New Economic Perspectives

Not 4 Sale: A Principle and a Slogan for Real Democrats

Posted on January 26, 2017 by William Black | 14 comments

By William K. Black
January 24, 2017 Bloomington, MN

Overview

This article explains three critical reasons why the Democratic Party’s leaders are far more insane than all but a few Democrats understand. It focuses on the leaders of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the New Democrats. The DNC leadership is composed of New Democrats. Debbie Wasserman Schultz had to resign in disgrace when the leaks proved that she was putting the DNC’s thumbs on the scale to favor Hillary Clinton (a New Democrat) in the presidential nomination contest against Bernie Sanders. Wasserman Schultz also took large contributions from big finance and, until she faced the prospect of a serious primary challenger, she supported efforts by predatory lenders to use Congress to bar the regulators from stopping their abuses.

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Whistleblowers Can Pose Real Challenge to Trump

Posted on January 23, 2017 by Devin Smith | Comments Off

NEP’s Bill Black and Norman Soloman join TRNN’s live inauguration coverage to discuss the criminogenic environment that will thrive under the Trump administration as well as its unprecedented conflicts of interest.

You can watch here with transcript.

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Posted in William K. Black

A Letter to Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger about Hiring Proven Whistleblowers

Posted on January 18, 2017 by William Black | 5 comments

By William K. Black
January 17, 2017 Bloomington, MN

The Wall Street Journal recently published a summary of a study of “desired director traits.”

A survey of 369 supervisory directors from 12 countries by search and advisory firm Russell Reynolds Associates asked which behaviors they thought are most important to creating a board culture that drives effectiveness and company performance.

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The New Democrats’ Addiction to Austerity Will Not Die

Posted on January 17, 2017 by William Black | 29 comments

William K. Black
January 16, 2017 Bloomington, MN

I know the Republicans are complete hypocrites about federal deficits and debt. I know their dishonesty and faux deficit and debt hysteria, when a Democrat is president, harms the Nation and the world through the infliction of self-destructive austerity. Austerity’s primary victims are the working class and government social programs for the poor and working class. That means that the Democrats should never mimic the Republicans’ dishonesty, hysteria, and willingness to inflict austerity on the people of America and the world.

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Who will play the Harlequin?

Posted on January 9, 2017 by J.D. Alt | 26 comments

By J.D. ALT

In a recent essay (“A Strategic Thought”) I suggested that right now is an opportune moment for some brave progressive leader to step out and explain what modern fiat money is, why we’ve been using, in fact, it for the past half century, and how it changes the way we imagine our federal government pays for public goods. Whoever takes on this challenge, I suggested, would be treated as a harlequin by mainstream media and economic pundits—and would be marginalized and shunned by other political leaders on both sides of the aisle. No main-stream politician is ready to hear—let alone agree—that the federal government can issue and spend as many dollars as needed to accomplish whatever the nation has the real resources to undertake. No main-stream economic pundit is ready to hear that our federal “deficit” is a necessary aspect of a healthy fiat monetary system. No main-stream Republican or Democrat is ready to acquiesce to the reality that our national “debt” is not something we have to “repay” to anyone but is, in fact, the savings account of our private sector economy. No main-stream anybody who, by definition, depends on their position in the main-stream idea-flow for their livelihood and personal status, is ready or willing to hear, or even seriously listen to, any of those realities. Yet at some point all of it has to be formally presented and argued on the national stage—otherwise, modern fiat money, and the enormous possibilities it creates for human society, will continue to languish forever as a suppressed and poorly understood reality.

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Posted in J. D. Alt

Tagged MMT, Modern Monetary Theory

VOTE AMERICA CARD

Posted on January 3, 2017 by J.D. Alt | 28 comments

By J.D. ALT

Happy New Year. Now let’s get to work. There is much to be accomplished. The first order of business, from my perspective, is the issue of reinvigorating our democracy—specifically:

What are zealously proactive progressives thinking about? Instead of hauling the Republicans into court over their voter I.D. statutes, we should be exuberantly embracing the very idea of a voter I.D. Yes! Let’s take conservatives at their word: The purpose is not to make it more difficult to vote, or to discourage certain classes of citizens from actually casting ballots—the goal is to make certain that only qualified, living and breathing voters vote, and that they only vote once. We agree wholeheartedly! And to ensure this is what happens, we propose that every qualified U.S. citizen be issued a VOTE AMERICA I.D. card—and that a concerted, organized, federally funded, national effort should immediately be commenced to implement this goal.

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IMF Board Response to Lagarde Conviction Reaffirms Institutional Indifference to Corruption

Posted on December 22, 2016 by William Black | 2 comments

NEP’s Bill Black appears on The Real News Network. Topic of discussion is how the Legarde case reveals how power and money protect the elite. You can view the video below. If you wish to see a transcript, you can view it here.

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A Strategic Thought

Posted on December 21, 2016 by J.D. Alt | Comments Off

By J.D. ALT

I’d like to propose that it is important, right now, for existing progressive political leaders to stake out positions in support of direct sovereign spending for the creation of collective goods. If they must, they can call it “deficit spending.” What is important is that they very aggressively get on the record as proposing and supporting federal spending programs to to address specific issues that Americans are struggling with.

If this does not happen, there is a real risk that the newly empowered right-wing government of the Trump administration will propose to increase “deficit spending” first. If that were to happen, the progressive cause will have a serious dilemma: Do they push back against Trump―decrying the dangers of increasing the national debt!―or do they get aboard his spending train as more-or-less unnecessary baggage, and watch as it puffs and whistles its way into the hearts of the American heartland?

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Bill Clinton’s Surplus: Not Something to Celebrate

Posted on December 19, 2016 by Eric Tymoigne | Comments Off

Video from Eric Tymoigne’s Modern Money students at Lewis and Clark College.

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White Collar Crime Will Have a Field Day Under Trump

Posted on December 15, 2016 by William Black | Comments Off

NEP’s Bill Black appears on The Real News Network. Topic of discussion was that none of Trump’s economic picks – which now include three people from Goldman Sachs – were picked for their knowledge of economics. Video is below. You can view the transcript here.