Saturday, April 22, 2017

The Mélenchon Economy

Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s senior economic advisor explains his proposals to grow the economy and carry out an ecological transition.
Regardless of whether Mélenchon wins, he is having a similar effect in France to that of Bernie Sanders in the US and Jeremy Corbyn in the UK:  People are realizing that there is an alternative.

Vive le populisme de gauche!

Jacobin
The Mélenchon Economy
Liêm Hoang-Ngoc is an economic advisor to Jean-Luc Mélenchon and a lecturer in economics at the Panthéon-Sorbonne University. He is also the President of the New Socialist Left Party and a regional councillor in Occitan

Also at Jacobin:
Two hundred French educators explain why they’re supporting Jean-Luc Mélenchon in tomorrow’s presidential election.
Another World Is Possible With Jean-Luc Mélenchon


19 comments:

Matt Franko said...

Hate to interrupt all the high fiving but anybody know his position on the "we're out of money!" concept/construct ?

Peter Pan said...

What happened to the Hollande Economy? He got elected...

Six said...

EU leaders attempts to reform their national economies are futile because, economically speaking, they are not nations as long as they belong to the EU.

Tom Hickey said...

Hate to interrupt all the high fiving but anybody know his position on the "we're out of money!" concept/construct ?

Regardless of what a politician thinks about money creation, they will never tell the public anything different that the mainstream belief during the campaign. But after winning the situation could be different. Either the person could proceed based on a correct understanding without talking about it, or they could educate the public from their bully pulpit.

One wonders what Bernie would have done if elected. Would he have kept Stephanie on in a chief role and followed here advice, or even let her explain MMT to the public. Or would he have just been another suit.

Tom Hickey said...

What happened to the Hollande Economy? He got elected...

Holland reversed his position once in office.

Joe said...

"Hate to interrupt all the high fiving but anybody know his position on the "we're out of money!" concept/construct ?"
It's europe, they instituted a giant gold standard, doubt any of them have a clue. The closest you get is a few of them want the franc back so they can have a currency that's adapted for their economy. I suppose that could include the understanding that they can't run out of franc, but I wouldn't count on it.


The great thing about this French election is the 11 candidates, with a few of them that are actual leftists. Several are quite euroskeptic (ugh, hate that words), I'm kinda surprised these people can get on tv. One candidate is from a party called the New Anticapitalist Party. Can you even imagine someone in the US from a party with that name even being allowed on TV? Mind blowing.

I fear Melechon is another Tspiras. When push comes to shove I'm afraid he'll crumble, but I suppose he has a stronger hand to play than Tspiras did. How can Melechon do any of his economic program within the confines of the EU and the Euro? It's clear Melechon doesn't understand the "running out of money thing", they're still concerned about the size of the deficit and cutting the debt.

Unknown said...

Joe, did you even read the article? Melenchon's economic advisor specifically addresses that issue. Further, France is not in the same position as Greece.

Joe said...

Yeah, he just wants to ignore the EU rules and try to re-negotiate them. Good luck with that. And of course, France isn't Greece. Still the thinking is completely clouded, many contradictory things in it.

Penguin pop said...

"One wonders what Bernie would have done if elected. Would he have kept Stephanie on in a chief role and followed here advice, or even let her explain MMT to the public. Or would he have just been another suit."

Well DJT got to run around and say that the US wasn't going to default because we print the money and yet no big economic revolution whatsoever. I imagine Bernie would have been too weak to explain the concepts properly to the American people even if he could out of fear of looking like a right-winger cause Trump beat him to the punch on that one or maybe he would have followed the path of FDR. Maybe he woulda kept Kelton on board but inadvertently put more mainstream morons on too. I remember you saying something about how even FDR had a mix of really smart people and idiots he could listen to.

Penguin pop said...

So in essence, I'm thinking Bernie would have followed some of the MMT concepts without talking about it much at all but listen to some morons and here and there.

Unknown said...

Joe,

There was another article in the New Statesman, where he said

Quote:
Mélenchon has campaigned for a showdown with the EU: reform it or leave it (“plan A, plan B”).

His strategy, designed by his chief economist Jacques Généreux, consists of unilaterally disobeying European Treatises: disregarding budgetary norms to implement a Keynesian stimulus package


Also, his policies were presented in details by economists and high-ranking public servants in a 5-hour budget program broadcast on YouTube, whose last hour was a discussion with economic journalists from liberal news outlets.

Quote:
On Sunday, February 19, 2017, unbridled France organized a special edition of the program Esprit de Campagne. We realized a direct 5 hours to answer this question: "The Future in common, how much does it cost? ".

The experts and members of the committee in charge of drafting the program, in a transparent manner, detailed the costs and revenues of France's proposals to respond to social, economic and humanitarian emergencies.

Throughout the show, a group of experts answered the questions posed by Internet users on social networks with the hashtag #JLMChiffrage. And professional journalists have also agreed to follow the live broadcast. They interviewed Jean-Luc Mélenchon and his team on the set of "Esprit de Campagne" at the end of the show.

Joe said...

A 5 hour budget program? Wow, that would take some serious dedication to watch that whole thing.

Unfortunately it looks like Melechon isn't going to make it to the second round.

Peter Pan said...

So the next round only involves the first and second place politicians?

Penguin pop said...

Macron and Le Pen from what I heard will make it to the next round. Let's see which moron wins. I'm not even sure if Le Pen will just be another Trump or actually do what she promised.

Kristjan said...

"EU leaders attempts to reform their national economies are futile because, economically speaking, they are not nations as long as they belong to the EU"

That is why there is only one choice.

Melenchon is supporter of UBI, communist if you asked me. Le Pen is economically left. I've read her program, the best of all candidates. She might fail but getting out of EU is a needed step before you could do anyrhing.

Joe said...

Le Pen's definitely a politician, she's a pro. So who knows what she'd actually do or be permitted to do. She did somewhat criticize trump during the last "15 minutes to convince", saying she was disappointed in Trump launching the cruise missiles since it was contrary to his promises.

Definitely good news that the Parti Socialist got a historically low percentage of the vote. It's time for that the neo-liberal corporate center be defeated.
Unfortunately, Macron's still in it. Why would anyone vote for an ex-banker? Thank you sire, may I have another?

Tom Hickey said...

Macron = Hollande. If he wins, more of the same neoliberalism "of the left."

Kristjan said...

"Macron = Hollande. If he wins, more of the same neoliberalism "of the left.""

He is centrist, not so much left, he is globalist. Melenchon is left. Looks like Macron is going to win. I know how sceptical people are about the polls but the polls have been generally correct. Trump didn't win popular vote and Brexit was not by such a big error. Macron and Le Pen are about 60%-40%, this muuch the polls are not wrong.

Peter Pan said...

Perhaps an unforeseen terrorist attack will throw a wrench in the proceedings.