Mike Norman Economics

Historian Rebecca Spang’s latest History News Network piececon MMT and history is both timely and thought-provoking. In addition to its biting critique of economic orthodoxy and other valuable insights, the essay sets into relief a productive ontological debate about money and its historical manifestations. Part of the present breakdown of the neoliberal consensus, the insurgent popularity of MMT in contemporary discourse has enlivened conservations about the nature of money and its role in...

In 1975, Tony Benn, a Left Labour member in the British Parliament and Secretary for Industry. At the time, the Prime Minister and Chancellor were becoming attracted to Monetarism and started framing and implementing the austerity-type fiscal strategies that are common today. Benn opposed this approach, and, instead proposed a far-reaching alternative economic strategy that involved increased industrial planning to revitalise British industry. The growing ‘free market’ orthodoxy at the...

If you are following the debate about what neoliberalism is in terms of a behavioral definition instead of a conceptual one, this is a good read. It contends that neoliberalism is based on conceiving freedom in terms of consumers' freedom of choice in markets as the "new politics." It takes the meaning of "consumer society" to a new level.JacobinHow Neoliberalism Reinvented DemocracyAn Interview With Niklas Olsen

A Quasi-Review of A Lie Too Big To Fail: The Real History of the Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy by Lisa Pease When Senator Robert Kennedy was assassinated on June 5, 1968, the American public fell into an hypnotic trance in which they have remained ever since. The overwhelming majority accepted what was presented by government authorities as an open and shut case that a young Palestinian American, Sirhan Sirhan, had murdered RFK because of his support for Israel, a false accusation...

Increasing asymmetry of income and wealth, which now goes by the name "inequality" as the buzzword, arises either from the function of perfect markets or from asymmetry of power. A perfect market is one in which there is no asymmetry, that is, the agents are homogenous.A perfect market could generate asymmetry through difference in ability that lead to differences in distribution owing based on merit and just deserts (as conventional economics assumes). However, perfect markets don't exist...

What is Tucker Carlson's game plan, defending the everyday guy, or protecting the elites? The right have been using False Consciousness for decades to get the middle and working classes to blame the lower classes for all of societies problems. [embedded content] Tucker Carlson has branded himself as a populist, condemning the “liberal elite” that he argues makes up the American “ruling class.” It’s a good shtick, and it’s helped him stand out from other Fox News hosts. But while Tucker...

Breaking a rule not to give the Times exposure for a variety of reasons since a pretty decent article on MMT appears in the "paper of record" in the Economy section. No doubt that many of the nay-sayers are upset by what amounts to Wall Street endorsement of the basic ideas of MMT, if not the all policy recommendations. But it's the basic ideas o MMT that make Wall Street money — Goldman's chief economist Jan Haztius uses them — not the policy proposals. Can't argue with success.New York...

"Modern money" is state money. Abba Lerner explains the "trick" by which a state creates its money.Imposing taxes and accepting its own liabilities in payment creates demand for the currency. In this sense, state money is "monopoly money" in the truest sense, since modern have a monopoly on the issuance of currency, regardless of whether or how they choose to exercise it. Monopolists are prices setters rather than price takers. Hence, the value of the currency is established based on what...

My 200k forecast was extremely close to the 196k actual number. Superior information. Superior analysis.

Ray Dalio's paper was linked to here yesterday. If you don't have time to read the whole thing, here's a summary.Even quicker summary, Dalio is calling for more emphasis on a mixed economy that a market economy (or a command economy). Sounds like a New New Deal?Business InsiderHedge-fund billionaire Ray Dalio says capitalism is failing America, and we need to take 5 specific actions to save it Richard Feloni