Mike Norman Economics

This program would provide a needed boost for our economy. Analysis shows young and low-income workers have been particularly hit hard by layoffs. Workers earning less than $20 per hour were 115 percent more likely to be laid off than those earning $30 per hour or more. And workers under age 25 were 93 percent more likely to have been laid off than those who are 35 and older. A WPA-like program in 2020 would create openings for safe job opportunities for the hardest-hit workers,...

I’m hardly the first to connect money creation with power. It’s been done countless times before. And yet many (most?) people still misunderstand money. Why? A good theory of money should explain this misunderstanding. Why — despite it being plainly true — do we recoil at the idea that anyone can create money, and as much of it as they want? My suspicion is that accepting this fact is difficult because it means accepting that our existing social order is arbitrary. Those who create...

How far the recovery can go depends on two factors, both of which are biased negatively: (a) How many firms have gone broke in the lockdown? (b) Whether the US states will have to reverse their lockdown easing in the face of a rapid escalation of the virus in some of the more populace states. But I do not see appropriate policy responses in place. The US government should have guaranteed all incomes and introduced large-scale job creation programs and a Job Guarantee as an on-going safety...

The purpose of this white paper is to publicly present the fundamentals of MMT. The Gower InstituteWhite Paper: Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) Warren Mosler

The conspiracists say WHO is exaggerating how deadly Covid-19 is so the public will want Bill Gates' vaccines. They say it's less fatal than flu. But 200 scientists believe WHO is doing the opposite.Six months into a pandemic that has killed more than half a million people, more than 200 scientists from around the world are challenging the official view of how the coronavirus spreadsCoronavirus: more than 200 scientists accuse WHO of ignoring aerosol transmission risk

I still think my definition of what money is is the easiest one to understand, even if it's only me that can understand it. Blair Fix goes all around the houses, but the interesting thing for me is that he's on board for MMT. I’ve always been baffled why ‘modern monetary theory’ is called a theory. I don’t mean this in a disparaging way. As far as theories of money go, I think modern monetary theory (MMT for short) is the correct one. But having a correct theory of money is a bit like having...

Congratulations to Nathan for going viral. Bloomberg Profile and My Plans Nathan Tankus

This is an interesting read, but I would frame the question differently. The question, after all, is what's wrong now and how to fix it. I would say that major problem is excessive extraction of economic rents — land rent, natural resource rent, monopoly and monopsony rent, and financial rent. The trend is toward debt servitude for much of the population. Only the very top and the immiserated bottom  Rent extraction depends on the political power to influence institutional arrangements....

Prices went up (inflation) because the local currency lost purchasing power. As the economy continued to contract, the currency continued to lose purchasing power and prices moved higher.In 1970, the dollar index was 120 and fell to 85 by 1979. One could rationally argue that the loss of purchasing power in the dollar was the root cause of the inflation in the 1970s (We went off the gold standard coincidentally in 1971.).If the current recession drags on, the dollar could precipitously...

Yeah, I know this is a holiday in the US, but this is should-read. Mark as read-later if you can't get to it now.Brian examines the last-ditch objection to MMT based on using it as policy tool. This is a fair objection, since MMT is now being presented as just that and some people are listening. That is of concern to apologists for the status quo. This is their big gun. Again, the inflation boogeyman, based on the popular truism,"You can't trust politicians."It's really about governance and...