Tag Archives: modern money theory

Who Needs Balanced Trade? Who Needs Balance Budgets: A New Book on Trade and Fiscal Policy

Posted on October 29, 2015 by Joe Firestone | 3 comments

The intensity of the conflict over the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) has died down since last June, after the Administration won its victory in getting Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) through Congress. During the Intervening months, the efforts of the Special Trade Representative (STR) to complete TPP negotiations have continued. At the end of June, the goal was to complete negotiations by August so that the Administration could send the Agreement to Congress in enough time to start the clock on the 90-day countdown period Congress has to vote on an agreement negotiated under the TPA, and to schedule a ratification vote on it before the end of 2015.

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Tagged A Holistic Approach to Trade and Fiscal Policy, Balanced Budget Fiscal Policy, balanced trade, Budgeting for Public Purpose Fiscal Policy, Deficit Neutrality in the Long Run Fiscal Policy, fair trade, free trade, Impact Assessment for Trade Policy, MMT, modern money theory, public purpose, TISA, TPP, Trade for Public Purpose, TTIP

Modern Money Theory – Part 1

Posted on July 9, 2015 by L. Randall Wray | 1 comment

Part 1 of an interview with Randy Wray for attactv in Spain. Randy is explaining Modern Money Theory.

Teoría Monetaria Moderna – Randall Wray – Parte… by attactv

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Posted in L. Randall Wray

Tagged MMT, modern money theory, spain

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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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

Podcast: A conversation with Mike Norman

Posted on March 15, 2015 by Joe Firestone | Comments Off

Earlier today, I appeared on Mike Norman’s podcast for a long conversation about how I became interested in MMT, my recent blog series on Bruce Bartlett’s testimony to the Senate Budget Committee, and a discussion of how the history of the platinum coin’s rise to public consciousness. The conversation was a lot of fun, since Mike and I both tend not to mince words. The podcast is posted on his site and is also below.

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Posted in Joe Firestone

Tagged Bruce Bartlett's testimony, debt crisis, joe firestone, MIke Norman's podcast, MMT, modern money theory, platinum coin seigniorage, Senate Budget Committee

The Economic Agenda for America: A Commentary

Posted on December 6, 2014 by Joe Firestone | 7 comments

Senator Bernie Sanders just released his “Economic Agenda for America.” While that agenda is certainly more progressive than the talk we hear from Democrats, and certainly is progressive in its expression of generalities. It is not nearly sufficiently progressive in its specifics.

Here’s a commentary on it.

1. We need a major investment to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure: roads, bridges, water systems, waste water plants, airports, railroads and schools. . . . A $1 trillion investment in infrastructure could create 13 million decent paying jobs and make this country more efficient and productive. . .

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Tagged bernie sanders, economic agenda, HVPCS, MMT, modern money theory

The Way Out of Shutdown Shenanigans

Posted on December 3, 2014 by Joe Firestone | 6 comments

Today, I received an e-mail from the Friends of (the very popular with progressives) Senator Bernie Sanders. In it the Senator says:

I’m joining with the members of Progressives United to send a clear message to President Obama that we will stand with him when he vetoes Republican legislation that attacks the well-being of the struggling middle class.

Join me and members of Progressives United to urge the president to VETO any Republican legislation that attacks working families.

NO to cuts in Social Security. NO to cuts in Medicaid. NO to converting Medicare into a voucher program. NO to new trade legislation that sends our jobs overseas and hammers our middle-class workers. NO to cuts to nutrition programs, education or environmental protection.

YES to raising the minimum wage. YES to a massive jobs program rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure. YES to transforming our energy system away from fossil fuels. YES to pay equity for women workers. YES to overturning Citizens United.

We already know what “compromise” will mean from a Republican Congress: their way or the highway. In order to win in the future, President Obama must stand strong for the American middle class, and we must support him.

Tell President Obama: Standing firm is the only option, and that means committing to VETO legislation that attacks working families, and fighting for legislation that defends their needs.

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Posted in Joe Firestone

Tagged $100 Trillion coin, austerity, bernie sanders, debt and deficits, deficit spending, fiat money, High Value Platinum Coin Seigniorage, HVPCS, MMT, modern money theory

Elizabeth Warren: Better, But Not there Yet

Posted on November 11, 2014 by Joe Firestone | 27 comments

In her recent post-election piece “It’s Time to Work on America’s Agenda” Elizabeth Warren points out that the changes in Washington and in various States aren’t changing the fact that

The stock market and gross domestic product keep going up, while families are getting squeezed hard by an economy that isn’t working for them.

Or to put it another way, it’s not enough to have aggregate indicators going up. We also have to have shared gains and inequality going down, and given our current state of affairs, going down rapidly. She then says:

The solution to this isn’t a basket of quickly passed laws designed to prove Congress can do something — anything. The solution isn’t for the president to cut deals — any deals — just to show he can do business. The solution requires an honest recognition of the kind of changes needed if families are going to get a shot at building a secure future.

That’s what happened in 2009 – 2010. Democrats structured legislation in a vain search for bipartisanship, and in doing so produced:

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Tagged accountability, broken promises, elizabeth warren, FastTrack, free trade, inequality, MMT, modern money theory, progressive politicians, TPP TAFTA, US sovereignty

Piketty’s Neoliberal Capital

Posted on November 2, 2014 by Joe Firestone | 12 comments

Let’s get this out of the way. I agree with Piketty’s overall conclusion in Capital about inequality, that: the distribution of wealth in many industrial nations is highly unequal, wealth concentration has been increasing; and there is a high likelihood that the extent of wealth inequality will continue to grow unless appropriate fiscal policy is used to reverse current trends. However, I don’t agree with:

— the framework he uses to define and specify “capital”;

— the way he looks at Government finance and net worth; and

— the fiscal policy proposals he offers to reduce Inequality and put a stop to current trends of growth in the capital to income ratio.

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Tagged austerity, Capital, Capital Theory Approach, debt and deficits, Fiat Sovereignty, inequality, MMT, modern money theory, neoliberalism, Sustainability Theory, Thomas Piketty

Beware of Policies and Legislation Based on the Generational Accounting Scam

Posted on October 11, 2014 by Joe Firestone | 10 comments

The Peter G. Peterson Foundation (PGPF) and its allied army of associated deficit hawks want the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the General Accountability Office (GAO), and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to do fiscal gap accounting and generational accounting on an annual basis and, upon request by Congress, to use these accounting methods to evaluate major proposed changes in fiscal legislation. Generational Accounting is an invalid long-range projection method that doesn’t take into account inflation, the projected value of the Government’s capability to issue fiat currency and reserves in the amounts needed to fulfill Congressional appropriations, and re-pay its debts, the projected non-Government assets corresponding to government liabilities, the likely economic impacts of Government spending, surpluses, and deficits, the impact of accumulating errors on projections, and the biases inherent in pessimistic AND contradictory assumptions. It is a green eye shade method that ignores both economic and political reality.

If you want America to end deficit terrorism and austerity, and to have the fiscal policy space it needs to begin to restore the American Dream, then you need to defeat proposed policies or legislation which puts building blocks in place to bias fiscal policy towards austerity and the economic decline it will surely produce for ourselves, our children, and for their children. Proposed policies and legislation of this kind must be defeated for the following seven reasons. Continue reading →

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Tagged austerity, CBO, deficit hawks, deficit reduction, GAO, generational accounting, Laurence Kotlikoff, MMT, modern money theory, Niall Ferguson, OMB, Peter G. Peterson Foundation, PGPF, REAL fiscal responsibility

Paul Krugman Still Believes That “the debt” Can Be a Problem for the U.S.

Posted on October 10, 2014 by Joe Firestone | 13 comments

The deficit is now down to under 3% of GDP, and in contemplating that fact, Paul Krugman asks why the deficit hawks aren’t celebrating the precipitous fall from nearly 10% of GDP a few years ago. He then explains that:

Far from celebrating the deficit’s decline, the usual suspects — fiscal-scold think tanks, inside-the-Beltway pundits — seem annoyed by the news. It’s a “false victory,” they declare. “Trillion dollar deficits are coming back,” they warn. And they’re furious with President Obama for saying that it’s time to get past “mindless austerity” and “manufactured crises.” He’s declaring mission accomplished, they say, when he should be making another push for entitlement reform.

All of which demonstrates a truth that has been apparent for a while, if you have been paying close attention: Deficit scolds actually love big budget deficits, and hate it when those deficits get smaller. Why? Because fears of a fiscal crisis — fears that they feed assiduously — are their best hope of getting what they really want: big cuts in social programs.

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