Rusty Messages: 1185 Registered: May 2018 Location: Kansas City Missouri
Illuminati (3rd Degree)
A supplemental to what's above and what Mr. Hudson has been stating for years now. The Federal Reserve system serving as an enabler to the financial systems gambling disease. On the PBS Frontline documentary series. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/
Using MMT principals the wrong way.
Wayne Parham Messages: 18783 Registered: January 2001
Illuminati (33rd Degree)
I watched an interesting documentary this weekend. It was hosted by Kal Penn, who worked as a staff member of the Obama administration. So those that lean "left" politically might find this attractive. But I don't think "right-leaning" people would be offended either, because the series appeared refreshingly politically-neutral.
Rusty Messages: 1185 Registered: May 2018 Location: Kansas City Missouri
Illuminati (3rd Degree)
That does look interesting. I heard the word trust mentioned several times in regards to money and it's value. That is what the principal of any sovereign governments money supply comes down to. Trust in that it's issued currency is the only way to pay taxes with. And it's bond notes will always be honored at it's maturity with a little extra interest. In the Frontline doc., some of the most vocal critics of the Fed's monetary easing policy are themselves the financial players.
MMT principals are being sought out by the financial market institutions for their ability in predicting world economic conditions to make better investment decisions.
Wayne Parham Messages: 18783 Registered: January 2001
Illuminati (33rd Degree)
Yes, one of the main points in that documentary series is that fiat currencies are based on trust. All parties using the currency must trust one another to accept the currency at an agreed value.
Which is exactly what causes me the most concern with escalating national debt. It would seem to me that increasing debt will cause other nations to lose trust in America's ability to pay. The world might no longer see the American dollar as the reference standard currency.
Rusty Messages: 1185 Registered: May 2018 Location: Kansas City Missouri
Illuminati (3rd Degree)
There is good debt and bad debt. When the government creates a deficit. It can be spent in the good for the economy. Such as the infrastructure bill being bandied with now. Or for social good as is Social Security, Medicare, child care, education. Things that give value to a society and a working class that actually creates things and can thrive better so with a low cost of living.
But this bail out of the financial sector for every bubble they create that bursts from speculation and greed is an abomination on society. They create nothing but, as the classical economist Adam Smith warned of, "income in their sleep". Which feathers the portfolios of the elite rich.
The world is moving away from the dollar just because of our financialized diplomacy in conjunction with the World Bank & the International Monetary Fund creating austerity. The move now is towards a universal currency to use in trade deficits and exchanges. Which is what Keynes had proposed originally at the Bretton Woods conference. America had the upper hand and wanted to have all the advantage of a dominant dollar exchange. And could with Europe, Asia and Crimea in ruins from WW2. We had our time, and we've squandered it with our financialization of our economy. China has emerged with a mixed economy we used to have in our golden era. Their banking is not allowed speculation in their charter. They have followed the west's economic playbook for success and so far avoided the pitfall of allowing the excesses of the financial class from overtaking their government.
Wayne Parham Messages: 18783 Registered: January 2001
Illuminati (33rd Degree)
Agreed. There are expenses that are required, and those that benefit all. There are expenses that provide healthy benefits and/or returns. Then there are expenses that are just wasteful, greedy or slothful. I think it's important to separate the wheat from the chaff when determining what we spend our money on, or I suppose I should say what we take on as debt.
And I agree with you that the bad-actors are those with the deepest pockets. I agree with you on the idea that it's "corporate greed" doing the worst. But I think our government is a part of that equation, and that both sides of the aisle are equally responsible. They just each have a different set of loyalties, and different groups they're entangled with. I don't really like what I've seen for the past couple of decades, at least. It looks like it just keeps getting worse.
Rusty Messages: 1185 Registered: May 2018 Location: Kansas City Missouri
Illuminati (3rd Degree)
We are unanimous. Both of our inadequate parties are entangled in a wanton, wasteful path crippling our economic wellbeing. Going now from one calamity to another. Propping up an entitled elite from any suffering, they created.
There are some good ideas that the non-orthodox professional economic community have to restructure our economy. It would take though some self critical political evaluation.
Steve Keen is another Australian economist with a very acute grasp of what could ameliorate some of the dysfunction we chronically endure with the current status quo allowed. As if it will ever work itself out as by how nature does reaching an equilibrium.
A serving of Macro n Cheese. http://www.debtdeflation.com/blogs/2020/12/19/discussing-a-modern-debt-jubilee-on-macroncheese/
Rusty Messages: 1185 Registered: May 2018 Location: Kansas City Missouri
Illuminati (3rd Degree)
Rethinking our exceptionalism. This I happened onto from the good old Roku device today. From 2018 an interview with Jeffery Sachs about his then new book, A New Foreign Policy: Beyond American Exceptionalism. A phrase that has become a bit frayed and frankly, a joke. Like the founders of our nation with a phrase then that should be taken serious now. United we stand, divided we fall. Our politics and society really need to take a hard look at where we're at, at this time in our history.
Rusty Messages: 1185 Registered: May 2018 Location: Kansas City Missouri
Illuminati (3rd Degree)
Another fine Roku-Youtube find. Here's an interview with Prof. David Harvey on the history of neoliberalism and it's chokehold on the world economies. But shucks, he's an anthropologist. That's alright, most economist are taught to embrace neoliberalism much like how dogs are trained to comply masterfully with humans to be more docile and obedient. As in the prior video with Michael Hudson. A first year econ. student in a phone in Q&A prefaced his question to him perhaps sounding a bit infantile with his question to Mr. Hudson. To which Hudson exclaimed, "No... wait until you've gotten your PHD in orthodox economics, then you'll sound infantile".
Rusty Messages: 1185 Registered: May 2018 Location: Kansas City Missouri
Illuminati (3rd Degree)
Not even close, and no SIGAR. The office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. The latest report on America's 20 year involvement in the middle eastern world points out the systemic flaws in our policy to quell terrorism. A colossal bureaucratic quagmire wasting our youth's lives and limb, our resources and ultimately our time. We appointed a proxy government that the people had no faith in that was the usual graft and corruption leading to the failure unfolding currently. Will we learn yet again to not repeat what we didn't learn from Vietnam with some future crisis in the world? I'd like to be optimistic, but unless we moderate from the fantasy concept of American exceptionalism with our world affairs it's a toss up.
The point that sticks out in this report in lieu of our debate of infrastructure money and how and where to spend it is. In the 20 years of middle eastern deployments and involvement. This country has appropriated without any accountability an estimated 6.4 trillion dollars. And we debate heatedly a sixth of that now to improve our own lot in life.
Posting Rules
Members
Search
Help
Register
Login
Get a T-Shirt!
