I was on the Keiser Report yesterday. The second half of the programme was an interview with me, and there is another to come, actually recorded straight afterwards because the discussion was just getting on a roll when the first part ended.
And yes, I know this is on Russia Today. I have no love of RT, but I have no love of Sky either and I appear on that too.
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Richard, I would urge you to take a look at some of RT’s content and think again about appearing on it. There is a toxic undercurrent of conspiracy theories, normally coming down to the Jews being responsible. Particular highlights include the Rothschilds downing the Malaysian airline, the illuminati and Jews being behind Hillary Clinton, a tonne of anti-global warming conspiracy theories, far right allegations Obama was not born in the US, etc etc. When you and other people from the mainstream appear on it, you are just playing its game of appearing like a legitimate news network, when it absolutely is not.
I agree that it is not good
But then the same is true of much of Murdoch’s empire
And I do disagree with Max Keiser quite strongly in part 2
Please provide links for all of the subjects mentioned above Ciaran. I don’t recall any of these subjects being part of RT’s programming but I would certainly love to see some examples and make up my own mind. As for RT generally, its biases are so obvious that you can actually watch it and draw your own conclusions. Some of its documentaries are pretty good and make the output of News 24 seem pretty puerile. Perhaps its bias is somehow ‘worse’ than our broadcasters but they have biases and some are just as obvious. When the main broadcasters could barely manage to report what was happening in the NHS over the last five years, I assume because of fear of the Tories, then you really need to be quite tenacious to uncover the real state of affairs.
Lastly I enjoyed your interview with MK and he actually seemed very respectful, considering how terrible an interviewer he’s been lately.
We got a little more wound up in part 2
Here you go, plenty of links
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Russia_Today
Been away for a few days so…
I’ve no doubt there is some dodgy stuff on RT, just as there is on supposedly more mainstream 24News outlets…the links you’ve provided are real crapola however…if you think that your reply is anywhere near a QED moment then you are either not very old or not actually cynical or skeptical enough for today’s times. The article you linked to is as bad as the alleged output of the station you criticise. A course in critical thinking is prescribed. You can thank me in a few years.
Ciaran
Despite what yuo think RT is as a legitimate mainstream news outlet as the BBC or Sky. The fact that it is willing to at least look at some of the conspiracy “theories” is to its credit!
You might like to note that there ii also that Zionism and Judaism are not one and the same.
Insofar as the anti-global warming conspiracy, I would say that there are those, who are backed by scientific research that dispute the veracity of the claims made about Anthropogenic Climate Change (ACC). In fact the Russian President has voiced his concerns about it.
You might also start to question the motives of one of the leading protagonists for ACC, when you have read this article:-
http://www.forbes.com/sites/larrybell/2013/11/03/blood-and-gore-making-a-killing-on-anti-carbon-investment-hype/
Have you heard of “freedom of speech”? It used to be quite a popular concept in the West and you might start to question why it is slowly but surely being restricted here.
Lastly on so called conspiracy theorists, you might like to read the following:-
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3703523/
Apologies for typos .. written in far too much haste and borne out of some irritation.
You might like to note that Zionism and Judaism are not one and the same.
“The Russian President has voiced his concerns”
Because his country sells fossil fuels like they were going out of fashion (because they are going out of fashion). The views of conservative leaders in Australia, Canada (and other major “energy” exporters) are similarly predictable.
I watched Part 1 of the interview last night, and I thought you provided an excellent overview of Osborneomics. I’m glad to read that there will be a Part 2, and that you presumably challenged some of Max Keiser’s Austrian position. I’m always surprised how the Libertarian interpretation of the facts fits, but the solutions do not!
I cannot speak for the rest of RT’s position but I have never heard any anti-semitic, racist or birther-type’ comments from Max Keiser and I’ve watched most of his interviews (although I tend to switch off the Bitcoin ones….).
Wise to switch off the Bitcoin ones
And I was pretty robust with him in part 2 on banking
Max keiser has a Jewish background and so does RT reporter Paula Slier who made a documentary shown on RT about her Dutch antecedents killed during WW2.
I am from a Jewish background and have never found RT remotely propagating ant-Semitism or any other racist values. One often finds such views expressed in the comments section but that is quite different from it being an official position. With the intellectual death of the BBC and other mainstream channels of news, broadcasters like RT/Al Jazeera have a valuable role to play in challenging mainstream narratives.
Of course, as Richard points out, these outlets have biases and one has to be awake to them.
personally I feel that RT/Al Jazeera fall victim to aping the personality cult of the presenter and I would like to see a future where news can be broadcast without the careerist bullshit of journalists and presenters and the corporate image that goes with it. The Real News Network operates along these lines where no career building goes on and the physical attractiveness/non-attractiveness (according to fashion mores) of the presenter is not an issue.
TV news – we’ve largely switched off. All our household (4 adults). I did listen to your Keiser Report from 16:10 minutes on and it was enjoyable, although not as memorable as your briefer communications on Radio 4 and BBC. I reposted you KR. In my opinion you come over better on radio as your diction/accent makes for easy listening, no umghs and arrghs. You’re not as chilled as Corbyn you show emotion 🙂 We read your blog as its a fantastic source of current economics and ideas, its frothing and supports critical thought. You are a key thinker and the battle for ideas is being won against the austerity dialogue (holy scripts). Why aren’t we winning; we are outgunned and out-financed by the media, marketing, think tanks and policy groups all funded by a neoliberal ‘outer state’. We fight on though and to unite, hopefully before Bill Kruse’s [image of] pitchforks coming out.
I am happy to be a passionate man
How could you have come as far as you have without that passion? Keep it going for as long as you can!
I have recently notified my pension provider that my nominated retirement age is 83
I said that over dinner to a friend last night
My wife laughed and said there is no way she sees me ever retiring
Blimey! Doubtless, your pension providers will still calculate your pension based on a life expectancy of 30+ years after your retirmment!
I endorse everything Tony_B says. Never watch the news and find you blogs a great source of inspiration and argument for the alternative view. Keep it up!
Thank you
Agree too – but it is a source of mystery why the BBC is so shy about investigating any alternative to austerity. One begins to wonder whether or not they have a agenda. Perhaps – we can but hope – we’ll see deeper investigation after the November statement.
As for not appearing on Russian television because they do, or don’t do, other things, always remember that Enoch Powell (expect that is a first mention for this blog!) used to say that he was prepared to agree that two plus two equalled four in the company of absolutely anyone.
Thanks for dropping by to Max.
I watched the episode and enjoyed it, you explained the problems well. You’re right about there being no trickle down economy, I’ve decided it’s a Siphon Up Economy or SUE as I like to call it. There we are SUE and TINA,do you think Thatcher would approve?
Tina to Sue
Grim!
I have to agree with Max the interest rate needs to rise to normal levels before the economy can recover, 8 years of non existent growth supports the notion that it hasn’t worked. QE and BOE policy has pushed up asset prices to eye watering levels, the music has to stop at some point. Unfortunately the people that over borrowed will suffer the most. Perhaps rightly so?
Why aren’t liw interest rates ‘normal’?
Why should we all be paying the rich and bankers large parts of our income for no productive gain?
Dies that add to human well being?
Does it aid the provision of government services?
Will the burden improve the quality of lives?
Please explain how
The next government needs to be able to make difficult decisions? Safe guards can be set up to protect the vulnerable? When there’s a will there’s a way?
Allowing bad economic decisions to be underwritten by the tax payer is not sustainable, also normal households have far to much debt, reason?
To suggest that we shouldn’t increase rates to protect homeowners/borrowers or people that are in debt is crazy logic.
The banking sector needs massive reform, why haven’t they been broken up already so we can start to rebuild?!?
By the way i’m in favor of government services and the state playing an important role in the economy. However the “zombie” banking sector which underpins the entire system is where the problems still lie. Why not try to weed out the real issue, take the short term pain of reform and recession.
Unfortunately the quality of life argument is not good enough to suggest keeping the status quo, lets wipe the decks and start again.
Define low; 0.5% is too low, I would say 4-5% is normal based on historical data.
With slightly higher rates savers benefit, asset prices move to more sensible levels and borrowing can move to a more sustainable footing.
Sorry, but please answer my questions
4 – 5% would bankrupt most UK households with a mortgage now
Is that what you want?
And why when inflation is zero do you want such extraordinary rates?
RT is great alternative point of view, I detest the BBC and Sky etc for the biased reporting on almost all foreign policy matters and economic coverage.
Yes, I want the economy to be based on a system whereby if you borrow you have to be able to repay the interest. If you cannot repay then you have to sell your assets.
Anyway 4-5% would bankrupt some households not all; we see this as a negative thing, the logic is rates can never rise because of potential bankruptcy.
Is the government responsible for all household debt too, I believe this logic does not justify keeping rates at zero for 8 years and the potential of more years of zero percent rates.
Why aren’t low interest rates ‘normal’?
Zero is not normal based on historical data.
Why should we all be paying the rich and bankers large parts of our income for no productive gain?
Banking is an essential mix of the economy, money has to have a value, if I lend you money whats in it for me?
Counter question; Why pay large proportion of our income to landlords?
Does that add to human well being?
In short term it creates winners and losers but if you take a medium term view it does, it forces people to reevaluate their economic situation and make new decision based on income and expenditure.
Does it aid the provision of government services?
Yes, government services are paid for by tax payers, when wealth changes hands tax is paid. Government services should be better funded to support the needy.
Will the burden improve the quality of lives?
Burden to whom? Are you referring to paying more to borrow?
I am sorry: I have no time to engage in uninformed debate of this sort which shows such indifference to consequnces
If you want to play this silly sort of politics there are other places to do it