By Lucy Komisar
(This post is courtesy of thekomisarscoop.com)
I was having lunch today at the Council on Foreign Relations before a meeting with one of the national leaders in town for the UN General Assembly. At my table was William F. McDonough, president of the New York Fed from 1993 to 2003. That meant he was vice chairman and a permanent member of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), which formulates U.S. monetary policy.
Last week, Reps. Michael Honda, Keith Ellison, Raul Grijalva, Jan Schakowsky, John Conyers, Barbara Lee and Lynn Woolsey stalwarts of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) begged for mercy from “the Gang of Eight” in a letter.
Here’s what they said and my commentary on their “loser liberalism.” Continue reading
The polling since the conventions shows that Democrats are doing better than expected. President Obama now apparently has a clear lead over Mitt Romney. Democratic Party control of the Senate seems likely to survive this election year of many more Democratic rather than Republican Senate seats up for election. And, even in House races, it looks like the Democrats will pick up a number of seats; though whether they can pick up enough seats to take back the House is still an unlikely prospect, and without the House President Obama’s second term is likely to be much like his last year and three-quarters, rather than his first two years.
Posted in Joe Firestone
Tagged deficit reduction, deficits, MMT, modern money theory, national debt, Promises for America
Alan Grayson’s e-mail on Moody’s warning that it might reduce the US’s AAA rating, suggested that Moody’s was either threatening a downgrade because it wants to get the Bush tax cuts for the rich extended, or, alternatively, that “Moody’s is living in what Aristophanes called “Cloud Cuckoo Land.”” He says this because Moody’s is upset about the possibility that the US may go over the so-called “fiscal cliff,” even though if it did, it would theoretically result in $560 Billion of deficit reduction annually, without further legislative changes, and it makes no sense on the surface for a ratings agency to think that the risk of US bond default is greater when the annual deficit is being reduced by $560 B per year, than by some lesser amount, which is likely to happen if Congress doesn’t take us over that “cliff.”
Posted in Joe Firestone
Tagged 14th Amendment, Alan Grayson, Bill Mitchell, bond vigilantes, debt issuance, deficit reduction, deficits, fiscal cliff, Mike Norman, MMT, modern money theory, Moody's, national debt, PPCS, Proof Platinum Coin Seigniorage, Ratings Agencies, Standard & Poor's, Trillion Dollar Coin
Randall Wray and Michael Hudson both presented at the inaugural session of Modern Money and Public Purpose. This seminar series is held at Columbia University’s Law School and is organized by the Workers’ Rights Student Coalition. Over the coming months, several MMT proponents will be presenting as part of the series including Stephanie Kelton and Warren Mosler on September 25th. Continue reading
Comments Off on Modern Money and Public Purpose
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged MMT, Modern Money and Public Purpose
Bob Woodward’s releasing a new book, so we are now seeing articles based on it. A few days back, The Washington Post published the “Inside story of Obama’s struggle to keep Congress from controlling outcome of debt ceiling crisis.” This account is a pretty downbeat one of how our political leaders and President Obama handled the debt ceiling crisis of the summer of 2011. I want to comment on what for me was the most salient point: that during the crisis, the President had no “Plan B” to get around the debt ceiling beyond negotiating a deal with Congress.
Posted in Joe Firestone
Tagged 14th Amendment, Bob Woodward, CNN, debt ceiling crisis, deficit reduction, deficits, entitlements, grand bargain, Jack Balkin, MMT, modern money theory, national debt, paul jay, PPCS, President Obama, Proof Platinum Coin Seigniorage, Social Security, Trillion Dollar Coin, Yves Smith
Just saw John Sununu, one of Republicans favorite Bushie junk yard attack dogs all up in arms about the debt subject to the limit (the so-called national debt) reaching $16 Trillion dollars, and going on to tell people that every man, woman, and child in the United States now owes $50,000 to pay that debt off. Now, I’m here to tell you that all that is bull shit.
Who else thinks the President’s speech didn’t include any plans to create the 29 million full-time jobs for the dis-employed? Please raise your hand!
About jobs he said:
”We can help big factories and small businesses double their exports, and if we choose this path, we can create a million new manufacturing jobs in the next four years.” Continue reading
I recently appeared on the “From Alpha to Omega” podcast. You can access the episode via the web using the link below:
http://fromalpha2omega.podomatic.com/player/web/2012-08-05T08_51_21-07_00
Let’s end the debate about who was first to predict the Euro disaster: Nostradamus.
When I was in high school we discovered Nostradamus while goofing around in the library. Man, that guy was prescient! The book included commentary that showed he had foreseen Hueys dropping Napalm on villages in South Vietnam (an issue of the day). After leaving the library I found the book in my bag—and it became a running prank that Nostradamus would show up in lockers and cars, or on desks and occasionally even in mailboxes. I’m not sure where the book ended up—not with me, as I’d be checking it for his predictions on the Euro crisis. But I’m sure it is there in gory detail.
Click images to view details
