Is there a solution? If insanity, as Einstein said, is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting the same result, then the last thing we need to do is listen to those same purveyors of economic fantasy who are now telling us that austerity is the solution. It’s a solution, but it’s a solution that the one percent want imposed on the 99 percent. Meanwhile, heterodox economists like Randy Wray, Bill Black, Dean Baker, James Galbraith, and Robert Pollin are offering solutions that promote the interests of the 99 percent.
These progressive economists, and the centers and institutes with which they are associated, have proposals to get us out of the crisis and build an economy designed for all to prosper, not just the few. If you want to learn about these proposals, visit websites like the Levy Institute (Wray and Galbraith), or the Political Economics Research Institute (Pollin), or the Center for Economic and Policy Research (Baker). Or visit blogs like Steve Keen’s Debtwatch or UMKC’s NewEconomicPerspectives. You also can find resources from thousands of heterodox economists on the website for the Heterodox Economics Newsletter, which I co-edit.
Things are changing. The OWS movement shows that people are “sick and tired of it and are not going to take it anymore.” Heterodox economists are finally being asked for their input. For example, in response to a recent GAO report that found, “Top executives from Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan Chase, General Electric and other firms sat on the boards of regional Federal Reserve banks while their firms benefited from the central bank’s policies during the financial crisis,” Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont formed an advisory panel of economic experts to make recommendations on reforming the Fed. All of the economists mentioned above are included on this panel....Read the whole post at Artvoice
New Economy for the 99 Percent
by Ted P. Schmidt
(h/t Kevin Fathi via email)
I left a comment over there recommending Warren's The Seven Deadly Innocent Frauds of Economic Policy.
4 comments:
Good news :)
it's a cinch by the inch as they say.....a thousand miles always begins (and ends) with one step. ;)
I noticed that the major posters for the day of action yesterday listed "austerity" as one of the things they were say "no" to. That's great, because it shows that the progressive and post-Keynesian, anti-neoliberal message is getting through. At an earlier stage in the protest the anarchist and libertarian tendencies seemed more prominent, and there wan't much call for government activism of any kind. Now they seem to have realized the role of government is sustaining economic vitality and progressive purposes.
Maybe it's me, but it seems that even the 1% could improve their positions by adopting MMT, and promoting concepts such as full employment. MMT could be a bridge to extend capitalism (all systems have limits) while we figure out what's next.
What they have is not taken away by MMT. It is enhanced.
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