Monthly Archives: September 2012

We’re Not Broke and the Clinton Surpluses Destroyed the US Economy

Posted on September 5, 2012 by Stephanie Kelton | 27 comments

Two of our nation’s most influential progressive journalists — Slate’s Matt Yglesias and Business Insider’s Joe Weisenthal — just took on two powerful economic myths.

1. The Myth that The US Government is Out of Money

2. The Myth that A Government Surplus is a Sign of Fiscal Responsibility

It’s hard to imagine a more empowering message. As word spreads, elected officials in both parties will lose their primary excuse for inaction on on a whole range of neglected and underfunded programs. “I’d love to help, but I’m all tapped out,” simply won’t sell.

Nor will the desperate calls for “shared sacrifice” and “entitlement reform” in the name of fiscal responsibility.

A very big thank you to these men, who will undoubtedly suffer the slings and arrows of many of their progressive followers, who have long considered the Clinton surpluses the crowning achievement of modern Democratic governance.

27 Comments

Posted in Stephanie Kelton

Tagged politcal parties, surpluses

The Fable Of The Marbles And The Teacher

Posted on September 4, 2012 by Devin Smith | 12 comments

By Aitor Calero García

Once upon a time, in a small and remote village across the mountains, in a faraway country, there was a small rural school. It was one of those schools with children of different ages together in a single classroom, a village school like any other, but this is a minor detail. It had a strict teacher. However, everybody in the village loved the teacher, as she was just and fair and she cared very much for her pupils. She was the kind of teacher who gave advice like “you always have to not live beyond your means.”

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12 Comments

Posted in Guest Blogger

Tagged European Union, fiat money

The Race to the Bottom Produces Regulators who are Invertebrates and Epidemics of Fraud

Posted on September 3, 2012 by Devin Smith | 8 comments

By William K. Black
(Cross posted at Benzinga.com)

I examine how highly conservative newspapers are covering the interplay of widespread “control frauds” by the world’s most elite banks, the carefully structured de-evolution of financial regulators through descent from the subphylum Vertebrata into the phyla of the invertebrates, and the global failure to prosecute the elite frauds that drove the ongoing financial crisis. The three factors are interrelated. Vigilant financial regulators serving as the vital “regulatory cops on the beat” are essential to the successful prosecution of large numbers of elite financial frauds. Continue reading →

8 Comments

Posted in William K. Black

Tagged accounting control fraud, media, media coverage, regulators

The Emancipation of the Unemployed

Posted on September 3, 2012 by Dan Kervick | 20 comments

By Dan Kervick

An important anniversary is approaching. On January 1, 1863, Abraham Lincoln signed and issued the Emancipation Proclamation. The proclamation that sounded the final end of the depraved institution of American slavery was presented to the nation and the world as an emergency war act, a “fit and necessary” measure for suppressing an armed rebellion against the authority and government of the United States. The language of the Emancipation Proclamation is restrained by the customary legalisms of government writ; and yet, vibrating through and beyond the tight cords of executive propriety, the drama and permanence of Lincoln’s statement sound clearly, along with the solemn national commitment to sustain the liberation of the newly freed men and women by force of arms:

And by virtue of the power, and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free; and that the Executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons.

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