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Friday, May 2, 2014

Chris Mayer — QE is a Tax


Chris Mayer is a self-identified Libertarian-Austrian who has discovered MMT. He is a market guy, graduate in finance, and ex-banker, so he can recognize a true description of the present monetary regime when he see it even though he may disagree with it in principle. He knows that if you are in the markets, it's what you have to work with so you'd better understand how it actually works. This post is a good summary of Forstater and Mosler's "The Natural Rate of Interest Is Zero." Obviously, this is appealing to free market advocates, since if the Fed doesn't set the interest rate and the Treasury doesn't issue bonds, then the market will set interest rates based on demand for funds without government intrusion in market price discovery.

Wall Street Pit
QE is a Tax
Chris Mayer | managing editor of the Capital and Crisis and Mayer's Special Situations newsletters
(h/t Warren Mosler)

Crossposted at The Daily Reckoning as What the Fed Is Really Doing to Your Money

10 comments:

  1. Good stuff. Now let's see if he jumps back into his self-declared, "Libertarian/Austrian" mode.

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  2. This is an older post, but where else to post this?

    Michael Hudson's latest interview at RT.

    http://michael-hudson.com/2014/05/qe-reduction-in-time-for-next-speculative-kickoff/

    Comments? Not really in paradigm is it?

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  3. No replies from MMT authorities--to one of their own? Are they circling the wagons? Strange.

    So here is a perfect chance for MMT to explain to the public why this opinion is mistaken, on a line by line basis. Will it happen. I doubt it. There will just be more telegraphic remarks for those in the know to chuckle and wag their heads.

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  4. Michael Hudson is an MMT ally, not an MMT economist. This is nothing new.

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  5. All right, he is an "ally" and not of your own. And this is "not new"--so just forget about it, is that what you're saying. Not important. It's not new. "Everyone knows this." not worth commenting in depth. No explanations needed. "Everyone" get it by now because it is not new. Well Hudson doesn't seem to get it (why the hell don't you help him and others get it, if you are so sure you vehicle the truth?), and I imagine his many readers don't either, and I imagine his views are shared by vastly more people than those "in paradigm."

    "Nothing new" is essentially an admission of impotence.

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  6. Well, some have spoken to him about it, and his answer is essentially that this is about politics and power rather than economics and "being right." The other side is lying and if you want to confront them you have to mount effective arguments even if the details aren't all completely correct. Being right often means being a loser, when the objective is to win a ver serious game against a very powerful and ruthless opponent.

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  7. Another one from Kaletsky:

    Suddenly, quantitative easing for the people seems possible

    http://blogs.reuters.com/anatole-kaletsky/2012/08/09/suddenly-quantitative-easing-for-the-people-seems-possible/

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  8. Well, some have spoken to him about it, and his answer is essentially that this is about politics and power rather than economics and "being right."

    The difference is in the "details"?

    Power and politics is intellectual integrity?

    You don't believe this crap, do you?

    ReplyDelete