Mike Norman Economics

John Carney makes interesting points pro and con. Most of the cons are about politicization of the program since the JG as it is being presented and supported is clearly a Democratic program and "leftist" idea. He points out that this needn't be so. A value-neutral JG program can also be designed to appeal cross the political spectrum. JG supporters should listen to this. A JG is really a populist program that favors people, and firms will oppose it. For, as Carney points out, employers...

Now both Comey and Clapper caught out for leading classified information of a political nature.Zero HedgeClapper Busted Leaking Dossier Details To CNN's Jake Tapper, Lying To Congress About It Tyler Durden

Nice précis of MMT.Mount Desert Islander — Letters to the EditorGovernment debt and spending John Buell

Abstract Using post-electoral surveys from France, Britain and the US, this paper documents a striking long-run evolution in the structure of political cleavages. In the 1950s-1960s, the vote for left-wing (socialist-labour-democratic) parties was associated with lower education and lower income voters. It has gradually become associated with higher education voters, giving rise to a “multiple-elite” party system in the 2000s-2010s: high-education elites now vote for the “left”, while...

Most mainstream economists seem to think the idea behind Modern Monetary Theory is something new that some wild heterodox economic cranks have come up with. New? Cranks? How about reading one of the great founders of neoclassical economics — Knut Wicksell. This is what Wicksell wrote in 1898 on ‘pure credit systems’ in Interest and Prices (Geldzins und Güterpreise): Lars P. Syll’s BlogMMT — the Wicksell connectionLars P. Syll | Professor, Malmo University

Useful backgrounder, although short on MMT. Mentions Stephanie Kelton but that is about it. It does outline the history though, which is helpful in understanding that a job guarantee is not a new idea.The Daily BeastHow Guaranteeing Jobs Became the Hot New Policy Priority for 2020 Dems Gideon Resnick ht Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism

We have been discussing the investigation by the Inspector General of the Justice Department into the leaking of FBI memos by former Director James Comey. I have previously explained why there are serious questions concerning Comey’s conduct. Now there is an interesting development after Fox News confirmed that the law professor used by Comey for his leak was in fact a “special government employee” (SGE) for Comey’s FBI. That status of Columbia Professor Daniel Richmanraised new...

It’s the modern gold rush. Around the world, the most sought-after mineral isn’t a precious metal, nor is it oil and gas…it’s lithium. Lithium, or “white petroleum” as some call it, has become a crucial element in today’s high-tech economy. Demand for lithium is soaring, and producers are frantically searching for new sources of supply. Prices have doubled in the last two years, rising as high as $16,500 per ton.... The fact that China is trying to corner the market has made the search...

The banking and finance royal commission has cast light on a new type of poverty to emerge in our society: middle class poverty. To understand it, we have to go back to an earlier government inquiry: the 1972 Commission of Inquiry into Poverty, conducted by Professor Ronald Henderson. That commission had no real policy impact, but its cultural impact was profound. It gave prominence to the Henderson Poverty Index: a measure of consumption described by Henderson as so austere that it was...

Neil Wilson posted the following at Bill Mitchell’s today. My point is that, under capitalism, if you can’t pay your costs from your income you go bust – which releases your market space for somebody who is either more productive, or more realistic in their pricing. Cheap labour and a systemic lack of jobs encourages undercutting – the parasite businesses Nick Hanaeur speaks of. “It is appealing to believe that the parasite economy will eventually correct itself. Or that a few high-road...