Author Archives: Devin Smith

#MintTheCoin T-shirts and Hoodies Now Available!

Posted on January 11, 2013 | 1 comment

NEP has T-shirts and Hoodies available for ordering online.

You can place your order here!

And for the Naysayers…

1 Comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged #MintTheCoin

The Delicious Irony of Morris Greenberg’s AIG Suit Against the US Treasury

Posted on January 11, 2013 | 15 comments

By Michael Hudson

When the financial bubble burst in September 2008, U.S. and European governments responded by shifting bank losses onto their own balance sheets. The pretense is that real growth cannot resume until the banks and speculators are “made whole.” To cover the cost of bailing out the banks, governments now are trying to run budget surpluses. This adds fiscal deflation to the debt deflation left in the bubble’s wake, shrinking the economy at large. Governments are raise taxes (or simply print new debt to swap for the financial sector’s bad loans and gambles) to reimburse financial institutions whose lending and outright gambling (not to mention the excursion into financial fraud) caused the crisis. Continue reading →

15 Comments

Posted in Michael Hudson

Tagged AIG, bailout, banksters, Financial crisis, Treasury

Wake Up Progressives: the Trillion Dollar Coin Can Be Game-Changing!

Posted on January 10, 2013 | 35 comments

By Joe Firestone

Well, not really. But if you view the Trillion Dollar Coin (TDC) meme, as I do, as a short-hand for the more general idea of using Platinum Coin Seigniorage (PCS), then yes, it can change the whole political game for progressives if President Obama dares to use it.

Literal TDC proposals would solve the debt-ceiling, but they won’t solve the larger problem of defeating the austerity politics that is so close to getting the cuts to social safety net and important discretionary government programs that austerians have long sought. PCS game-changer proposals are the ones calling for, or analyzing the impact of, PCS options aimed at paying off the national debt and covering anticipated federal deficit spending for some years. Continue reading →

35 Comments

Posted in Joe Firestone

Tagged #PCS, #TDC, $60 T coin, austerity, debt ceiling, debt-subject-to-the-limit, fiscal cliff, Fiscal Policy, game-changing PCS, krugman, Linkins, MMT, Modern Monetary Theory, O'Brien, platinum coin seigniorage, small ball PCS, Trillion Dollar Coin, Wiesenthal

Sovereign Spending and Public Goods

Posted on January 10, 2013 | 76 comments

By J. D. Alt

Based on my new understanding of Fiat Money, I’ve concluded that it is both logical and desirable for the U.S. sovereign government to issue and spend MORE dollars than it collects back in taxes. Doing so accomplishes two fundamental goals:

It enables the sovereign government to purchase from the Private Sector goods and services which will benefit society as a whole; and
It enables the businesses and households in the Private Sector to build up a reserve of fiat dollars which can be used to expand the goods and services available in the Private Sector economy. Continue reading →

76 Comments

Posted in J. D. Alt

Tagged fiat money, MMT, Modern Monetary Theory, sovereign currency

“Third Way’s” “Fresh Thinking” – the EU is our model for Austerity

Posted on January 10, 2013 | 4 comments

By William K. Black

On September 15, 2011, a Wall Street lobbying organization known as “Third Way” proposed that the congressional “super committee” adopt a stringent austerity program.

Third Way’s tag line on its web site is “Fresh Thinking,” but it simply a mouthpiece for Wall Street’s curdled ideas. Continue reading →

4 Comments

Posted in William K. Black

Tagged austerity, Third Way

Jacob Lew: Another brick in the Wall Street on the Potomac

Posted on January 10, 2013 | 2 comments

By William K. Black

The New York Times has just run two articles confirming that President Obama intends to appoint Jacob Lew as Treasury Secretary Geithner’s replacement. Most people assume that Geithner is a creature of Wall Street through direct employment, but Geithner never drew a paycheck directly from Wall Street. Geithner worked for a wholly-controlled subsidiary of Wall Street – the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Lew is the real deal, another brick in Obama’s creation of Wall Street on the Potomac. While the first NYT article ignored Lew’s work on Wall Street, the second article simply tries to minimize it. Continue reading →

2 Comments

Posted in William K. Black

Tagged austerity, banksters, crony capitalism, Jacob Lew, MMT

What is it About Money that Scares the Bejesus Out of People?

Posted on January 9, 2013 | 98 comments

By Stephanie Kelton

Knock-Knock.
Who’s there?
Money.

Continue reading →

98 Comments

Posted in Stephanie Kelton

Tagged #PCS, #TDC, MMT, Modern Monetary Theory, Money. Trillion Dollar Coint

The Small Ball Trillion Dollar Coin Seigniorage Exception

Posted on January 8, 2013 | 22 comments

By Joe Firestone

The exception to the general pattern focusing on the Trillion Dollar Coin (TDC) as the solution to the debt ceiling problem I outlined and critiqued in my last post, is in Joe Wiesenthal ‘s posts here and here. Wiesenthal alone criticizes, rather than ignores, other options than the TDC, namely the $16 T and $100 T options, on grounds that they are no more effective at meeting the debt ceiling crisis than the TDC. He says that the issue is not a lack money but the debt ceiling law, and also that if a coin that large were minted and used to pay back the debt, then the result would be inflation or hyperinflation because of the flow of the large quantity of reserves into the economy, and the ensuing great expansion in the money supply. Continue reading →

22 Comments

Posted in Joe Firestone

Tagged #60Tcoin, #PCS, #TDC, debt ceiling, debt-subject-to-the-limit, Fed, game-changing PCS, inflation, Joe Wiesenthal, MMT, Modern Monetary Theory, platinum coin seigniorage, Scott Fullwiler, small ball PCS, Trillion Dollar Coin

EU austerians rely on US stimulus to bail them out of recession

Posted on January 8, 2013 | 21 comments

By William K. Black

The New York Times’ web version ran a story this morning (January 8, 2013) entitled “Unemployment Continues to Climb in Euro Zone.”

Eurostat reports that Eurozone unemployment has reached the record rate of 11.7%, with 18.8 million unemployed (an increase of two million in a year). “[Y]outh unemployment continues to grow, with 5.8 million people under 25 classified as jobless in November, up 420,000 from a year earlier.” As youth unemployment surges it becomes common for college graduates in the periphery to emigrate. The article shows that Berlin’s insistence on inflicting austerity on Spain and Greece has forced them into Great Depression levels of unemployment. Italy’s level of youth unemployment is also at Great Depression levels.
Continue reading →