It has been mentioned here at MNE's that government bonds are a safe investment for people's pensions, and that sounds good, but if the government is underwriting the pensions why don't they just improve public pensions and cut out the middle man? There was a lot of talk in the UK a few years back about how the pension industry syphons off so much of the money that people pay into their pensions. The percentages charged look small on paper but it accumulates and rises exponentially as the years go by.
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.
Pages
▼
Pages
▼
Saturday, September 15, 2018
TYT: Jimmy Dore - Do Deficits Matter? Dr. Stephanie Kelton Interview
Jimmy Dore catches onto MMT. It's quite a good interview where Stephanie Kelton explains how government deficits invest into the economy increasing economic activity which eventually pulls in more taxes which decreases the deficit. Jimmy Dore then asks why does the government ever have to borrow money, and Stephanie Kelton says it doesn't have to, and the interest paid on government bonds are just a free handout to the investment class.
It has been mentioned here at MNE's that government bonds are a safe investment for people's pensions, and that sounds good, but if the government is underwriting the pensions why don't they just improve public pensions and cut out the middle man? There was a lot of talk in the UK a few years back about how the pension industry syphons off so much of the money that people pay into their pensions. The percentages charged look small on paper but it accumulates and rises exponentially as the years go by.
It has been mentioned here at MNE's that government bonds are a safe investment for people's pensions, and that sounds good, but if the government is underwriting the pensions why don't they just improve public pensions and cut out the middle man? There was a lot of talk in the UK a few years back about how the pension industry syphons off so much of the money that people pay into their pensions. The percentages charged look small on paper but it accumulates and rises exponentially as the years go by.
ReplyDeleteDecent interview. My 2 cents since I've been a long time tyt watcher and member, and one who's just about pulls their hair out at Cenk's total lack of understanding...
Imo, the scoreboard analogy is severely lacking, the teams don't then use the points the scorekeeper awarded to conduct further transactions. It seems extraneous to me... And it just sounds silly.
I think there should be more focus on the sectoral balances. Fallacy of composition is rampant and very few people understand that one person's surplus is another's deficit, govt deficit = nongovt surplus... Everyone loves a personal surplus. She did explain it, but she did a bit of a spiral around it.
Make an animation of the 3 sectors and visually show how one sector's surplus is another's deficit. Many people need that visual aid, but it really is a simple concept that most people can understand. I think one minute should suffice to visually explain it, yet in words alone very few people will grasp it.
Related to that, since she mentioned govt surplus, she could add that surpluses are not sustainable indefinitely (eventually the private sector runs out of money, should be obvious, but I guarantee that 90+% of the population thinks the govt can run a surplus indefinitely and that would be a desirable thing).
The logical point that the govt must create the dollars before anyone has dollars with which to pay tax, therefore taxes don't really fund govt should probably be stressed more... And it's always been that way, even on the gold standard that was just an arbitrary self-imposed constraint that created dollars had to correspond to some stock of gold. It's really just as arbitrary as the self-imposed constraint that bond sales are required to be sold in the same amount as the deficit.
Overall, pretty decent interview. She covered the important points, but I still think MMT needs better messaging... Imo just a solid understanding of the sectoral balances cuts out about 80% of economic nonsense we see on tv. It alone explodes the govt as a household myth, we can't all simultaneously "live within our means". Once that is understood, then various distributional issues can be brought in, productive capacity etc.
Actually, first bring up real resources, productive capacity, good & services etc, what's the point of an economy anyways?
I hope there's more interviews with Stephanie on TYT/AP.
There is a meme put out by Deficit Owls that I have found to be effective for those of us who are visual learners. It is found by clicking on "Photos" on the left side of the screen, below the Deficit Owls logo, and is almost at the bottom of the page of memes and photos. It is a "teeter-totter" that seems to be easier for the average person to grasp than just a verbal description. https://www.facebook.com/pg/DeficitOwls/photos/?ref=page_internal
DeleteOverall, pretty decent interview. She covered the important points, ….
ReplyDeleteI thought so, too.
but I still think MMT needs better messaging.
Agree but I would add that at this point MMT needs professional messaging. The economists should not have to spend time on this when they can be better employed using their knowledge.
A PR form would be setting up interviews and so forth using their contacts in the media. They would also be testing messaging aimed different audiences with different interests. This is the political reality in the US. It's what the serious competition is doing.
But that takes an organization and money. So far there are a lot of activists but not professionals. Sometimes the activists get in the way instead of helping.
You're right, Tom, what the MMT economists is some friends in the PR business. And I like your idea of the animations, Joe. Visualized, people would understand it better.
ReplyDeleteStephanie especially is getting flat out political. It's the next step in relating MMT to policy.
ReplyDeleteAwesome interview! Thanks guys for giving Dr. Kelton a place at the table for this vitally important conversation as it is The Only way to move a Progressive agenda forward! ��
ReplyDeleteThere is a series of MMT cartoons that was made by students. I might post some of them if I find them. The problem is, even they don't explain how money created out of nothing can actually drive the economy. People need to see it clearly, not take someone's word for it.
ReplyDeleteThe nation-state is under attack and has been for the past 40 years. Government's role in the economy has been greatly reduced to allow "free markets" to exploit the public sector for profit. James Buchanan, one of the main drivers of neoliberalism and mentor to the Koch brothers, condemns Keynesian economics of the 50's and 60's in this video clip below. Ha! Only the most prosperous two decades in US history! Neoliberalism is based on many financial myths, one of which is "balancing the budget": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_pasHodJ-8
ReplyDeleteMMT (modern monetary theory) debunks all the Orwellian neoliberal lies and restores fiscal power FOR PUBLIC PURPOSE. It's "modern" because it talks about the economy post-1971 gold standard. Our politicians still talk pre-1971 gold standard limited commodity relic rhetoric TO US, even though the 1% have been enjoying the modern fiat currency system these past 40 years, issuing currency like crazy for defense spending and corporate subsidies.
MMT is how we save the democratic process and balance the overblown financial economy and the withering industrial economy. We need to stop the TCC, Transnational Capitalist Class, from dissolving the nation-state altogether because the private banking industry wants sole control of money creation. That's why Wall St bankers have installed themselves into every presidential cabinet, intentionally mismanaging government finance.
The 60's decade turned the TCC against democracy:
"The “nation-state" as a fundamental unit of man’s organized life has ceased to be the principal creative force: International banks and multinational corporations are acting and planning in terms that are far in advance of the political concepts of the nation-state.” ~ Zbigniew Brzezinski, Between Two Ages, 1970
“In our society, real power does not happen to lie in the political system, it lies in the private economy: that’s where the decisions are made about what’s produced, how much is produced, what’s consumed, where investment takes place, who has jobs, who controls the resources, and so on and so forth. And as long as that remains the case, changes inside the political system can make some difference—I don’t want to say it’s zero—but the differences are going to be very slight.” ~ Noam Chomsky
Giants: The Global Power Elite – A talk by Peter Phillips
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Np6td-wzDYQ
"The TCC are not seeking a global government. The ultimate goal of capital is the building of a semi-privatized neo-feudal police states, controlled by friends of capital, where individual countries are populaton containment zones with strict controls on local citizens, and capital is free to go unrestricted anywhere in the world.
If the empire is slow to perform or faced with political resistance, private security firms and private military companies increasingly fulfill the TCC’s demands for the protections of their assets. These protection services include personal security for TCC executives and their families, protection of safe residential and work zones, tactical military advisory and training of national police and armed forces, intelligence gathering on democracy movements and opposition groups, weapons acquisitions and weapon systems management, and strike forces for military actions and assassinations."
https://projectcensored.org/911-permanent-war-transnational-capitalist-class/
I do not understand if US prints money to give people good stuff and china prints money to give Chinese’s good stuff and good stuffs should be bought from UK
ReplyDeleteWHO WILL BRITISH BUSINISSMEN ,WHO OWN GOOD STUFF ,WILL SELL THEM TO? US or China ?
ReplyDeleteI am a private money lender and Investor, Do you need a legit, honest, reputable and quick loan?? I can help you with 100% guarantee loan, I am offering business and individual loan, More also we finance all kind of projects. Waiting to hear from you to enable us send you the loan application form or for more details contact us at solutionlogicmoney@gmail.com You can still contact us on whatsapp +918860675979 so that you can receive your loan amount today without any delay..