Friday, June 4, 2021
Thursday, June 3, 2021
Top Economist: As Pandemic Recedes, a Chance to Rethink Unemployment — Lynn Parramore
Canadian economist Mario Seccareccia, recipient of this year’s John Kenneth Galbraith Prize in Economics, says it’s time to reconsider the idea of full employment. He spoke to Lynn Parramore of the Institute for New Economic Thinking about why 2021 offers a rare opportunity to rebalance the economy in favor of Main Street....INET
Top Economist: As Pandemic Recedes, a Chance to Rethink Unemployment
Lynn Parramore
Taxes vs subsidies, flows net and gross — Steve Randy Waldman
This discussion is obscured by the widespread belief that a government has to obtain funding elsewhere even though it is sovereign in the currency of issue and that taxes are used to pay for expenditure. A government has the ability to fund itself that is limited only by the availability of real resources, which impacts the general price level and individual markets.
Fiscal policy is not only one of the factors affecting inflation (and employment) but also is a factor affecting the exchange rate. However, there are many factors affecting both, so there is no one-to-one correspondence, as some erroneously assume.
Taxes are unnecessary for funding but rather serve as an instrument for creating demand for the currency among users it obliges to pay taxes and other levies, as well as to control for inflation. There are other functions that taxation can perform related to incentivizing behavior in the public interest and disincentivizing behavior that are against the public interest.
It is not a matter of whether a government "should" do this, since this is bound up in fiscal policy. Rather, it is a matter of how to optimize this for public purpose. Such choices are necessarily involved and disregarding them is also a choice. Such choices are a matter for political debate informed by financial and economic realities rather than imagined ones, such as reliance on ideological bias.
Neoliberalism Has Always Been a Threat to Democracy — Aldo Madariaga
More than just a set of free-market policies, neoliberalism has always sought to alter society's balance of power in favor of bosses. Its assault on democracy and undermining of unions is now playing straight into the hands of the far right....Jacobin
Neoliberalism Has Always Been a Threat to Democracy
Aldo Madariaga | assistant professor of political science at the Universidad Diego Portales, Santiago de Chile and associate researcher of the Center for Social Conflict and Cohesion Studies
Zero Hedge — Biden To Ban Investments In 59 Chinese Companies Including Huawei And China's Largest Chipmaker
The executive order, which prohibits direct investment in both debt and equity securities, but also bans Americans from investing in funds that contain Chinese securities in their portfolios, is meant to stop US capital from being used by China to undermine national security....Gives new meaning to "capital controls."
The more the US attacks these companies economically, the more the Chinese government will support them economically, which is the US government's complaint, so it is not like they don't know this. So who does it impact? The American investors that are shut out.
Also at ZH
Tesla Shares Plunge Below $600 After Reports Of Collapse In May China Orders
See also
Huawei: Accelerate Financial Digitalization, Create New Value Together
Islamic Republic of Iran’s Presidential Election 1400 — Mansoureh Tajik
Everything you wanted to know about Iranian constitutional law and politics as a mixture of Islamic law and representative democracy in a liberal republic. Longish and detailed.
The Vineyard of the Saker
Islamic Republic of Iran’s Presidential Election 1400
Mansoureh Tajik
The Vineyard of the Saker
Islamic Republic of Iran’s Presidential Election 1400
Mansoureh Tajik
Related
The division of the world into “democracies” and “autocracies” is an inaccurate reflection of reality. There are just governments, and each has elements of these two categories within them, albeit to differing extents depending on the particularities of the national model presently in practice.
One World
Biden’s Gravest Challenge: White Resentment — David Rosen
Demographics and sociology in relation to US politics.
Good historical summary and where matters stand now.Counterpunch
Biden’s Gravest Challenge: White Resentment
David Rosen
Australia has a devastating secret weapon against China — David Llewellyn-Smith
The floating Australian dollar. I wonder whether David Llewellyn-Smith following his own reasoning and going short.
Macrobusiness
Australia has a devastating secret weapon against China
David Llewellyn-Smith in Australian Dollar
Also
Macrobusiness
Australia has a devastating secret weapon against China
David Llewellyn-Smith in Australian Dollar
Also
Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said earlier that Russia will completely abandon the US dollar and will reduce the pound sterling share in the National Wealth Fund’s structure
TASS
De-dollarization takes place in many countries — KremlinMore detail from ZH.
Zero Hedge
Russia's $186 Billion Sovereign Wealth Fund Dumps All Dollar Assets
Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Russia's $186 Billion Sovereign Wealth Fund Dumps All Dollar Assets
Tyler Durden
SouthFront — First Fully Autonomous Drone Was Used To Hunt Haftar’s Forces In Libya
Turning point in warfare? (The drone was made in Turkey.)
SouthFrontThe UN in 2018 attempted to begin working on a treaty that would ban autonomous weapons, but the move was blocked by both the US and Russia.
Some are hailing the coming of the new age of war. The events in Libya may similarly divide the time when humans had full control of weapons, and a time when machines made their own decisions to kill.
The deployment of truly autonomous drones could represent a military revolution on par with the introduction of guns or aircraft — and unlike nuclear weapons, they’re likely to be easily obtainable by nearly any military force.
What’s concerning is that if a new technology is so cheap and attainable, it makes deterrence impossible and every actor is then forced to constantly attempt to be on the offensive.
(If the clickable link no longer works use this URL instead.)
https://southfront.org/first-fully-autonomous-drone-was-used-to-hunt-haftars-forces-in-libya/
Nikkei Asian Review
If the US went to war with China, who would win?
Adm. James Stavridis, USN (retired), formerly Supreme Allied Commander of NATO
Also
Here’s why the US isn’t going to nuke anyone from orbit anytime soonRT
Mikhail Khodarenok, military commentator for RT and retired colonel having served as an officer at the main operational directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces
Also
In an exclusive interview, Ellsberg explains why he hopes the courts take on the law used to crack down on whistleblowers.
Made of the right stuff.
The InterceptWHY DANIEL ELLSBERG WANTS THE U.S. TO PROSECUTE HIM UNDER THE ESPIONAGE ACT
Jon Schwarz
Joe Biden Is Filling Top Pentagon Positions with Defense Contractors
Sara Sirota, Lee Fang
also
Peter Van Buren explains how it is done.
Strategic Culture Foundation
CIA (Dis)Information Operations Come Home to the U.S.
CIA (Dis)Information Operations Come Home to the U.S.
Peter Van Buren, a 24-year State Department veteran
Originally at wemeantwell
See also
Arms industry and MICIMATT (Military-Industrial-Congressional-Intelligence-Media-Academia-Think-Tank complex)
America Doesn’t Have A Foreign Policy, It Has A Business Plan
W. J. Astore, lieutenant colonel (USAF ret.), taught at the Air Force Academy, the Naval Postgraduate School, and currently at the Pennsylvania College of Technology
Bill Mitchell — The aftermath from my recent podcast on the Job Guarantee and UBI
Given I provided a detailed National Account analysis yesterday, I am using today as a blog lite day with just some snippets and then a musical offering – as per my usual Wednesday practice. I did an interview for Real Progressives last week and some of the social media reaction has been hysterical – claims that Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) has gone political and that MMT advocates abandoning the capitalist system and so on so forth. Some of this stuff is coming from self-identified ‘progressives’, which makes me wonder how much meaning term retains. In some cases, the attacks were really Trojan horses for the dislike of my Brexit stance or my attacks on the British Labour Party for pushing an unworkable and neo-liberal inspired fiscal credibility rule, which they had to change just before the election anyway because it was unworkable in its original form. So the resentment of those who hang onto the ‘European dream’ for the UK manifests as stupid, lying attacks on anything I say. Fine. More importantly, Switzerland is having a little ‘Brexit’ sort of move itesel, that has angered the European Union and is another chink in the now very depleted European ‘dream’. And if all that is a bit much, we can finish with some Jazz....Bill Mitchell – billy blog
The aftermath from my recent podcast on the Job Guarantee and UBI
Bill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia
Wednesday, June 2, 2021
Net Spending
Table below shows some recent selected months net spending; ie Total Withdrawals - Total Redemptions
October 2020 $402b (month leading into election...Democrats really screwed Trump and us)
November 2020 $472b
Feb 2021 $598b
March 2021 $985b (wow!)
April 2021 $723b
May 2021 $685b
So this peaked in March on the 1.9B Biden stimmy and now is headed back down... If no further stimmy is passed (imo does not seem likely) then we probably trend back to November levels down around $500b....
If so then the drop from recent peak monthly flow will be about $500b...
We'll ofc keep an eye on this... but last year during full blown covid shutdowns we were running 400b to 500b per month now with vaccines and cases waaaay down and red states getting back open Dems were increasing the flows by all time record amounts so you can see why we had the recent increase in a lot of prices that have probably topped out along with these flows in March...
Going from $402B in October to $985B in March is probably the largest increase in world history in a 4 month period by any direct or relative measure ... monthly flow over doubled in that short period...
What did the Nasdaq do then from March 1 when this big increase started until now?
Nasdaq index opened at 13,406 on March 1 and closed today 3 months later at 13,756, up 350 points or 2.6% big deal...
Probably the GOAT of all fiscal increases even by relative measures and this part of the equity market up 2.6% in 90 days... this is not an impressive rally at all.... in fact I don’t think it measures up to the nasdaq long term average...
Am I a Psychopath? (Psychology Documentary) | Real Stories
I later found out that Sam Vaknin is a psychopath, and that he is not a professor and neither does he have a PhD. I did think his style and delivery seemed too relentless and forceful for a genuine academic, although he does have an IQ of 188, which is phenomenonal.
A third of the way through the documentary I started to like Sam Vaknim, but was I just being another victim too? It seems so!
Why did he agree to make the documentary? I think it was just to promote his book.
I found the documentary to be very interesting!
Meet Sam Vaknin, author of the book Malignant Self Love. Sam knows he’s a supreme narcissist, but is he also, as he suspects, a psychopath? To find out, he becomes the world’s first civilian volunteer to be thoroughly tested for psychopathy.
Along the way, Vaknin encounters the minefield of scientific, ethical, moral and social issues involved in owning that label. When things don’t quite go his way, he turns on the film-makers, unleashing vicious displays of verbal abuse, and some free psychological analysis of his own.
Then, there's his wife Lidija. She wants a baby, but isn't sure that Sam is suitable parent material. And to make things worse, Lidija’s sister believes she’s been brainwashed by her twelve years with Sam.
I, Psychopath is a classic road trip/head trip movie, with a strong narrative, jeopardy, a cast of engaging characters and an irreverent gonzo style.
KV - Whaddya and Watcha
Winston Frederick Sterzel, who calls himself SerpentZA on YouTube, is very racist, and seems to particularly hate the Chinese. He says they are very greedy and will eat anything, a bit like most people I know, including me.
Anyway, Winston Sterzel, to prove his point, says that the first thing that the Chinese will say when they meet you is, have you eaten? I knew this was probably just a way of saying hello where it's original meaning had most kikely been lost. It's a bit like Watcha in Britain, which means, what are you doing? We don't think of this when we say Watcha, though, because it's just a kind of hello.
'Have you eaten' is a common greeting in East Asia because they had many famines in the past, but it's original meaning has been lost too, so it's become just a way of saying hello.
It triggered me to do research on Watcha, and I found this video about it, but I had never heard of the word Whaddya before, until I watched the video right through to the end and found out that I use this word all the time. Go figure!
Whaddya and Watcha are very common spoken English "words" but you probably will not find them in the dictionary. What do they mean and how do you use them correctly?
Getting Ready [for the summit] — Andrei Martyanov
For the US-Russia summit on June 16. Sergei Lavrov didn't miss a beat when yesterday, speaking at the conference dedicated to the 20th anniversary of Russian-Chinese Treaty on Good Neighborhood, Friendship and Cooperation, stated that:Всеобъемлющее партнерство РФ и КНР больше чем просто военно-стратегический союз.Sergei Lavrov is not the kind of statesman who uses hyperbole to describe facts of life, but the fact that obvious and undeniable partnership between China and Russia "is more" than just military-strategic alliance tells us all we need to know about the fact that the actual military-strategic alliance is being developed and that has immense geopolitical implications. What kind of implications one may ask. It is one thing to get oneself into the economic alliance akin to EU, totally another--to declare a military one....
Translation: All-encompassing partnership between Russian Federation and China is more than just military-strategic alliance.
The MMT Podcast – Ndongo Samba Sylla: The CFA Franc & The Movement For Monetary Sovereignty In Africa
Patricia and Christian talk to Senegalese development economist and author Ndongo Samba Sylla about the political challenges facing countries with limited financial sovereignty and Africa’s last colonial currency – the CFA Franc....
Brave New Europe
The MMT Podcast – Ndongo Samba Sylla: The CFA Franc & The Movement For Monetary Sovereignty In Africa
Mathew D. Rose
The MMT Podcast – Ndongo Samba Sylla: The CFA Franc & The Movement For Monetary Sovereignty In Africa
Mathew D. Rose
Pavlina Tcherneva on the size of the fiscal deficit
There was a recent exchange on whether MMT prescribes a certain size deficit. As @KarlWiderquist argues here, the answer is no. But I would go even further. MMT does not prescribe or aim to estimate a specific size of 'desirable' govt deficit for several reasons....Read the thread here.
Multi-Domain Operations: A Developing Doctrine – TTG
“In the future, Brown said here last week, “all formations will have to become multi-domain or they’ll be irrelevant, [but] it’s going to be years before it can happen.” The Army’s goal is modernize enough forces to wage multi-domain warfare against either China or Russia — but not both at once — by 2028.” (Breaking Defense)….Turcopolier
Multi-Domain Operations: A Developing Doctrine – TTG
The Army is nearly tripling electronic warfare personnel – TTG
Professor Sam Vaknim - Introducing this Channel: Narcissists, Psychopaths, Abuse
Professor Sam Vaknim says Narcissists and psychopaths are everywhere, and that they tend to rise to the top of many professions, such as politics, the clergy, the military, law enforcement, etc. He himself suffers from narcissism, and it is this that led him to study psychology. He says it's caused by faulty relationships with parents during childhood.
Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) is a serious, often undiagnosed condition, frequently related to abuse in childhood.
In many cases the disorder compels the sufferer to become the abuser in turn.
Once almost unheard of, pathological narcissism is now considered to be at the heart of phenomena as diverse as corporate malfeasance, workplace bullying, the emergence of murderous dictatorships, domestic violence, and serial killings.
I am Sam Vaknin, author of "Malignant Self-love: Narcissism Revisited" , a work of reference about Narcissistic Personality Disorder and other books about personality disorders.
I have been studying pathological, malignant narcissism for two decades now, mostly in the following contexts:
I. Corporate settings and in Politics
II. Abusive and Dysfunctional relationships
Professor Sam Vaknim - ntroducing this Channel: Narcissists, Psychopaths, Abuse
Bill Mitchell — Australian economy now slightly above the March 2020 level as growth continues
The data release from the Australian Bureau of Statistics of the – Australian National Accounts: National Income, Expenditure and Product, March 2021 (released June 2, 2021) – shows that the Australian economy grew by a healthy 1.8 per cent in the March-quarter after growing by 3.2 per cent in the December-quarter 2020. Further, the economy is now 1.1 per cent larger than it was at the outset of the pandemic in March 2020. Household consumption growth is positive but subdued. Fiscal support is declining. But business investment is now recovering and is a really positive sign. Several sectors are still struggling and renewed outbreaks of the virus in recent weeks will further create these disparities. I consider there is still need for expanded fiscal support....Bill Mitchell – billy blog
Australian economy now slightly above the March 2020 level as growth continues
Bill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia
Senate nears filibuster fight
GOP looking at Sinema and Manchin as solid allies on this... no break of filibuster and reconciliation till the fall beginning of FY22 means we get full effects of debt ceiling reinstatement July 31 and then 2 or 3 months of operating under “extraordinary measures”...
Biden Takes Rare Swipe At Manchin And Sinema As Senate Nears Filibuster Fight https://t.co/lvyfqWiizq pic.twitter.com/8hLy1faZZc
— Forbes (@Forbes) June 1, 2021
JOHN P. KELLEHER - Why Do Bitcoins Have Value?
For all those libertarians who hate fiat money.
Like fiat currencies, Bitcoin is not backed by any physical commodity or precious metal.
Tuesday, June 1, 2021
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's video address to the Sixth International Conference Russia and China: Cooperation in a New Era, Moscow, June 1, 2021
English transcript.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian FederationForeign Minister Sergey Lavrov's video address to the Sixth International Conference Russia and China: Cooperation in a New Era, Moscow, June 1, 2021
Sputnik — Xi Jinping: China to Render All Possible Assistance to Syria in Restoring Economy
Chinese President Xi Jinping sent Bashar Assad a telegram with congratulations on the latter's re-election as Syrian president and pledged all possible assistance in the economic recovery of the country, China Central Television reported.
"China strongly supports the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Syria, will provide all possible assistance in the fight against the COVID-19 epidemic, in revitalizing the country's economy and improving the lives of the population, will help to ensure that the Sino-Syrian cooperation rises to a new level," the statement says.
In his congratulatory telegram, Xi said China and Syria are traditionally friendly states; Syria was one of the first Arab countries to establish diplomatic relations with China.
Oh, my. China pokes the US in the eye.
Sputnik InternationalSee also
To understand the importance of that incident, it is necessary to look carefully at the map of the pipelines under construction. That naval crash seems to be only the anticipation of a geopolitical conflict. A conflict that risks becoming more complicated: the two frigates collided exactly in the middle of Eastmed’s route.
What exactly is Eastmed and what can its real geopolitical value be?Pipelines again.
SouthFront
On the Hunt for Gas. War Drums in the Eastern Mediterranean
Piero Messina
TASS
NATO’s encroachment of Russian borders signifies malevolent plans — Lavrov
Lavrov points to Western attempts to politicize issues related to COVID-19 origin
Russia not interested in global economic system collapse — Lavrov
Concept of world order promoted by the West is not universal, says Lavrov
Piero Messina
TASS
NATO’s encroachment of Russian borders signifies malevolent plans — Lavrov
Lavrov points to Western attempts to politicize issues related to COVID-19 origin
Russia not interested in global economic system collapse — Lavrov
Concept of world order promoted by the West is not universal, says Lavrov
The Covid-19 Lab Leak Theory Is a Tale of Weaponized Uncertainty — Adam Rogers
Scientists almost never say they’re sure, and it could take years to pin down the pandemic's origins. Until then: People are trying to scare you.
Politicizing science is straight up propaganda.
The Covid-19 Lab Leak Theory Is a Tale of Weaponized Uncertainty
Adam Rogers
More on propagandaDances with Bears
RUSSIA THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS OF ANGLO-AMERICAN WAR
John Helmer
Amy B Wang - For decades, no one spoke of Taiwan’s hidden massacre. A new generation is breaking the silence.
There's a Chinese government atrocity -- a massacre of tens of thousands -- that has long been hushed up. But the victims weren't Uyghurs; they were native Taiwanese-- mostly the educated elite--massacred by US ally Chiang's Kuomintang in 1947.
Lin's family's story was not unique. As many as 28,000 Taiwanese civilians were believed to be killed after an attempted uprising in 1947, a systematic massacre significant not only for its scale but also for the silence that enshrouded the subject for decades afterward. Because of a 38-year period of martial law that followed the killings, it was verboten to even mention such deaths publicly. To this day, it remains a painful and controversial subject among Taiwan's older generation.
Washington Post
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)