Michael Hudson - THE BUBBLE AND BEYOND

I am grateful to Steve Keen, Henry Liu, Dirk Bezemer and Yves Smith for the discussions we have had over the years in clarifying the chapters and basic argument put forth in this book and to my Modern Monetary Theory colleagues Randy Wray, Stephanie Kelton and Marshall Auerbach at the University of Missouri (Kansas City).

For over ten years my Gang8 colleagues Geoffrey Gardiner, Gunnar Tomasson and Arno Daastol (for many years my webmaster) have joined in an ongoing critique of how orthodox schools retain the Ricardian tradition of describing how economies would work without free credit creation and debt. That is of course why these schools (like Ricardo himself) have received backing from the financial sector, which seeks to make its product debt invisible to economists, politicians and the general public.

In addition to setting this book in type, Cornelia Wunsch has been a part of this project from the beginning, and has provided the most important editorial guidance and encouragement. David Kelley, my fellow advisor to Congressman Dennis Kucinich, has egged me on to focus my argument more clearly.

Starting in 2005, Lewis Lapham gave me a popular forum for my ideas in Harpers, for which Nigel Holmes provided the illustrations for the The New Road to Serfdom article. He also illustrated the compound interest charts in Chapter 2. Alex Cockburn at CounterPunch and Michel Chossudovsky at Global Research provided me with popular electronic forums for my reporting of current events. Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism and Stephanie Kelton at UMKCs New Economic Perspectives have published my articles and provided discussants that have shaped some of these chapters.

In New York the late Bob Fitch, Bertell Ollman, Xulin Dong and Sjjabri Oncu have read and given me instructive feedback on most of the chapters in this book. My colleagues Jeff Sommers (along with Dirk Bezemer noted above) have co-written articles with me on the neoliberal disaster in Latvia.

In Japan, Bill Totten has provided much help, and in the Basque Country, Joseba Felix-Tobar has integrated my theories with my UMKC colleagues. Pacifica Network broadcasters Bonnie Faulkner, Amy Goodman and Suzi Weissman have conducted interviews that have led me to state my ideas more forcefully. Likewise at i-tulip, Eric Janszen has been a good source of back-and-forth discussion over the years.

Karl Fitzgerald at Prosper Australia in Melbourne has served as my web-master for michael-hudson.com for the past few years. Lynn Yost has been an indefatigable friend and editor, and Keith Wilde has been reading my articles for many years.

In Germany, Frank Schirrmacher and Nils Minkmar at the Frankfurt All-gemeine Zeitung have pushed me to discuss the political implications of my financial analysis, while Martin Bartels and my colleagues at the Boeckler Stiftung meetings in Berlin have helped spur me to define my theories more clearly. Most recently, Rob Johnson has invited me to present my summary paper (Chapter 20 in the present volume) at the April 2012 meetings in Berlin of the Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET).

I could not have completed this book without the tender care and nurturing given by my wife Grace, who has fought valiantly to keep me distraction free.

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