About Me
- Vic Volpe
- Los Angeles, California, United States
- The blog 'Breaking Bread' is for a civil general discussion, like you might have at the dinner table with guests. The posts 'Economics Without the B.S.' are intended for a general audience that wouldn't have to know the difference between a Phillips Curve, a Laffer Curve, or a Cole Hamels Curve. Vic Volpe was formally educated at Penn State and the University of Scranton, with major studies in History, Economics and Finance, and Business; and, is self-educated since by way of books and on-line university courses. His practical education came from fifty years of work experience in the blue-collar trades as well as a white-collar professional career -- a white-collar professional career in production and R&D. In his professional career and as a long-haul trucker, he has traveled throughout the lower forty-eight. From his professional career alone he has visited many manufacturing plants in the United States, Europe and China. He has lived in major metropolitan areas and very small towns in various parts of the United States. He served three years with the U.S. Army as an enlisted man, much of that time in Germany.
Saturday, February 26, 2022
Thursday, February 17, 2022
Inflation and Monetary Policy
Inflation and Monetary Policy
Economics Without The B.S.**:
[** Double entendre intended.]
How effective has Monetary Policy been in fighting inflation and promoting good economic growth?
Monday, February 14, 2022
Inflation and the Price of Oil
Inflation and the Price of Oil
Economics Without The B.S.**:
[** Double entendre intended.]
What is the relationship between the price of oil and the Consumer Price Index?...especially as we become more and more a Service Sector economy?
Sunday, February 6, 2022
Ukraine -- What now?
Ukraine -- What now?
I’m reading
several news accounts today of how the U.S. is to blame for Russia/Putin’s
action with Ukraine. They say it started
with the U.S. attempt to expand NATO when the Soviet Union collapsed. Oh really?
As I recall
almost thirty years ago – the mid-1990s – as we were dealing with a newly
created Russia and the questioning if NATO was still needed, what shall we do
with NATO? Some of the idealistic talk
was that if a new free Russia could liberalize it could join with the rest of
Europe economically and a cooperative military arrangement could be made that
would work with NATO.
This talk
was not that all idealistic; it was acted on.
While Russia was not ready to join the European Union (EU) economically,
it was invited and did become a participating member of the G-7, making it the
G-8 in 1997. With upgrades to its
economy, it could be ready to join the EU.
Of the
former East Bloc of the Soviet Union, all of those countries started their
application to the EU between 1993 and 1996 and got their membership after 2000. Russia never applied or started an initiative
to join the EU.
In 1999 the
Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland became members of NATO – none of them border
on Russia proper; Poland borders on Kaliningrad which is part of Russia but
separate from the main territory because it is wedged between Poland and
Lithuania. So no NATO nation was on the
Russian border when Putin came to power in August 1999 and became President of
Russia in May 2000. The Baltic States
and other nations on Russia’s border joined NATO 2004 and after.
My point is
this: Russia, in the mid-1990s, had two
paths to follow. It could liberalize and
join Western Europe, or it could remain as it has historically, an East
European power. It choose the later, not
the former; and when Putin came to power, he doubled down on this. Putin had an opportunity to truly
revolutionize Russia’s outlook for the future; but choose otherwise. Germany had a similar opportunity after WWII
in the 1950s – to take its traditional role of a Central European power,
counter-balancing its interests East and West; or turn to the West and join in
an alliance. Konrad Adenauer, the leader
of West Germany in 1949, choose a new path for Germany’s future.
Russia lost its G-8 membership when it invaded the Crimea in 2014. History has no subjunctive case. Here we are. Now what?
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