tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53246864840716464.post8372017645746331746..comments2024-02-29T00:46:38.800-08:00Comments on Washingtons Blog: America Is Repeating the Mistakes Which Led to the Fall of the Hapsburg EmpireUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53246864840716464.post-89951394686565743472009-11-02T11:44:48.517-08:002009-11-02T11:44:48.517-08:00@ Anonymous,
I'm sorry, Anonymous, but I'...@ Anonymous,<br /><br />I'm sorry, Anonymous, but I'm getting on in years and don't see so well close up anymore. If my spelling checker doesn't pick it up, I'm toast. (:<br /><br />Then and again, I once got a B grade on an otherwise A paper because I misspelled a word. So maybe it's that I just don't learn from experience. :)Tom Hickeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08454222098667643650noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53246864840716464.post-43211764461111278092009-11-02T10:35:23.823-08:002009-11-02T10:35:23.823-08:00Hapsburg, Habsburg--those who want to be believed ...Hapsburg, Habsburg--those who want to be believed as serious scholars might want to spell the key names & terms correctly.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53246864840716464.post-24571723845484792052009-11-01T10:29:56.703-08:002009-11-01T10:29:56.703-08:00For those still following this thread, Bill Mitche...For those still following this thread, Bill Mitchell posted a blog today that goes into how progressive shoot themselves in the foot by mouthing conservative memes. It gives a brief picture of what MMT says about government deficit spending, debt, and taxes, based on the functional finance principles that Abba Lerner developed in the 1940's to achieve full employment along with price stability. This has been around awhile, and most progressives still haven't picked up on it, so they continue to stumble into cleverly set but crude neoliberal traps.<br /><br /><a href="http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=5762" rel="nofollow">Functional finance and modern monetary theory</a><br /><br />Bill hasn't come out yet with the blog he has been promising about manufacturing in relation to MMT.Tom Hickeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08454222098667643650noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53246864840716464.post-22280704640526039872009-11-01T05:00:33.463-08:002009-11-01T05:00:33.463-08:00Tom Hickey says, "[...] MMT is a progressive ...Tom Hickey says, "[...] MMT is a progressive theory that is reality-based [...] "<br /><br />Ah, yes... REALITY BASED! This is the faulty crux of every empirical hub-bub argument ever put forth.<br /><br />This laughably fanciful argument is thoroughly explored in the half-century old musical theater production "The Music Man" -that because of its universally recognized philosophic truths -has been translated and performed worldwide.<br /><br />"You Got Trouble"-From the musical The Music Man"<br /><br />Friends, lemme tell you what I mean.<br />Ya got one, two, three, four, five, six pockets in a table.<br />Pockets that mark the diff'rence<br />Between a gentlemen and a bum,<br />With a capital "B,"<br />And that rhymes with "P" and that stands for pool!<br />And all week long your River City<br />Youth'll be frittern away,<br />I say your young men'll be frittern!<br />Frittern away their noontime, suppertime, choretime too!<br />Get the ball in the pocket,<br />Never mind gittin' Dandelions pulled<br />Or the screen door patched or the beefsteak pounded.<br />Never mind pumpin' any water<br />'Til your parents are caught with the Cistern empty<br />On a Saturday night and that's trouble,<br />Oh, yes we got lots and lots a' trouble.<br />I'm thinkin' of the kids in the knickerbockers,<br />Shirt-tail young ones, peekin' in the pool<br />Hall window after school, look, folks!<br />Right here in River City.<br />Trouble with a capital "T"<br />And that rhymes with "P" and that stands for pool!<br />Now, I know all you folks are the right kinda parents.<br />I'm gonna be perfectly frank.<br />Would ya like to know what kinda conversation goes<br />On while they're loafin' around that Hall?<br />They're tryin' out Bevo, tryin' out cubebs,<br />Tryin' out Tailor Mades like Cigarette Feends!<br />And braggin' all about<br />How they're gonna cover up a tell-tale breath with Sen-Sen.<br />One fine night, they leave the pool hall,<br />Headin' for the dance at the Arm'ry!<br />Libertine men and Scarlet women!<br />And Rag-time, shameless music<br />That'll grab your son and your daughter<br />With the arms of a jungle animal instink!<br />Mass-staria!<br />Friends, the idle brain is the devil's playground!<br /><br />People:<br />Trouble, oh we got trouble,<br />Right here in River City!<br />With a capital "T"<br />That rhymes with "P"<br />And that stands for Pool,<br />That stands for pool.<br />We've surely got trouble!<br />Right here in River City,<br />Right here!<br />Gotta figger out a way<br />To keep the young ones moral after school!<br />Trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble...<br /><br />Harold:<br />Mothers of River City!<br />Heed the warning before it's too late!<br />Watch for the tell-tale sign of corruption!<br />The moment your son leaves the house,<br />Does he rebuckle his knickerbockers below the knee?<br />Is there a nicotine stain on his index finger?<br />A dime novel hidden in the corn crib?<br />Is he starting to memorize jokes from Capt.<br />Billy's Whiz Bang?<br />Are certain words creeping into his conversation?<br />Words like 'swell?"<br />And 'so's your old man?"<br />Well, if so my friends,<br />Ya got trouble,<br />Right here in River city!<br />With a capital "T"<br />And that rhymes with "P"<br />And that stands for Pool.<br />We've surely got trouble!<br />Right here in River City!<br />Remember the Maine, Plymouth Rock and the Golden Rule!<br />Oh, we've got trouble.<br />We're in terrible, terrible trouble.<br />That game with the fifteen numbered balls is a devil's tool!<br />Oh yes we got trouble, trouble, trouble!<br />With a "T"! Gotta rhyme it with "P"!<br />And that stands for Pool!!!<br /><br /><br />The sort of reality Tom is speaking about is built on the shifting sands on the shore of the often violently raging river of time.<br /><br />Your story is as old as the river of time.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53246864840716464.post-10345123349992475702009-10-31T15:26:26.892-07:002009-10-31T15:26:26.892-07:00your site is very useful for me thanksyour site is very useful for me thankstax jobshttp://www.taxvacancies.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53246864840716464.post-50919684262428465962009-10-31T15:03:38.119-07:002009-10-31T15:03:38.119-07:00Anonymous, thanks for responding at length. Your r...Anonymous, thanks for responding at length. Your response indicates that you are thinking in terms of the standard neoliberal model that has become so ubiquitous that it is confused with economics per se. Everyone gets brainwashed into this model in Econ 101, and it is repeated ad nauseam in the media until is accepted as the established narrative. Modern monetary theory is a new way of viewing economics that doesn't presume that macro is based on micro, the way neoliberalism does. It also doesn't abjures specious assumptions like a single "representational agent" for all consumers in the interest of achieving mathematical elegance at the risk of misrepresenting reality.<br /><br /> I'm afraid that you are confusing modern monetary theory (MMT) with the current practice of monetary theory and the current policies, strategy, and tactics based on it that the Fed and Treasury are implementing. The current theory and policy are based on the pre-1971 conditions of a convertible currency, as well as flawed neoliberal understanding of monetary theory. For example, Bernanke is a student of the Great Depression and is using this knowledge to respond to the present crisis. However, the US was on a convertible currency at that time, which limited what the Fed and Treasury could have done, even if they had known about MMT. The result of Bernanke's mistaken assumption that the periods are comparable is making him miss the opportunities that MMT provide. <br /><br />MMT would be directly targeting the output gap to reduce unemployment instead of lavishing ignoring Main Street in favor of Wall Street, as Bernanke, Geither, and Summers are doing. Unfortunately, President Obama is listening to them.<br /><br />Read the references I posted above and respond with criticisms of the actual facts relating to MMT and its policy proposals, and I will take any objections seriously. Otherwise, not.<br /><br />What you have written shows that you are ignorant of MMT. For a quick summary, start with Bill Mitchell's <a href="http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=4870" rel="nofollow">Stock-flow consistent macro models</a>. Bill shows how MMT works. MMT is based on standardized principles of (national) accounting, not economic theory grounded on assumptions. <br /><br />Nothing is going to change much as long as the Fed continues to operate on the flawed neoliberal model now in use, which presumes a buffer stock of unemployment to control inflation, which favors capital at the expense of labor. Conversely, MMT shows the way to full employment with price stability, a chief progressive economic goal.<br /><br /> It is very important for progressive, first, to counter the prevailing model and norms of the economic/political universe of discourse, which are neoliberal shibboleths designed to marginalize all other point of view that challenge the memes of the established narrative. Secondly, progressives need to promote a politics based on an economic theory that is representative of reality and advance workable proposals derived from it.<br /><br /> I am not an economist, but from what I can glean MMT is a progressive theory that is reality-based and supports a progressive agenda based on solid economic and political ground. Moreover, it shows where and how neoliberalism is erroneous. Check it out.Tom Hickeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08454222098667643650noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53246864840716464.post-17514688066857223852009-10-31T11:30:15.155-07:002009-10-31T11:30:15.155-07:00[The fact is that we can must consume our way to p...[The fact is that we can must consume our way to profitability, because consumption of goods and services are what the economy produces.]<br /><br />This has to be the most asnine comment I have read... That is akin to saying we should consume food to the point of gluttony so that farmers can remain profitable.<br /><br />[If consumption falls short, an output gap emerges due to overcapicity and this results in unemployment, which further depresses aggregate demand.]<br /><br />An output gap can have serveral causes and not just the very narrow and shallow view you have mentioned.<br /><br />[What if imports exceed exports? No problem according to MMY, becasue imports are benefits and exports are costs.]<br /><br />I don't know what monetary theory you are expounding but in my books thats called exporting inflation, or to put it more bluntly: trying to print your way to prosperity.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53246864840716464.post-53077673270585667292009-10-31T03:36:53.788-07:002009-10-31T03:36:53.788-07:00Tom Hickey barks a tired and typical 19th Century ...Tom Hickey barks a tired and typical 19th Century empirical crusade stump speech -again wearing rose-colored glasses an inch -or so- thick -the same as all his empirical predecessors.<br /><br />Science does NOT have any solutions that do not create ten-fold the problems the original solution was meant to address, Tom.<br /><br />Too many common empirical liars have stepped to the plate with your tired story-line before, and each has gone down -beaned in the noggin- by the fastball-hurling ace known as REALITY.<br /><br />Your views are no different than those from crusty crusaders like the antique historian-philosopher Lewis Mumford, the starry-eyed writer of "Technics and Civilization" 1934, Harcourt, Brace and Co. I currently am reading all of Mumford's works, Tom. You'd love him.<br /><br />Mumford thought the new machine age (1934) had all the solutions too. The Depression? Just a minor blip.<br /><br />As if prognosticating from his own Star Ship Enterprize, Tom Hickey proclaims the age of robotics has created Utopia, -or it will create Utopia, -or it could create Utopia -if all the detractors tired and appalled at what modernity has wrought again for humanity -would step into the transporter room so they can be beamed to the planet Neg-on.<br /><br />I love this, "modern monetary theory shows how to run a economy ..."<br /><br />Sure it does, Tom. That's why the poll-fearing Obama Administration has ordered the CEOs of the top 28 banks in the country in for an excessive-compensation drubbing.<br /><br />http://preview.tinyurl.com/yhc4o46<br /><br />It's clear from this article that without massive government cash infusions, these banks would have been foreclosed upon by their creditors long ago.<br /><br />These are -just some of the banks- Ben Bernanke refused to acknowledge received the trillions. GE's Too-Tall Jeffery Immelt got many more than a couple of 18 wheeler truck-loads of C-notes too, Tom.<br /><br />That's your modern monetary theory. It's hackneyed -like all science, -and entirely prone to catastrophe.<br /><br />The problem with the empirical approach, is that humanity is -at ever-increasing social cost- asked to suffer through the -all too quickly proved false- proclamations of -generation after generation after generation- of nauseating futurists -each of whom are sure some unnamed scientists locked away in some research lab -somewhere unknown- have finally come up with the solution to all of everyone's problems.<br /><br />You forgot cold-fusion, Tom. But the media keeps serving it up for what the scientists have in store for the quack future. Cold-fusion and a genetic engineering solution for SuperMan's paraplegic state.<br /><br />SuperMan is dead, Tom. Science is dead too. And so isn't the credit economy dead.<br /><br />We live in the scientific future of Lewis Mumford, Tom Hickey. And it ain't what it was cracked up to be, not by a long shot.<br /><br />Tom- Like every problem of the empirical age, the problems you are saying can be solved by -modern monetary theory- are the problems that are caused by modern monetary theory.<br /><br />This is not a tautology. This is deja vu all over again.<br /><br />This recurrent observation is what gives rise to the conclusion that the empirical approach is an historic dead-end that keeps finding an increasingly shorter distance to the closed-end of the perpetual scientific -cul de sac- of the empirical thought processes, -where- every turn the empiricists make -trying to correct the empirical mistakes of the past- ends up just another worsening dead end. -D.R.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53246864840716464.post-35807913988845034922009-10-30T19:45:24.895-07:002009-10-30T19:45:24.895-07:00Oops. The title of Randy Wray's book is Unders...Oops. The title of Randy Wray's book is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Modern-Money-Employment-Stability/dp/1845429419/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1256956924&sr=8-1" rel="nofollow">Understanding Modern Money: The Key to Full Employment And Price Stability</a>, not Understanding Modern Monetary Theory.Tom Hickeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08454222098667643650noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53246864840716464.post-77741099767043640722009-10-30T17:42:36.113-07:002009-10-30T17:42:36.113-07:00Mr. Washington, see Bill Mitchell's blog of to...Mr. Washington, see Bill Mitchell's blog of today where he addresses this in terms of modern monetary theory and its implications for the US economy.<br /><br /><a href="http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=5730" rel="nofollow">Progressive movements bound to stall</a><br /><br />My own view that that most manfuacturing in the US is going to be robotic because the US cannot compete in a world of global labor arbitrage, where workers are fungible. The last plant Chrysler built was completely robotic. <br /><br />This is the coming trend in countries that cannot compete in manufacturing with emerging countries. China is only the first and biggest, but the economic reality is clear. The US will either automate or outsource going forward. Protectionist policies won't work either. <br /><br />There's no turning back now, and there is no need to do so. It not in the competitive advantage of the US, and there are other, better ways to compete in the global economy that is fast emerging than trying to beef up manufacturing to "save American jobs."<br /><br />Right now, the US is in the grip of neoliberal economic mythology that favors accumulation of capital by tilting the playing field. Were heterodox economic theories like MMT to become prevalent, those constraints would largely disappear with the demise of the myths.<br /><br />The fact is that we can must consume our way to profitability, because consumption of goods and services are what the economy produces. If consumption falls short, an output gap emerges due to overcapacity and this results in unemployment, which further depresses aggregate demand.<br /><br />What if imports exceed exports? No problem according to MMY, because imports are benefits and exports are costs.<br /><br />Modern monetary theory shows how to run a economy (and potentially all economies interlinked through trade). See L Randall Wray, Understanding Modern Monetary Theory for the basics. Wray (<a href="http://neweconomicperspectives.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow">Economic Perspectives)</a>, Warren Mosler (<a href="http://www.moslereconomics.com/" rel="nofollow">The Center of the Universe)</a>, and Bill Mitchell <a href="http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/" rel="nofollow">(billy blog)</a>all regularly blog on this.<br /><br />Until these ideas get more exposure and start percolating up in the mainstream, the myths will continue to dominate the political and economic universes of discourse.Tom Hickeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08454222098667643650noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53246864840716464.post-26036712630896722152009-10-30T14:12:24.915-07:002009-10-30T14:12:24.915-07:00Mr. Hickey, I take Hawkins' point as being tha...Mr. Hickey, I take Hawkins' point as being that we have to have a manufacturing base, and can't consume our way to profitability.Washingtons Bloghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10891277931441055038noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53246864840716464.post-40378050895969295542009-10-30T13:39:50.289-07:002009-10-30T13:39:50.289-07:00Ramble much?Ramble much?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53246864840716464.post-1957936364435143742009-10-30T13:14:07.651-07:002009-10-30T13:14:07.651-07:00More neoliberal nonsense that is totally clueless ...More neoliberal nonsense that is totally clueless about modern monetary theory. And bad history. America isn't even remotely like imperial Spain or Hapsburg Austria. <br /><br />This just more of the standard neoliberal narrative designed to scare people into accepting the dictates of the "free market." It's BS.<br /><br />Oh, and did you see that Jeb Bush is out today saying that Obama is using the bully pulpit to attack capitalism. Run for the hills, the dreaded socialism is upon us.<br /><br />Nothing here, of course, about the so-called "free market" blowing up the world under the noses of the Fed and other regulatory agencies charged with oversight.Tom Hickeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08454222098667643650noreply@blogger.com