Author Archives: Devin Smith

An MMT Fiscal Responsibility Narrative: Some Truths

Posted on November 5, 2012 | 166 comments

Many MMT posts and other writings on fiscal responsibility, including my own, focus on the myths of neoliberalism, pointing out why they are myths and developing an alternative MMT perspective in some detail. Continue reading →

166 Comments

Posted in Joe Firestone

Tagged debt-subject-to-the-limit, debt-to-GDP ratio, deficit, Fiscal Responsibility, Fiscal Sustainability, MMT, Modern Monetary Theory, national debt, neoliberalism

Pete Peterson and the Deficit Hawks Teach Lawmakers Deep Fiscal Irresponsibility

Posted on November 4, 2012 | 23 comments

By Michael Hoexter, Ph.D.

We have come to accept in the Orwellian world of mass communication and media spin that pressure groups and political organizations name themselves in ways that contradict their actual mission. Continue reading →

23 Comments

Posted in Michael Hoexter

Tagged austerity, deficit hawks, fiscal irresponsibility, peterson

The Economic Consequences of Mr. Obama

Posted on November 1, 2012 | 62 comments

By Fadhel Kaboub

When British economist and public intellectual John Maynard Keynes wrote his famous essay entitled “The Economic Consequences of Mr. Churchill” in 1925, the British economy was still suffering the consequences of WWI, and was slowly sliding into the worst economic depression in world history. Today, as the Great Recession continues to devastate millions of people’s lives in the United States, Americans will decide in a matter of days whether they want Mr. Obama to continue on as President for another four-year term, or elect Governor Romney to replace him in the White House. As an economist who is committed to social justice, I would like to offer a brief assessment of President Obama’s economic policies during his first term, and speculate on the likely direction that the U.S. will take under a second term Obama administration versus a possible Romney White House.

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62 Comments

Posted in Guest Blogger

Tagged neoliberal, obama, romney

Pragmatism Tempered By Vision and Justice

Posted on November 1, 2012 | 21 comments

By Joe Firestone

In this good post, Jared Bernstein, who is one of the few prominent writers in economics who is often close to being right, asks “How Did Things Get So Screwed Up?” he answers that it’s money, ideology, and a rejection of fact-based policy analysis. He thinks that more pragmatism and willingness to accept facts would really help our politics.

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21 Comments

Posted in Joe Firestone

Tagged justice, pragmatism, vision

Sectoral Balances within the Domestic Non-Government

Posted on October 31, 2012 | 32 comments

By Paul Meli

There are many important laws that determine the behavior of various systems within the Universe but as far as economics is concerned, none is more important than the concept of a closed system.

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32 Comments

Posted in Guest Blogger

Tagged closed systems, sectoral balances

Why are there no famous financial whistleblowers in this crisis?

Posted on October 31, 2012 | 6 comments

By William K. Black

This column discusses one of the more subtle issues raised by the Department of Justice’s (DOJ’s) civil fraud action against Bank of America (B of A). The issue was so subtle that of the three articles about the lawsuit that I choose to review the night after the suit was filed, only the NYT article mentioned one of the most important aspects of the suit – the key role that the whistleblower played in making the action possible. The AP and the WSJ articles ignored the fact.

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6 Comments

Posted in William K. Black

Tagged BofA, Financial crisis, fraud, whistleblowers

A Counter Narrative to Peterson’s

Posted on October 30, 2012 | 67 comments

By Joe Firestone

Stephanie Kelton writes:

The US is broke. Government deficits are de facto evidence of a government gone wild. We’re careening toward Greece. Entitlements are the root cause of our fiscal woes, and the Chinese are coming for our grandchildren. How many Americans believe this garbage? My guess? Most of them.

Pete Peterson has won and the American people have lost. There is no effective counter narrative, not even from the left. Nearly all “progressives” have accepted the fundamental premise that the federal government is like a great big household. That it faces the same kinds of constraints that you and I face. That it should spend only what it takes in and that deficits are morally and/or fiscally irresponsible. President Obama told the nation, “We’re out of money.” . . .

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67 Comments

Posted in Joe Firestone

Tagged debt-subject-to-the-limit, debt-to-GDP ratio, deficit, Fiscal Responsibility, Fiscal Sustainability, inflation, MMT, Modern Monetary Theory, national debt, Peterson Foundation, Stephanie Kelton, warren mosler

How “Brazen” does a Bankster’s Fraud have to be before he’s Prosecuted?

Posted on October 30, 2012 | 5 comments

By William K. Black

I’ll get the obvious out of the way first and then turn in future columns to the aspects of the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) civil suit against Bank of America (B of A)/Countrywide that are vital to understand but are more subtle. The obvious issue arises from the facts that the DOJ alleges that its investigation has found. The complaint and the DOJ press release state that elite financial criminals committed tens of thousands of “brazen” frauds targeting U.S. government funds. Continue reading →

5 Comments

Posted in William K. Black

Tagged banksters, BofA, fraud, prosecutions

CNBC’s Quick uses Clinton to aim at Krugman, but shoots herself in the foot

Posted on October 29, 2012 | 26 comments

By William K. Black
(Crossposted at Benzinga.com)

Becky Quick is a television co-host of a business entertainment program on CNBC. She has written a column stating that Paul Krugman’s “claim that there is no fiscal crisis isn’t just laughable, it’s downright dangerous.” She argues that the “only problem” with Krugman’s conclusion was: “It is hard to find anyone who actually agrees with him.” She is furious that Krugman concluded that the Bowles-Simpson austerity plan is “a really bad plan.”

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