The first part of this post is about Germany's "reoccupation" of Greece, and the second is a report on the MMT conference in Italy, in which Bill participated.
Read it at New Economic Perspectives
(Re) Occupy Greece
by William K. Black | Professor, UMKC
Greece’s problems do not derive from any desire by Germans to re-occupy Greece: they derive from the inherent flaws in a common currency. If Greece had adopted the US dollar, and Greek and US competitiveness had diverged in the same way that Greek and German competitiveness have diverged, then the same problems would have arisen. And the US would now be trying to “occupy” Greece, if we have to use the word occupy.
ReplyDeleteBill Black and other MMTers in Italy were amazed at the number of Italians had been reading US blogs. The explanation is perhaps that blogging is not as advanced in Europe as in the US. See:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bruegel.org/blog/detail/article/708-europeans-cant-blog
(H/t to Simon Wren-Lewis at “Mainly Macro”)
We never learn a thing from our mistakes. From Atlas Shrugged:
ReplyDelete"When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion- When you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing- when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors- when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you- when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice- you may know that your society is doomed."
In Europe there are more languages than English, there is discussion about issues, but not in English, that's why there is some disconnect.
ReplyDeleteThat's also an other reason why the EMU experiment is doomed to fail btw.
Wouldn't a simple eu-wide cross border pension system help to alleviate the problems faced by Europe?
ReplyDeleteFrom Market Ticker for you money printing happy go lucky MMT proponents. By the way, as you will read in the body of the text that CITI committed the same crimes. And as I have mentioned before, assets have been pledged in multiple Trusts, although that's another story for another time. Soak it up boys.
ReplyDeleteNobody Committed Any Crimes (Except JP Morgan?)
In the latest edition of Nobody Committed Any Crimes™* we have JP Morgan/Chase!
JPMorgan Chase & Co. took procedural shortcuts and used faulty account records in suing tens of thousands of delinquent credit card borrowers for at least two years, current and former employees say.
"We did not verify a single one" of the affidavits attesting to the amounts Chase was seeking to collect, says Howard Hardin, who oversaw a team handling tens of thousands of Chase debt files in San Antonio. "We were told [by superiors] 'We're in a hurry. Go ahead and sign them.'"
Oh look! Robosigning!
And worse, because the allegation is that Chase sold off delinquent debts to collectors knowing that they were unverified.
Worse, allegations have been made that documents were deliberately destroyed -- documents that would have evidenced payments or judgment-based extinguishment!
Documents weren't simply misplaced: Chase shredded incoming correspondence such as records of borrower payments and counter-judgments extinguishing debts, Almonte alleged in her wrongful termination suit.
If true, that's essentially identical to what was alleged before the FCIC when it came to Citi's practices in underwriting home mortgages -- knowingly selling garbage on while intentionally failing to disclose the truth about what is being sold.
Anon,
ReplyDeleteThrow them all in jail and still nobody is going back to work...
Resp,
Ralph, check out Michael Hudson's "Super Imperialism," and read some Noam Chomsky. The world is still in the stage of neo-imperialism and neo-colonialism, dominated by the Western powers under the leadership now of the US as the superpower and largest economy.
ReplyDeleteBill Black is talking about the new world order being put in place under the de facto rule of politically independent technocrats that are themselves either members of the the ruling elite or minions of it. This is the West's vision of globalization and the EZ is the experiment in extending neo-imperialism and neocolonialism within the West itself. It's part of the great leveling that is designed to lead to global hegemony under the rule the Western elite and their cronies.
Yes, there is a lot of conspiracy theory associated with this, but under the tin-foil hat stuff there is a kernel of truth that is documented by people like Hudson and Chomsky — and Bill Black. Randy is also onto it. A lot of these observations are considered politically partisan, but it is not so from a historical perspective. These are parlous times for liberal democracy, and some people are sounding the warning.
Look at the EZ and Greece in particular. What is at stake is national sovereignty, and it is being undermined by an economic process since the ruling elite recognizes that the voters would never to for such a thing unless they were put under duress. It has a name — disaster capitalism.
The global Occupy-Indignado-Arab Spring consolidated movement is weel tuned in to this and they have major public intellectuals documenting the evidence and preparing the indictment. David Graeber's Debt is a general element in this. His political writings are specific.
Anon: "When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion- When you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing- when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors- when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you- when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice- you may know that your society is doomed."
ReplyDeleteThere was a period in history when this was not the case? I don't think so. The difference between then and now is that the rip-off process is more or less civilized. In previous times, and in still in many cases, it is not civilized butt rather brutal in addition to being ruthless.
The idea that instituting a laissez-faire society would create a utopian paradise is just naive. Just who is going to enforce property rights? With what?
There are three models historically, 1) an authoritarian state not bridled by the rule of law, 2) constantly sparring warlords in a feudal system, and 3) an authoritarian government bridled at least to some degree by the rule of law, and in more advanced societies by liberal democracy.
An advancement beyond these options will require a more highly developed level of collective unconsciousness, and this not unlikely as long as humanity remains in its adolescence as a species. It's a long evolutionary process. Premature radical revolutions running ahead of collective consciousness just get hijacked.
Even if one group were able to pull this off and become a prosperous society, they would soon be overrun by marauders. The only practical way to do this historically has been in small group remaining more or less underground or disguised.
" The only practical way to do this historically has been in small group remaining more or less underground or disguised."
ReplyDeleteTom this is just wild to think about but I think it is probably true!
Resp,
Think of early followers of Jesus, Matt, before "Christianity" came into being as an institution.
ReplyDeleteIt's not uncommon historically, and there are many subcultures and small groups functioning pretty well today. Zuccotti Park was a visible example, and the authorities moved to stamp it out quickly, just as they did in the Sixties and Seventies,
In a liberal democracy, the authorities will generally leave you alone if you don't make waves and and pay your taxes. But challenging authority is forbidden and even questioning authority effectively is asking for trouble.
Tom
ReplyDeleteIntresting thoughts, could MMT be considered subversive? I ask since I found MMT its changed my views completely.
Now I work in the world of avation and im actually a security manager, some of what is discussed here would be considered of interest as i said above my views have changed in a shortish time which is something we are told to look out for.
Im not one for being completely paranoid but I am going to post this anon.
But I think that many would see MMT as politically to the left of their preferences, I don't think it would be seen as subversive. But people using the existing way of doing business to advantage might feel threatened by an economic solution that opens up policy spaces for prosocial programs by showing how they can be funded under existing operational requirements. As Michael Hudson pointed out at the recent conference on MMT in Italy, MMT undermines TINA (there is no alternative to neoliberalism. Some arch-conservative employers might even attempt to prevent promulgation of unwelcome ideas in the workplace.
ReplyDeleteAnon,
ReplyDeleteI would just point out that MMT can be considered very authoritarian. (this is the way I have come to look at it, I test out on the compass test as an authoritarian of the center).
A strong national govt pursuing righteous public purpose is very appealing to me anyway, just depends on how you define what "public purpose" is.
The folks who find themselves out of the MMT pardigm imo are surrendering the authority of civil govt when they are led to believe things like "taxpayer on the hook" and "we're borrowing fron the Chinese" or a govt official saying "we're out of money"; these are truly people who have been turned into morons. These people are the true subversives imo.
If Alexander or "Caesar" was still alive they would be laughing at these govt people we have today... they are all morons.
Resp,