Big protest down the street near where I'm staying in [Sophia] Bulgaria. People are protesting the endless corruption on all levels of society. Reminds me of when I took to the streets to try and end the Vietnam War in America. Very exciting time. Even now, I can hear the passionate chanting of huge crowds not far away. It's time for a change here and the people are empowering themselves at last!
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.
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Saturday, June 15, 2013
Anti government protest, Sofia Bulgaria 14.06.2013
From a friend on FB:
Anti government protest, Sofia Bulgaria 14.06.2013
Yes, the antigovernment protest is going second day now. And the new Bulgarian government was established just two weeks ago. The economic situation is really, really bad, and there isn't any political party with the right solutions. Sounds familiar? :-)
ReplyDeleteWe tried to educate OWS movement two years ago. Hopefully we can do it in Bulgaria.
Frankly, I think MMT has only a small - though certainly not negligible - role to play in the political struggles that are beginning to take shape around the world. MMT has some positive contributions to make in the areas of public finance and fiscal policy. But a deep global malaise has set over fundamental structures of political power, economic organization and culture. From that perspective, MMT sometimes looks like pretty thin gruel.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Dan. There is a great unease out there taking over much of the world. I wonder why it has not taken root here. Corruption is rampant.
ReplyDeleteAgree, also. This is a turning point of multiple aspects affecting the whole of life — spiritual, social, political, and economic.
ReplyDeleteAs Strauss & Howe observe, "turnings" are essential spiritual and are called "awakenings." "Spiritual" means holistic, inclusive of all levels. These turning points involve a transition is a society's collective level of consciousness and involve a new image of humanity and society. It's pretty clear at this point that this is what's happening.
This has social implications and because history has a liberal bias it involves a maturing of the idea of freedom individually and in society.
Politically, it reflects globalization and the reaction to corruption, privilege and imposition of control.
Economically it involves the mature state of capitalism where rent overtakes profit, where alienation peaks and class consciousness grows, and where people start noticing the discrepancy between theory and practice — what's supposed to be happening and what is happening.
This is also a dangerous time in that many different types agree that something is radically wrong and things need to be changed, but there is little agree or even idea of what should be done. As Strauss & Howe also observe, things can head off in a variety of directions at such transition points. The US got an FDR, but Germany got Hitler, Italy got Mussolini, and Japan got Tojo.
As you say, MMT is just a tiny blip on the screen in this dynamic that could head anywhere, and probably will head in different directions in different places and contexts.
Add to this the looming effect of climate change and the need to moderate carbon use, dan the makings for a full-blown crisis emerge. Add a dysfunctional economic system, abysmal general understanding of economics, technology driven militaries, and "unending war" for an explosive mix. A global downturn could really heat things up as countries go it alone and try to get a leg up.
While optimal use of existing knowledge, technology and resources could create heaven on earth, the direction seems instead to be toward mayhem and pandemonium.
There is a great unease out there taking over much of the world. I wonder why it has not taken root here.
ReplyDeleteYou have a short memory or were looking in another direction during the Occupy uprising that was nation-wide and put down with overwhelming force designed to send a message of intimidation.
MMT is pro "kickin the can"/"status quo". So it won't be taken very seriously by people who is discontent with the current situation. Politically speaking at least.
ReplyDeleteI believe the situation may force authorities to apply MMT policies to placate the economic situation, hoping that will ease political turmoil. People protests a lot the more desperate they are (economically speaking).
Ignacio, MMT is pro democracy - people can do whatever they want with their state.
ReplyDeleteI think it's a waste of time to try to explain MMT to the public at this level. Politics is a totally different system than MMT. Politics is a game with it's own set of rules and varying goals depending on who is "winning" the game at the moment, with an emotional component.
ReplyDeleteMMT (the underlying principles) is a system...a real-world system.
MMT is apolitical. The use of MMT can be political, depending on how one uses the controls, but the system just "is". It's always been there. We discovered it...we didn't create it.
The system will force whatever policy is implemented down a certain path (wrt it's outcome) whether we are aware of it or not...we can try to ignore gravity but gravity will not ignore us.
The principles underlying the MMT framework lie at the top of the hierarchy of systems that control economies, because it is based on an incentive system that has proven most effective in motivating human behavior.
Monetary economics binds human behavior to real economic activity. That is the transmission mechanism.
Politics cannot "choose" to use or not use the system we call MMT. We are using MMT (the underlying principles of) all the time because it is part of the fabric of the universe...inescapable...as inescapable as death.
I think this reality is missed by many in the MMT community. TINA applies in this case. Neoclassical economics has run up against this reality over and over again, but does not see the barrier. It's invisible to them. Thus, they have no answers.
The problem in the political arena is that people are not aware of their choices and don't understand the hierarchy of the systems involved.
There is no political movement that will be able to create a sustainable political system without using the controls of the real-world systems available to them.
Fear is not an adequate motivator, at least I don't believe it is...it's a poor substitute for incentives...and will fail miserably in comparison.
Paul, thank you for explaining in detail my previous sentence: " MMT is pro-democracy - people can do whatever they want with their state."
ReplyDelete"The problem in the political arena is that people are not aware of their choices and don't understand the hierarchy of the systems involved."
ReplyDeleteRight this has to be corrected imo thru true education, and it wont come from the current academe of macro economics...
People in this truth have to leave the academe of macro economics, form some sort of a new department, and then wield around and go to absolute/take no prisoners intellectual warfare with these disgraced morons... those who are not for should be looked at as against, and intellectually attacked in no uncertain terms.
The general public will follow this battle with some interest and will be able to learn from it and will take this new found knowledge to the voting booths...
An insular "civil war" within the currently configured academe will not get the required attention or hold the interest of the general public and they learn nothing from these "debates" taking place within the currently configured academe...
rsp,
A monetary sovereign regime can decide to go down other paths politically, for example declare insolvency and repayment of debt, and/or increase taxes or reduce public spending, whatever you want, reducing the NFA in private sector.
ReplyDeleteThere is MMT as description of fiat money system and then there is 'MMT' consistent policy choices (what is "logic" from an MMT point of view). MMT policies ARE pro-"status quo", if people is fed up with the status quo, they most likely won't support these policies. You can say "it makes sense to let deficits increase" but others will say "we do not want the deficits to increase regardless if it's possible or not", or you can say that "there is no problem if the public debt keeps increasing at this point of time" but others may not want for that to happen.
You are VERY wrong if you think this cannot happen, you can see destruction of nations because it was decided to do so. There is no physical law regarding this, it's all a matter of contracts, a net of assets and liabilities, and all that can be modified or broken per social circumstances when the social fabric falls apart. This MMT cannot fix, and is dependent of it. What we call 'economy' is a subset of social structures, and at the same time social structures are a subset of ecology, don't get wrong the order because that's precisely what most economists & politicians do, and that's how we get into problems in the first place. money does not function isolated from the rest of reality, it's a subset of that reality, however the internal dynamics of that monetary system are.
Ignacio,
ReplyDeleteMMT is the Law in the sense gravity is the Law…
We can choose to ignore gravity and attempt to leap tall buildings with a single bound…
The outcome won't be pretty…
That's all we are saying. Ignore the Law…suffer the consequences. Which we have been. Democracy (or lack of) can be a bitch.
Societies can create social structures without money systems, sure…they can choose to do whatever they wish…no one is arguing that point.
If there is any kind of a money system the flows will be subject to the laws that MMT is based on.