Wednesday, August 29, 2018

Deficit is the highest in 6 years. Where are all the MMT gods??

The deficit is now $766 bln, the highest in 6 years and the highest in 5 years as a %  of GDP. Where are all the MMT gods touting this as bullish? Mosler's still bearish. He's been bearish for 4 years. Missed the entire rally.

Kelton? Still criticizing Trump.

Federal Deficit

Federal deficit


BTW...at Mike Norman Economics we look at FLOWS. It gave us the bullish signal a long time ago.

10 comments:

Ryan Harris said...

MMT is a useful economic model, seems like once Wray left and Mosler retired the remaining people became more interested in using the model as a means to promote political careers than the political economics itself.

Too bad in a way for the MMT analysis that gets bandied about like Mosler or Kelton clearly doesn't go very deep any more -- missing all the interesting things.

finaslegendarystories said...

well said RH...many questions re: MMT today (lack of good paying blue collar jobs, and resulting increased consumer debt) go unanswered, including my questions on Twitter responding to Aussie Prof. Bill Mitchell...is anybody paying attention, with exception of Mike Norman? But, WTF do I know, so I follow Ocasio-Cortez for entertainment purposes...

lastgreek said...

How much of this "deficit" was used in the public (Tom, Dick and Harriet...) interest?

lastgreek said...



Stephanie Kelton, Stony Brook University professor of public policy and economics, discusses the impact of U.S. tax cuts and infrastructure spending on employment and the economy with Bloomberg's Joe Weisenthal on "What'd You Miss."

(Source: Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2018-03-19/why-u-s-deficit-spending-is-a-good-thing-video

Ralph Musgrave said...

The basic MMT position is that the size of the deficit doesn't matter as long as the economy has spare capacity, i.e. as long as the deficit does not exacerbate inflation too much. In contrast, when the economy IS NEAR or at capacity, a country needs to be careful on the size of the deficit. In particular if it has an independent central bank, the CB will simply negate what it sees as an excessive deficit with interest rate rises. To judge by Kelton's pronouncements, it's not entirely clear to me that she gets that point, though I could be wrong there.

Matt Franko said...

Oh no now more bad news:

https://www.businessinsider.com/us-gdp-q2-2018-second-estimate-2018-8?r=UK&IR=T

“Gross domestic product, the value of every good and service produced domestically, rose at an annual rate of 4.2%, the Commerce Department said, revised up from 4.1% in the advance estimate. It remained the fastest pace of growth in nearly four years.”

This really sucks...

AXEC / E.K-H said...

Secret Champagne for the MMT gods
Comment on Michael Norman on ‘Deficit is the highest in 6 years. Where are all the MMT gods??’

Michael Norman wonders: “The deficit is now $766 bln, the highest in 6 years and the highest in 5 years as a % of GDP. Where are all the MMT gods touting this as bullish? Mosler’s still bearish. He’s been bearish for 4 years. Missed the entire rally. Kelton? Still criticizing Trump.”

The embarrassment is this. MMT is about deficit-spending/money-creation. Deficit-spending/money-creation is money-making for the oligarchy. The macroeconomic Profit Law clearly states that Public Deficit = Private Profit.

This, however, is an economic policy that cannot be sold to the people. So, the MMT gods developed a smart communication strategy:

• They made the profit effect disappear in their monetary theory with the help of a false balances equation.#1

• They put potential positive employment effects of deficit spending in the foreground.

• They tell people that public debt is not really debt but private saving.#2

• They tell people that debt does not really matter but is only some digits on an account.

• They tell people that budget-balancers are either retarded Swabian housewives or Neoliberal austerity sadists.

In brief, MMTers sell deficit-spending/money-creation as a social benefit, with Stephanie Kelton as the pepped-up Mother Theresa of Late Capitalism.#3

Now, as it happens, Mr. Trump has realized the highest public deficit in 6 years. Michael Norman of Wall Street is very excited about this, and rightly so. Mr. Trump is the straightforward implementer of MMT.#4 The embarrassment of the MMT gods consists of the obvious PR disaster that Mr. Trump did not care to put on the social fig leaf which is of overall importance for the political credibility of MMTers.#5

But, in the end, only success counts. While Wall Street’s Michael Norman can openly rejoice,#6 the academic MMT gods click glasses with Mr. Trump behind closed doors with Stephanie Kelton chiding Mr. Trump for unthinkingly busting the social cover of the MMT deficit-spenders/money-creators.

Egmont Kakarot-Handtke

#1 MMT and the magical profit disappearance
https://axecorg.blogspot.com/2017/08/mmt-and-magical-profit-disappearance.html

#2 For details of the big picture see cross-references
http://axecorg.blogspot.com/2017/07/mmt-cross-references.html

#3 The Kelton-Fraud
https://axecorg.blogspot.com/2018/07/the-kelton-fraud.html

#4 Keynes, Lerner, MMT, Trump and exploding profit
https://axecorg.blogspot.com/2017/12/keynes-lerner-mmt-trump-and-exploding.html

#5 MMT and grassroots movements
https://axecorg.blogspot.com/2018/01/mmt-and-grassroots-movements.html

#6 “… at Mike Norman Economics we look at FLOWS. It gave us the bullish signal a long time ago.”

Matt Franko said...

“the academic MMT gods click glasses with Mr. Trump behind closed doors”

Ah yes now we have the “neo-neoliberal conspiracy!!!”

You Art Degree people have officially jumped the shark...

djrichard said...

Has the yield curve inverted yet? No? Then BTFD b****es.

AXEC / E.K-H said...

Matt Franko

You say: “Ah yes now we have the ‘neo-neoliberal conspiracy!!!’”

No conspiracy, merely the peaceful pluralism of scientific incompetence and political corruption.

MMT: The one deadly error/fraud of Warren Mosler
https://axecorg.blogspot.de/2017/11/mmt-one-deadly-errorfraud-of-warren.html

Down with idiocy!
https://axecorg.blogspot.com/2017/12/down-with-idiocy.html

MMT is idiocy and fraud
https://axecorg.blogspot.com/2018/03/mmt-is-idiocy-and-fraud.html

Cryptoeconomics ― the best of Bill Mitchell’s spam folder
https://axecorg.blogspot.com/2018/01/cryptoeconomics-best-of-bill-mitchells.html

How Bill Mitchell stalks Jeremy Corbyn
https://axecorg.blogspot.com/2018/08/how-bill-mitchell-stalks-jeremy-corbyn.html

Egmont Kakarot-Handtke