundation, I argue that the answer is similar to the stitch in time that was proposed for Argentina, on which policy makers failed to act, modeled on the Brady Plan debt restructurings that resolved the 1980s sovereign debt crisis. We need a new Brady Plan for both the troubled European sovereign debtors, and for US underwater mortgages, before we lose another decade, as we did in the 1980s.
I was honored to speak January 22 at the Emerging Leaders Summit put together by Womensphere, a fantastic organization that inspires and empowers women.
My panel, with a group of inspiring women leaders working on education, microfinance, widows issues, poverty, the environment, and other important issues, was on challenges and solutions to international development. You can see and hear what I had to say by following this link.
Citizens of every country need to see their self-interest more broadly instead of pitting themselves against other groups, nationalities, religions, and classes. If people were to embrace this one idea in 2011, we’d see a world of greater cooperation and prosperity instead of the polarisation and malaise that affects so much of the world today. When your neighbour is better off, it’s more likely that you will be too.
We do not live in a zero-sum world. Yet if the xenophobes and hate-mongers have their way, we’ll be in a less than zero-sum world: everyone will be worse off, not only the purported targets. Concentrating wealth in the hands of the mega-rich while leaving less than crumbs for the working class destabilises society and shrinks purchasing power that could create more wealth for everyone. A country or community that cracks down unfairly on immigrants and minorities is biting off its nose to spite its face; it pulls the rug out from under families, economies, and communities instead of supporting new communities and economies. Demonising another religion instead of seeking dialogue puts precious energy into destruction instead of building. An extremist political party that puts up roadblocks, no matter what the issue, ends up destroying people’s trust in the political process instead of creating positive change.
The unintended consequences of division undermine the very goals that politicians and leaders invoke to justify actions intended to punish the few instead of to reward the whole. It’s time to change that dynamic.
In Canada for the Toronto Forum for Global Cities, Michele Wucker, President of the World Policy Institute, discusses the importance of having an effective immigration strategy to compete effectively for the highly skilled workers that keep the economy driving forward. To view the BNN video follow this link.
Join the World Policy Institute for our first ever international comedy night benefiting World Policy Journal.
Monday, September 13, 2010 – 7:00pm
With the Taliban going strong and the polar ice caps melting away, we wouldn’t blame you for feeling like there’s nothing to laugh about – until now. You may not have thought policy wonks were funny, but we’re about to prove you wrong with:
“It’s a Funny World”
Featuring
* Ophira Eisenberg
* Ian Bremmer
* Kevin Bleyer
* Robert George
* With emcee Christian Finnegan
Monday, September 13 at COMIX
343 West 14th Street (just east of Ninth Avenue)
Monday, August 30, 2010 “Worldwide Exchange”
Clip from Guest Host Appearance
”We’ve got a structural problem where Americans aren’t being matched up properly with the jobs that are available,” Michele Wucker from the World Policy Institute told CNBC, adding that the stimulus plan needs “to be used wisely.”
“Squawk on the Street”
A new survey predicts U.S. will slip in global competitiveness over next 5 years, with Michele Wucker, World Policy Institute and Greg Valliere, Potomac Research Group.
by Dennis Wagner
The Arizona Republic
June 20, 2010
Amid a growing national angst about illegal immigration, Americans keep hearing a chorus: Secure the border first. Then talk about immigration reform….
……..Michele Wucker, executive director of the World Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank, said border incursions happen wherever two countries have unequal economies or black-market trade.
Wucker, author of “Lockout: Why America Keeps Getting Immigration Wrong,” said those who demand a sort of iron curtain prior to policy change are obstructionists: “It means don’t ever come up with a workable system.”
Arizona has the most to gain from a new policy paradigm, Wucker argued, because the status quo made the state a thoroughfare for smuggling. Yet the state’s political leaders, caught up in a wave of public opinion, no longer press for reform.
“When I see John McCain saying, ‘Build the dang fence,’ I’m very sad,” Wucker said. “Arizona would benefit more than any other state from immigration reform at a national level. They’re really cutting off their nose to spite their face.”
An April 15, 2010 of Newsweek article by Jeneen Interlandi, “Enemies: A Love Story,” quotes me about the positive changes in the relationship between the Dominican Republic and Haiti since the January earthquake.
“We’ve had zero reports of violent attacks since the quake,” says Michele Wucker, executive director of the World Policy Institute and author of Why the Cocks Fight: Dominicans, Haitians, and the Struggle for Hispaniola. Dominican officials have also been instrumental in helping international aid groups access their earthquake-ravaged neighbor, Wucker says.
