Tag Archives: debt phobia

People are allowed to change their opinions or assessments in the light of new evidence. Diametric changes of position are fine and one should not be pilloried for making such a shift in outlook. Quite the contrary. But when the passage of time reveals that a person just recites the same litany despite being continually at odds with the evidence, then that person’s view should be disregarded, notwithstanding the old saying that a defunct clock is correct twice in each 24 hours. The US...

OMG! Is MMT going viral?Las Cruces Sun-NewsMMT economists look at debt, deficit differentlyMax Mastellone

Although mainstream economics prides itself on being highly precise and mathematical, this is not apparent when looking at the discussion of fiscal policy. It is very easy to find appeals to intergenerational fairness when discussing fiscal policy. Such a term is essentially meaningless in technical terms; it is mainly used as a ploy to evoke images of doe-eyed grandchildren being robbed by nefarious politicians. This article explains why the concept is largely worthless as an analytical...

One of Bill's best titles. Maybe "unicorns" would be better than ponies though. It's fantasy all the way with them. Last week (February 8, 2018), we witnessed the US Senate spectacle with Rand Paul embarrassing himself with his lack of economic knowledge but also embarrassing both major parties – the Republicans for their gross hypocrisy and the Democrats for their gross idiocy. The – Congressional Record – of Paul’s speech (starting S817) is a classic. Also, last week, the stables were...

Who is the smartest economist in America? None other than — Stephanie Kelton. DownWithTyranny!The Smartest Economist In America Explains What Deficits Really Mean

Deficit hysteria rises just prior to the hitting of the debt ceiling due on Dec. 8th, which will ratchet up debt phobia, too. What else is new in Moronville? Behind closed doors on Capitol Hill, concerns were mounting, however, about Republican Senator Bob Corker’s push for a snap-back “trigger” amendment to the bill that would raise taxes automatically, possibly on corporations, if economic growth targets are not hit in the future, to offset a higher deficit.Conservative Republican...

The deficit hawks and debt phobes are back at it again. At least they are consistent across administrations and parties.WCEG — The EquitablogShould-Read: Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles: Unfortunately, the tax plan currently Brad DeLong

What I want to highlight here is this: the private sector needs government deficit spending if it is going to recover properly from both the heart attack of the Financial Crisis and the decades of disease brought on by income redistribution and rising debt levels. This is so because government deficits are private-sector surpluses. The logic is really very simple. What number do you get when you add up every trade surplus and trade deficit on the planet? Zero, of course, because one...

Maybe the British Labour Party could get Nancy Pelosi to do some stupid tweets for them as well. She is an expert at it – see my blog – When neoliberals masquerade as progressives. She thinks it is smart progressive politics to post tweets criticising her political opponents for a policy that “explodes the deficit … dumping … debt on every man, woman & child in America”. A fallacious argument. But moreover, a very stupid strategic argument because it fails to educate the public on what...

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan budget watchdog in Washington, on Friday called a Senate Republican tax plan a “fatally flawed budget buster,” likening it to Republican legislation in the House of Representatives that the House tax committee has approved.... The Tax Foundation, another nonpartisan group, said the Senate plan would add $1.78 trillion to the deficit over a decade. It estimated that over the same time frame lower taxes would expand the U.S....