Randy Wray — A New Meme For Money: the EEA presentation

We need a new meme for money.

...We need a social metaphor, a public interest alternative to the private maximization calculus. We need to focus on the positive role played by government, and its use of money to serve us well.

Economonitor — Great Leap Forward
A New Meme For Money: the EEA presentation
L. Randall Wray | Professor of Economics, UMKC

Randy Wray — Alternative Framing of Money: Coda

Randy concluded his series on reframing "money" yesterday, but has added another post in response to comments and also a post by George Lakoff yesterday, which was linked to here at MNE.

New Economic Perspectives

Alternative Framing of Money: Coda

L. Randall Wray | Professor of Economics, UMKC

Randy called attention to these comments today:

Schofield | December 14, 2012 at 8:26 am

To paraphrase David Sloan Wilson in his article “The New Fable of the Bees” conservatives “demonically strive to widen their slice of the pie while remaining oblivious to the size of the pie.” Wilson calls this the fundamental problem of social life. The principal motive for MMT’s development is the recognition it can make the pie bigger and, therefore, how a society can best make the pie bigger should be a goal of “framing” arguments.
 

The New Fable Of The Bees: Multilevel Selection, Adaptive Societies, And The Concept Of Self Interest

Schofield | December 14, 2012 at 9:07 am

If David Sloan Wilson is implying that conservatives are not open to new ideas about increasing the size of the pie because they are obsessive about increasing their slice of the pie then it follows that they are unlikely to be open to expanding their understanding of a fundamental aspect of money’s nature. They will struggle to understand that money like our DNA coding mechanism is a “conceptual communication system,” that it allows labor to be instructed to use resources to produce goods and services including the social exchange of goods already produced or indeed benefit from the social effects of services already funded (e.g. improved policing). This failure leads to not seeing that a healthy economy requires an optimal of money of money for both active spending and prudent saving. Accordingly the lack of conservatives “openness” has to be framed by progressives as detrimental to advancing an economy just as obsessiveness with part of the pie rather than the whole pie is too.



LRWray | December 14, 2012 at 9:23 am


Schofield: I like the wilson point on the pie–it has always been the conservative approach to “distribution”: a fixed pie so if I get more, you get less. I also like your analogy to DNA–could be something important there for developing the alternative framing.



Schofield | December 14, 2012 at 9:47 am

The phrase “conceptual communication system” for one aspect of money’s utility is a straight lift from the following article:-http://www.toriah.org/articles/abel-2004.pdfIt seemed to fit since I was interested in exploring what we know about any rational argument concerning the origin of cooperation at the molecular and cell level of life. Precious little it would appear. But since money is a social technology that helps us to cooperate with each other to meet our needs then so is DNA coding to help cells survive and meet their objectives. 

Schofield | December 14, 2012 at 10:27 am 

To paraphrase Trevors and Abel in their article referenced about the property of “value” in money relates to the operation of a “linear digital algorithmic program.” So a simply coded program would incorporate the understanding that if too much money is injected into an economy relative to resources availability “value” will tend to fall and vice-versa. Additional coding, for example, could support Steve Keen’s observation about economic performance being related to income and the quantity of increase or decrease in private debt but it obviously also impinges on money’s “value.” A good algorithmic program would obviously help determine the parameters affecting “value” and clearly this relates to Wynne Godley’s life-time’s work on Sectoral Accounting Balances. So money is like DNA it’s subject to algorithmic programming.

George Lakoff on Michigan's Corporate Servitude Law

Language works so that the conservative name "right to work" evokes the conservative political ideology in the brains of those who hear it without wincing. The more an idea is activated in the brain the stronger it gets. Thus, the use of the conservative name strengthens the conservative ideology in the brains of the public.

The press is not being neutral in using the Republican name for the law. Journalists too, in just using the name, are supporting both the Republican framing of the law and conservative ideology. The press is not being balanced -- which is what journalists typically claim to be. Balance would be to use both the names "corporate servitude law" and "right to work law" and to explain the differences in the progressive and conservative understanding of what the law is and does.

Of course, to do so would change a false view of language that journalists too often internalize, namely, that language is neutral. To see that it isn't, just try speaking or writing of "Michigan's corporate servitude law" and listen to conservatives scream bloody murder over a truth that does fit their view of democracy. And listen to them keep screaming because it is important to keep repeating the true name of the law if the public is to understand what the law really does.

The Huffington Post
Michigan's New Corporate Servitude Law: It Takes Away Worker Rights
George Lakoff | Goldman Distinguished Professor of Cognitive Science and Linguistics at the University of California at Berkeley

Joseph A. Palermo — Being Spectacularly Wrong About the Election Won't Be Enough to Pop the Republican Bubble

More on "millionaire" framing. The people doing the framing and creating the memes are part of the 1%. They are the people that control the resources.

Alternet
Being Spectacularly Wrong About the Election Won't Be Enough to Pop the Republican Bubble
Joseph A. Palermo | Associate Professor of American History at California State University