Tag Archives: MMT

TPP: The Fascism Issue

Posted on May 4, 2015 by Joe Firestone | 11 comments

If the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement will, if implemented, and as I’ve argued elsewhere, result in the death of national and state sovereignty, constitutional separation of powers, and democracy, then what system and what principles will replace these things? Eric Zuesse answers that it will be Fascism. And implicitly, that we are going through an evolution from representative democracy to fascism and that trade deals like the TPP, the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), and the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA) mediate the transfer “. . . of democratic national sovereignty to international fascist bodies that represent global corporate management. . . . ”

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Posted in Joe Firestone

Tagged autarky, command economy, congress, consent of the governed, fascism, Fast Track Authority, ideology, investor state dispute settlement, ISDS, ISDS tribunals, MMT, modern money theory, national sovereignty, separation of powers, state sovereignty, totalitarianism, TPP, Trans-Pacific Partnership

Fast/Track/TPP: The Death of National Sovereignty, State Sovereignty, Separation of Powers, and Democracy

Posted on May 1, 2015 by Joe Firestone | 5 comments

Most of the critical attention given to the Fast Track Trade Agreement legislation and to the associated Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Congressional – Executive Agreement on mainstream corporate media and by politicians and establishment interest groups interacting with them in the beltway echo chamber, has focused on the likely or possible economic impacts of these. But relatively little attention has focused on sovereignty, constitutional separation of powers, or democracy impacts, which however are being covered increasingly well in alternative social media. See here, here, here, and here.

In hopes of breaking through this fragmentation by type of media of the debate over the TPP, I’ll focus this post only on governance impacts and try to make the case, that this so-called trade agreement, if passed and implemented would create profound governance changes in the United States without benefit of the constitutional amendments that would normally be required to accomplish such changes. I’ll also make the case that the governance impacts destroy national sovereignty, state sovereignty, separation of powers, and democracy.

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Posted in Joe Firestone

Tagged bill black, congress, consent of the governed, Ellen Brown, Fast Track Authority, investor state dispute settlement, ISDS, ISDS tribunals, MMT, monetary sovereignty, national sovereignty, separation of powers, state sovereignty, TPP, Trans-Pacific Partnership, tyranny

Ridiculing Concerns About TPP Tyranny

Posted on April 29, 2015 by Joe Firestone | 17 comments

People who support the Administration’s efforts on the TPP have been known to reply to my posts on this subject by attempting to ridicule the scenarios I’ve presented as possible under the TPP Agreement as “out there” speculation of the tin foil variety that will never actually happen. For those who think that my examples of what is possible under the TPP are just this kind of speculation, please keep in mind that I don’t have the proposed draft agreements to work from.

This is due to the President’s decision to classify the drafts and seek Fast Track Authority before disclosing them more freely even to Congress for an up or down vote. However, there is no indication from anyone that the actual drafts of the agreement contain rules that would definitively prevent the possible very damaging consequences I’ve mentioned here for example. Continue reading →

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Posted in Joe Firestone

Tagged bill black, congress, consent of the governed, elizabeth warren, Ellen Brown, Fast Track Authority, investor state dispute settlement, ISDS, ISDS tribunals, MMT, monetary sovereignty, TPP, Trans-Pacific Partnership, tyranny

Indicting the Trans – Pacific Partnership: Even One of These Counts Is Sufficient to Vote to Kill It!

Posted on April 27, 2015 by Joe Firestone | 8 comments

To really appreciate what a travesty the TPP is, and the scandal of the failure of our Congress to reject it, and the “Fast Track Authority“ sought for it, out of hand, I’m going to list 23 negative consequences that would likely follow from it. Any one of these, would, by itself be sufficient for any representative of the people, Senator or Congressperson, to vote to kill it. I’ll offer this list in the form of stanzas appropriate for a chant, except for the starting point in the list.

The tune of the chant that might be used is the tune used for Dayenu, the passover seder chant in which Dayenu means “It would have been sufficient,” where the reference is to all the things the almighty is purported to have done for the Israelites on their way out of Egypt and during their wanderings in the Sinai. I’m sure the President is familiar with this chant since he has had seders at the White House more than once. I’m also sure that he never envisioned using Dayenu to highlight the horrors of one of his favorite projects, the passage of “Fast Track Authority,” the TPP, and other “free trade” agreements such as the TTIP, and the TISA, all of which would get “Fast Track Authority” if the present bill passes. Continue reading →

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Posted in Joe Firestone

Tagged congress, consent of the governed, Dayenu, elizabeth warren, Fast Track Authority, investor state dispute settlement, ISDS, ISDS tribunals, MMT, monetary sovereignty, TPP, Trans-Pacific Partnership, tyranny

How Can Our Senators and Representatives Vote for Giving Away Our Monetary Sovereignty?

Posted on April 24, 2015 by Joe Firestone | 22 comments

Right now the US fulfills the three essential conditions for monetary sovereignty: 1) it issues its own non-convertible currency, 2) which it allows to float on international currency markets; and 3) it owes no debts in any currency other than dollars. Because it is monetarily sovereign, and can always meet its obligations the US can never be forced into insolvency.

It can become insolvent due to Congressional decisions such as failing to raise or repeal the debt ceiling, or Executive decisions such as failing to use its platinum coin minting authority to fill the public purse and then pay its bills once it has reached the debt ceiling. But again, it cannot be forced into insolvency by external financial or economic factors that are beyond the control of the Federal Government (including the Congress).

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22 Comments

Posted in Joe Firestone

Tagged congress, elizabeth warren, Fast Track Authority, Fiscal Responsibility, Fiscal Sustainability, investor state dispute settlement, ISDS, ISDS tribunals, Lori Wallach, MMT, monetary sovereignty, TPP, Trans-Pacific Partnership

NEP’s Randy Wray’s interview in el Diario

Posted on April 21, 2015 by Devin Smith | Comments Off

For our Spanish speaking friends… Randy has an interview in the Spanish publication el Diario where he is talking about employment guarantee programs. You can view it here.

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Posted in L. Randall Wray

Tagged MMT, Modern Monetary Theory, spain

When Will the Senate Budget Committee Majority Ever Learn About Sector Financial Balances?

Posted on April 8, 2015 by Joe Firestone | Comments Off

By Joe Firestone

There are two words that describe the Republicans’ Senate Budget Committee’s proposed budget: “dishonesty” and “austerity” for most Americans. Let’s deal with the dishonesty part first. In due course, the austerity will be apparent.

The Senate Budget Committee’s statement, entitled “A Balanced Budget That Supports Economic Growth and Expands Opportunity for Hardworking Americans,” claims to support stronger economic growth, and provide greater opportunity. We might well ask “how much growth” “growth for whom” and “opportunity for whom?”

Certainly not for me and thee, since the Senate budget projects substantially decreased Federal outlays over the decade 2016 – 2025, compared to the CBO baseline budget. This decreased Federal spending comes from:

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Posted in Joe Firestone

Tagged budget plans, budget projections, CBO baseline, Congressional Progressive Caucus, debt and deficits, MMT, Modern Monetary Theory, OMB budget projections, Republican House budget. House Budget Committee, Sector Financial Balances, Senate Budget Committee

When Will the Congressional Progressive Caucus Ever Learn About Sector Financial Balances?

Posted on April 6, 2015 by Joe Firestone | Comments Off

In addition to the House Budget Committee and OMB budget plans and 2016 – 2025 projections fiscal policy followers have also recently been graced with the effort of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) proposing their budget plan and 2016 – 2025 projections. The CPC budget proposal is interesting because it is definitely not intended to be an austerity budget. Instead, its authors consciously try both to achieve the goals of “fiscally responsible” low deficit budgets while turning away from austerity and towards achieving full employment, renewed economic growth, economic stability, a strengthened social safety net, greater economic equality, an improved infrastructure, and transportation system, improving the health insurance system beyond the Affordable Care Act, a greener economy, improved education and other progressive goals.

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Posted in Joe Firestone

Tagged budget plans, budget projections, Congressional Progressive Caucus, debt and deficits, Economic Policy Institute, EPI, MMT, Modern Monetary Theory, OMB budget projections, Republican House budget. House Budget Committee

Modern Monetary Theory

Posted on April 1, 2015 by Pavlina Tcherneva | Comments Off

Pavlina R. Tcherneva

Pondering here from my academic station
Why has never before such a simple observation
Caused more confusion and consternation
Amongst the general population

That the government is the currency-issuing monopolist
Is not a radical idea, nor a hypothesis
It is a simple, nay, elementary fact
That is often so fervently attacked

IT conjures fears of hyperinflation
The dread of every civilized nation
A crippling phobia that stunts our facilities
To rationally think about the economic possibilities

Pundits, economists, and the average bloke
Firmly believe that the U.S. government is broke
And defend this dreadful and deadly mythology
“There Is NO Alternative,” they say, without an apology

Inequality, retirement insecurity, mass unemployment
Environmental blight, pay gap, and other disappointments
Are no longer problems intractable, alarming and eerie
With a brief introduction to Modern Monetary Theory

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Posted in Pavlina R. Tcherneva

Tagged MMT, Modern Monetary Theory

When Will the White House and OMB Ever Learn About Sector Financial Balances?

Posted on March 31, 2015 by Joe Firestone | 21 comments

In my last post I asked this same question about the House Budget Committee. As my readers saw in that one, the attempts at deficit reduction leading to budget balance were so severe that they implied that if the House budget were followed, and if the economy did not collapse before the decade projection period ended due to a collapse of aggregate demand, then private sector deficits would be produced in every year from 2017 – 2025. In addition, since the budget provided for severe cuts to federal spending designed to benefit poor people and the middle class, it was likely that the private losses from this budget would be concentrated on the people who can least well absorb them.

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