Daily Archives: July 3, 2014

Obama Consults a “Wide Variety of Economists” – Just Not Those Who Got it Right

Posted on July 3, 2014 by William Black | 12 comments

In a PR effort that aptly illustrates his approach to governance, President Obama has revealed that he is meeting with a “wide variety of economists” to try to figure out what economic policies he should follow. “Obama Seeks Advice From Wide Variety of Economists.”

Obama is already well into the lame duck phase of his presidency, so this is simply a PR exercise. The message Obama wants to send is the same one he has sounded throughout his presidency. He is open to economic views from the parts of the political spectrum that range from the hard right to the mild left.

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12 Comments

Posted in William K. Black

Tagged economics, Geithner, obama

“Debt-Free Money” and “ZIRP Forever”

Posted on July 3, 2014 by Scott Fullwiler | 31 comments

By Scott Fullwiler

I wrote a while back about how neoclassical economists don’t realize their view that interest on reserves (IOR) stops “printing money” from being inflationary also means that it’s impossible to create inflation by “printing money.” See here.

I’m not 100% sure on this one (and please feel free to correct me if you know better than I do) because I admittedly haven’t given the literature a thorough read, but from what I can tell, it appears “debt-free money” advocates may not realize they are similarly overlooking the actual operations of the monetary system. So, apologies in advance if I’ve misinterpreted.

From what I’ve seen, “debt-free money” (DFM) advocates want a world in which the government spends via cash (i.e., paper money). They are against government issuing bonds or any interest on the debt, since that would suggest the government’s money isn’t “debt free” (again, please correct me if I’m wrong in this description).

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31 Comments

Posted in Scott Fullwiler

Tagged debt-free money, zero interest rate

Matteo Renzi Puts the Lie to “There is not alternative” (TINA) to Austerity

Posted on July 3, 2014 by William Black | Comments Off

By William K. Black

In a recent column I responded to a conservative scholar’s (Victor David Hanson) claim that U.S. “employment rates for college graduates are dismal” by showing that the employment rate for college graduates seeking employment was 96.8% – and rising.

Employment rates for recent college graduates are far worse than “dismal” in the periphery of Europe because the EU troika (the ECB, the EU Commission, and the IMF) have inflicted austerity on these nations. This produced a gratuitous second Great Recession in the Eurozone as a whole, but it also caused Great Depression levels of unemployment in Spain, Greece, and Italy. Those three nations have over 100 million in total population – roughly one-third of the eurozone’s total population. College graduates in these nations have unemployment rates ten times greater than in the U.S. (Hanson is a big fan of austerity, so he managed to get everything – the facts and the cause – reversed in his fable.)

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