Mike Norman Economics
An economics, investment, trading and policy blog with a focus on Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). We seek the truth, avoid the mainstream and are virulently anti-neoliberalism.
Wednesday, November 6, 2024
On Sraffa and Keynes — Lars P. Syll
Lars P. Syll’s Blog
On Sraffa and Keynes
Lars P. Syll | Professor, Malmo University
Tuesday, November 5, 2024
Escobar: The Roadblocks Ahead For The Sovereign Harmonious Multi-Nodal World — Pepe Escobar
We will need weeks, months, years to fully grasp the enormity of what took place in Kazan during the annual BRICS summit under the Russian presidency.My take is that there were two tracks leading up to the meeting of BRICS+ in Kazan.
For the moment let’s cherish arguably the most appropriate definition of BRICS as a laboratory of the future: this lab, against nearly insurmountable odds, is actively engaged in creating a Sovereign Harmonious Multi-Nodal World.
Monday, November 4, 2024
Government job creation programs deliver significant (net) long-term benefits — Bill Mitchell
On April 5, 1933, US President Roosevelt made an executive decision to create the – Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) – which was a component of the suite of government programs referred to as the – New Deal – that defined the Federal government’s solution to the mass unemployment that arose during the early years of the – Great Depression. These programs have been heavily criticised by the free market set as being unnecessary, wasteful and ineffective. Critics assert that no long-term benefits are forthcoming from such programs. However, those assertions are never backed by valid empirical evidence. A recent study by US academics has provided the first solid piece of evidence that the CCC delivered massive long-term benefits to the individuals who participated in it. And these benefits considerably outweigh the dollars outlaid by the government. I discuss that research today. The results also point to the effectiveness of a Job Guarantee program....
Bill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia
MMT — debunking the deficit — Lars P. Syll
MMT — debunking the deficit
Lars P. Syll | Professor, Malmo University
Sunday, November 3, 2024
24 per cent annual interest on time deposits: St Petersburg Travel Notes, installment three — Gilbert Doctorow
Not much happening regarding MMT these days.
Herer is an anecdotal report on Russian banking. And, yes, you read that right. You get 24% not the bank.
Doctorow is an American residing in Brussels who spends a good deal of time in Russia. His wife is Russian and he is fluent in Russian. A "Russianist," he has a a PhD in history (Harvard) and is a retired business person. His reporting does not conform to the narrative.
Gilbert Doctorow—International relations, Russian affairs24 per cent annual interest on time deposits: St Petersburg Travel Notes, installment three
Saturday, November 2, 2024
Did The Latest BRICS Summit Achieve Anything Of Tangible Significance At All? — Andrew Korybko
The conclusion is that it’s a lot easier to talk about creating truly alternative institutions than actually doing so, which means that BRICS will likely just remain a talking club, or a “multitasking laboratory of global governance” as Kortunov diplomatically described it. That’s not to downplay the group’s role since it’s important for major and developing non-Western countries to discuss pressing issues of the evolving world order, especially economic-financial ones, but that’s not the same as what enthusiasts expected.A dose of reality. The Alt-Media got a quite a bit ahead of reality with respect to their expectations of the initial outcome.
The Kazan Summit therefore wasn’t a failure, and in fact, it succeeded in its only realistic goal all along of gathering its members and partners together to discuss ways to voluntarily accelerate financial multipolarity processes such as through the increased use of national currencies. The outcome was always going to be more symbolic than tangible due to the group’s purely voluntary nature, though some observers had false expectations and thus feel bitter, but now they know what BRICS is really about.
Wednesday, October 23, 2024
Rate policy
Democrat rate policy still has US overnight risk free IOR rate at 4.9% so what is so bad about a 10yr risk free UST rate of 4.2%?
It’s still significantly inverted over time … usual Art degree moron suspects going apoplectic meanwhile a significantly inverted yield curve… hard to understand how these peoples brains work… 🤔
Monday, October 21, 2024
Pepe Escobar —Date With Destiny–BRICS Offers Hope in a Time of War
Sputnik International
Pepe Escobar: Date With Destiny - BRICS Offers Hope in a Time of War
Sunday, October 20, 2024
BRICS plans ‘multi-currency system’ to challenge US dollar dominance: Understanding Russia’s proposal — Ben Norton
The BRICS Cross-Border Payment Initiative (BCBPI) will use national currencies, instead of the US dollar. Russia’s finance ministry and central bank released a report detailing plans to transform the international monetary and financial system.
BRICS—facts and figures — Peter Hanseler/Denis Dobrin
IntroductionVoice from Russia — The trilingual blog about geopolitics and geoeconomics written by a Swiss living in Moscow
In the first part of this year’s BRICS series, we described the geopolitical environment in which BRICS is currently operating and trying to evolve. This environment has changed for the worse since the last BRICS summit in South Africa last August.
The consequence is that BRICS cannot develop freely, because on the one hand, the decisions – especially those of the USA – regarding the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, the situation in the financial markets and finally the elections in the USA will have serious consequences for the whole world. On the other hand, the decisions of the BRICS regarding the admission of new members and the introduction of a currency (unlikely) or a payment and settlement system (likely) will also have a major impact on the overall geopolitical situation.
This article deals with the facts and figures of the current state of this organization, the figures including candidates for admission (BRICS+) and an outlook with figures including interested countries (BRICS++). In a subsequent article, we will cover the topic of a new currency and a new payment and settlement system.
BRICS – facts and figures
Thursday, October 17, 2024
The Boy Who Cried Wolf About Government Debt —Yeva Nersisyan, L. Randall Wray
In a New York Times editorial, David Leonhardt recounts Aesop’s apocryphal story about the boy and the wolf, warning that while deficit hawks have so far been wrong, the growing government debt will eventually bite. He reports the economic plans of both presidential candidates would add to the debt that will soon exceed GDP and grow to 130 percent of annual output under a President Harris, or 140 percent with a Trump presidency.Levy Economics Istitute
The story of the boy and the wolf was a fable, although it was within the realm of possibility. The fable of the debt wolf is not. While there are real world wolves—Leonhardt mentions climate catastrophe and autocratic leaders, and the authors would add rising inequality and the concentration of economic and political power in the hands of billionaires.
Policy Note 2024/1 | October 2024
Yeva Nersisyan, L. Randall Wray
Improvement Of The International Monetary And Financial System — The Ministry Of Finance Of The Russian Federation, Bank of Russia, Yakov and Partners
The Ministry Of Finance Of The Russian Federation, Bank of Russia, Yakov and Partners
Episode 7 (S2) of the Smith Family Manga is now available–A revealing Zoom session — Bill Mitchell
Today (October 18, 2024), MMTed releases Episode 7 in the Second Season of our Manga series – The Smith Family and their Adventures with Money. Have a bit of fun with it while learning Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) and circulate it to those who you think will benefit.…
Bill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia
How Australian Monetary System Favours the Powerful — Denis Hay
Social Justice Australia
How Australian Monetary System Favours the Powerful
Denis Hay
Friday, October 11, 2024
LA Woman
Great breakdown of a great song (by The Doors) by these 2 Millennial black bros… never understood the song as a metaphor for the city of Los Angeles but yeah I get it now… makes it even better…
Wednesday, October 9, 2024
The Deficit, the National Debt, and why we don’t have to worry about them. — John Rudden
Short article on Stephanie Kelton's The Deficit Myth.
Daily KosThe Deficit, the National Debt, and why we don’t have to worry about them.
John Rudden
Wednesday, October 2, 2024
Episode 6 of the Smith Family Manga (Season 2) is now available— Bill Mitchell
Today (October 3, 2024), MMTed releases Episode 6 in the Second Season of our Manga series – The Smith Family and their Adventures with Money. Have a bit of fun with it while learning Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) and circulate it to those who you think will benefit. Episode 6 was delayed by two weeks…William Mitchell — Modern Monetary Theory
Episode 6 of the Smith Family Manga (Season 2) is now available
Bill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia
Tuesday, October 1, 2024
Modern Monetary Theory film proves finding the cash isn't the problem — William Thomson
As we have been writing for over a year in this newsletter, the UK Government, as the issuer of the UK pound, can never run out of money. They can afford whatever is priced in pounds. There is never a problem finding the money. This leads to a natural and painful conclusion: Continuing austerity policies is a political choice....
Monday, September 30, 2024
Class origins matter – but who are the agents of change? — Bill Mitchell
Not MMT or economics as such but it is interesting in that Bill is an MMT founder so his stance on economic sociology is relevant.
There was an interesting article in the UK Guardian the other day September 26, 2024) – Take it from me (and Keir Starmer) – you should never pretend to be more working class than you are. I don’t usually agree with the journalist but this article made me reflect on a lot of things.…
Aside:
The scrutiny arises because many of these “Labour people” appear to have accumulated wealth (real estate etc), have come from well-paid jobs and network with the elites in society.
For that they are referred to, in a pejorative way, as ‘champagne socialists’.
Bill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia
The ball is now in Finance Ministry's court, Chinese economists say — Zichen Wang
The Ministry of Finance of the People's Republic of China (Chinese: 中华人民共和国财政部; pinyin: Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó Cáizhèngbù) is the constituent department of the State Council of the People's Republic of China which administers macroeconomic policies and the annual budget. It also handles fiscal policy, economic regulations and government expenditure for the state.The ministry also records and publishes annual macroeconomic data on China's economy. This includes information such as previous economic growth rates in China, central government debt and borrowing and many other indicators regarding the economy of mainland China.The Ministry of Finance's remit is smaller than its counterparts in many other states. Macroeconomic management is primarily handled by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). State-owned industries are the responsibility of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, and there are separate regulators for banking, insurance and securities. It also does not handle regulation of the money markets or interest rates. These, together with other aspects of monetary policy, are governed by the People's Bank of China (PBC), mainland China's central bank. The Ministry, NDRC and PBC are equal in status, with their political heads all sitting on the State Council.
The ball is now in Finance Ministry's court, Chinese economists say
Zichen Wang | Research Fellow & Director for Int'l Comms at Center for China and Globalization (CCG), after 11 years at Xinhua News Agency. Founder & Editor: Pekingnology & The East is Read. Salzburg Global Fellow (2024-)
Saturday, September 21, 2024
How I came to MMT — Robert Cauneau
Interesting personal story.The discovery of a monetary approach, which, in this case, not only relates to a field that I was not familiar with, but also constitutes a total challenge to my own knowledge of public finance management, which I have practiced throughout my career, is not something trivial. So I decided to tell my own story.
MMT France
How I came to MMT
Robert Cauneau
Friday, September 20, 2024
China shit market
Commies dilute their productive capital with unproductive commie bullshit = 0…
Here is a wild chart. The total return on Chinese stocks since 1993 is negative. In contrast, India is a 13-bagger. pic.twitter.com/SPvczZxkld
— Jeff Weniger (@JeffWeniger) September 20, 2024
Monday, September 16, 2024
The 20 EMU Member States are not currency issuers in the MMT sense — Bill Mitchell
For some years now (since the pandemic), I have been receiving E-mails from those interested in the Eurozone telling me that the analysis I presented in my 2015 book – Eurozone Dystopia: Groupthink and Denial on a Grand Scale (published May 2015) – was redundant because the European Commission and the ECB had embraced and was committed to Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) so there was no longer a basis for a critique along the lines I presented. I keep seeing that claim repeated and apparently it is being championed by MMT economists. While there are some MMTers who seem to think the original architecture of the Economic and Monetary Union has been ‘changed’ in such a way that the original constraints on Member States no longer apply, I think they have missed the point. They point to the fact that the ECB continues to control bond yield spreads across the EU through its bond-buying programs (yes) and that the Commission/Council relaxed the fiscal rules during the Pandemic (yes). But the bond-buying programs come with conditionality and the authorities have now ended the ‘general escape clause’ of the Stability and Growth Pact and are once again enforcing the Excessive Deficit procedure and imposing austerity on several Member States. The temporary relaxation of the SGP rules (via the general emergency clause) did not amount to a ‘change’ in the fiscal rules. Indeed, the EDP has been strengthened this year. The Member States still face credit risk on their debt, still use a foreign currency that is issued by the ECB and is beyond their legislative remit, and are still vulnerable to austerity impositions from the Commission and their technocrats. To compare that situation with a currency-issuing government such as the US or Japan or Australia, etc is to, in my view, commit the same sort of error that mainstream economists make when they say that ‘the UK is at risk of becoming like Greece’ or similar ridiculous threats to discipline fiscal authorities in currency-issuing nations.
There are various interrelated questions that bear on this subject....
William Mitchell — Modern Monetary Theory
The 20 EMU Member States are not currency issuers in the MMT sense
Bill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia
Sunday, September 15, 2024
(II) Xu Gao's case for Beijing to spend — Yuxuan JIA and BU, Xiaoqing
Xu Gao, the Chief Economist and Assistant President of Bank of China International Co. Ltd., and an adjunct professor of the National School of Development (NSD) at Peking University, has been featured on The East is Read several times.
The East is ReadOn August 19, 2024, Xu published a new essay on his personal WeChat blog 徐高经济观察 Xu Gao Economic Observation. This long essay, essentially making a case for Beijing to adopt stimulus measures, will be rolled out in three parts.
Amid cautious signals from the Chinese government and the widespread belief in saving policy "ammunition," Xu Gao calls for a shift to macroeconomic thinking. He contends the government shouldn't be tethered to the belief that money spent is money lost, as a company might. The government revenue isn't fixed or exhaustible but "endogenous," says he, driven by government spending, which boosts private income, consumption, and investment. Unlike individuals and businesses who see income as beyond their control, the government, following Keynesian principles, can step in when demand falters. By increasing fiscal spending and liquidity, it can generate demand where the private sector won't, matching purchasing power with the willingness to spend.
Xu argues that the real limit on stimulus isn't money supply—it's supply capacity. Rising inflation and trade deficits mean domestic supply can't keep up with demand, making further stimulus risky. But when inflation is low and there's a trade surplus, it signals excess supply, making stimulus "not only feasible but also essential."….
(II) Xu Gao's case for Beijing to spend: stimulus now doesn't hinder structural reforms-Chief Economist of Bank of China International continues with the sustainability and necessity of stimulus.
Trump to roll out DeFi project this week
Looks like Trump going to start a crypto exchange and a USD stable coin… 🤔
.@WorldLibertyFi is helmed by @realdonaldtrump's sons, @EricTrump and @DonaldJTrumpJr and the 18-year-old Barron Trump is the project's "DeFi visionary.” https://t.co/PSKhQWyQKu
— CoinDesk (@CoinDesk) September 13, 2024
Wednesday, September 11, 2024
Xu Gao's case for stimulus—Chief Economist of Bank of China International tears apart the opposition — Yuxuan JIA and BU, Xiaoqing
MMT without naming it.
Xu Gao, the Chief Economist and Assistant President of Bank of China International Co. Ltd., and an adjunct professor of the National School of Development (NSD) at Peking University, has been featured on The East is Read several times.
The East is ReadOn August 19, 2024, Xu published a new essay on his personal WeChat blog 徐高经济观察 Xu Gao Economic Observation. This long essay, essentially making a case for Beijing to adopt stimulus measures, will be rolled out in three parts.
Amid cautious signals from the Chinese government and the widespread belief in saving policy "ammunition," Xu Gao calls for a shift to macroeconomic thinking. He contends the government shouldn't be tethered to the belief that money spent is money lost, as a company might. The government revenue isn't fixed or exhaustible but "endogenous," says he, driven by government spending, which boosts private income, consumption, and investment. Unlike individuals and businesses who see income as beyond their control, the government, following Keynesian principles, can step in when demand falters. By increasing fiscal spending and liquidity, it can generate demand where the private sector won't, matching purchasing power with the willingness to spend.
Xu argues that the real limit on stimulus isn't money supply—it's supply capacity. Rising inflation and trade deficits mean domestic supply can't keep up with demand, making further stimulus risky. But when inflation is low and there's a trade surplus, it signals excess supply, making stimulus "not only feasible but also essential."
Yuxuan JIA and BU, Xiaoqing
Tuesday, September 10, 2024
Wholesale Payments Systems and Bank Reserves — Brian Romanchuk
Some of the nity-gritty involving payments systems that underlies some institutional arrangement needed to understand MMT's analysis.
Bond Economics
Wholesale Payments Systems and Bank Reserves
Brian Romanchuk
The Myth That the US is Rapidly Approaching Bankruptcy — Michael Hudson
Yves Smith's introduction
Naked CapitalismYves here. It is frustrating to see a normally solid YouTuber almost go off the rails by getting outside his area of expertise, geopolitics, and fall for libertarian scaremongering. We’ve commented before on the tendency of certain schools of commentary to fall into belief clusters, so anti-globalists are anti-dollar hegemony (and often crypto fans) to the degree that they have not bothered understanding how a currency issuer like the US operates. A currency issuer can never suffer an involuntary bankruptcy. They can always create more currency. What they can do is generate too much demand compared to the real resources of their economy, as in inflation.
In the discussion below, Micael Hudson
has spend[spends] a significant portion of the interview debunking US budget myths to Nima of Dailogue Works. Hudson not only got Nima to agree to a more accurate title but also Hudson starting by laying out MMT basics in his extended opening discussion. As Hudson said via e-mail:Nima had a sensationalist title, “Is the US rapidly approaching bankruptcy.” I showed that this is a myth and the US can’t go bankrupt.
We pre-arranged that I would give a 25-minute lead-in discussing just whom the US Treasury debt is owed to, and why most of it has no intention of being paid (paper currency, debts to foreign central banks and to the US Fed), and as for debts to bondholders, US Treasury debt continues to be a flight to safety, not to risk...
The Myth That the US is Rapidly Approaching Bankruptcy
Michael Hudson
Modern Monetary Theory: Economics for the 21st Century – MOOC – now available via MMTed.org — Bill Mitchell
William Mitchell — Modern Monetary TheoryI am travelling all day tomorrow so I am bringing forward the normal blog post to today. I am pleased to announce that from today the MMT MOOC which we ran through the University of Newcastle’s edX facility over the last few years is now available through MMTed on an on-going basis. Read on to get the full details and access.
Modern Monetary Theory: Economics for the 21st Century – MOOC – now available via MMTed.org
Bill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia
Trump 3% Mortgage Policy
Trump promising a return to 3% mortgages if he can get back in…
He’ll have to tell his Central Bank to lower the policy rate down to at least 2% to hope to get his 30-yr fixed back to 3%…
Donald Trump says his plans to slash regulations will get mortgage rates 'back down' to 3%, per FORTUNE
— unusual_whales (@unusual_whales) September 9, 2024