Saturday, October 31, 2020

Chris Williamson accused of being anti-Semetic again

 Chris Williamson tweet

"Despite pulling out all the stops, the EHRC spectacularly failed in their quest to brand me as an anti-Semite. Clearly, the smear-merchants aren't pleased that I managed to defeat their witch-hunt and have now reached an even more pathetic level of desperation.


 



Oregon voters to decide on decriminalizing heroin, cocaine and LSD

 Oregon could become the first U.S. state to decriminalize possessing hard drugs like heroin, cocaine and LSD in a ballot measure during Tuesday's election.


If voters pass Measure 110, users found in low-level possession of the substances would have the option of paying $100 fines or attending new, free addiction recovery centers instead of being arrested and facing jail time, The Associated Press reported.


The recovery centers would be funded by tax revenue from retail marijuana sales in the state, which was the country's first to decriminalize marijuana possession.


Yes on 110, the organization sponsoring the ballot measure, stresses that the act does not legalize any drugs.


The Hill

Oregon voters to decide on decriminalizing heroin, cocaine and LSD

'Banking for the People': Tlaib and Ocasio-Cortez Unveil Bill to Foster Creation of Public Banks Across US — Jessica Corbett

"It's long past time to open doors for people who have been systematically shut out and provide a better option for those grappling with the costs of simply trying to participate in an economy they have every right to—but has been rigged against them."

That's according to Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), who along with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and a handful of other progressives in Congress introduced legislation on Friday they say "would provide a much-needed financial lifeline to states and municipalities, as well as unbanked and underbanked residents, that have been left in dire straits by the Covid-19 pandemic."

Specifically, as a joint statement from the congresswomen explains, the Public Banking Act (pdf) would enable "the creation of state and locally administered public banks by establishing the Public Bank Grant program administered by the secretary of the Treasury and the Federal Reserve Board which would provide grants for the formation, chartering, and capitalization of public banks."..

FABIOLA SÁNCHEZ and SCOTT SMITH - Venezuelan president: Key oil refinery attacked; 2 detained

The oil curse: just about every good-for-nothing crook, mercenary, soldier of fortune, gangster, and Western government is after that oil. 

 Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said Wednesday that a large oil refinery suffered a “terrorist attack” as his government struggles to provide domestic fuel to the nation amid a historic political and economic crisis.

 Venezuela was once a wealthy oil nation, but its broken refineries fail to produce enough fuel for drivers to fuel up their cars. Venezuela in recent months has begun importing gasoline from Iran, another nation that has been hit with U.S. sanctions.

****

In the Heath case, the American was arrested while in a car with three Venezuelans — National Guard Sgt. Major Darwin Urdaneta, Marcos Garcés and Daeven Rodríguez. The three Venezuelans have been charged with treason, terrorism, arms trafficking and conspiracy.


FABIOLA SÁNCHEZ and SCOTT SMITH - Venezuelan president: Key oil refinery attacked; 2 detained

Zero Hedge — Stephanie Kelton On MMT & Blurring The Lines Between Debt And Money

 
ZH posted the full interview of Stephanie Kelton by Erik Townsend of MacroVision. This interview was linked to here at MNE previously, so this is note for the record that ZH picked it up and reproduced it and without any of its typical commentary dissing MMT. If you missed it the first time around, here it is again. It is a good interview by an MMT skeptic. The comments are as one would expect at ZH however.

Zero Hedge
Stephanie Kelton On MMT & Blurring The Lines Between Debt And Money
Tyler Durden

Noah Smith Claims To Have A View On The Cambridge Capital Controversy — Robert Vienneau

List of references on the CCC.

Thoughts On Economics
Noah Smith Claims To Have A View On The Cambridge Capital Controversy
Robert Vienneau

Rebel Wisdom - London Real and How Societies Collapse

 This is something different, and quite interesting, I thought. Brian Rose is a conspiracist who teamed up with David Icke for a while. He's a con artist, but is Donald Trump something similar?






Reuters - Organised 'overkill': China shows off rapid lockdown system after latest outbreak

 No expense is spared in China, but the money is well spent as the economy is getting back on steam. 


Days after a 17-year-old girl tested positive for COVID-19 in a remote part of western China last week, health authorities said they had tested over 4.7 million people in the region.

China's strict formula of immediate lockdowns and mass testing even at the first signs of infection has been vital to its success in controlling the disease, allowing its economy to quickly recover from the crisis, officials say.

The highly orchestrated strategy - described as "overkill" even by its own proponents - is unique among major economies at a time when Europe and the United States are facing a massive surge of new cases and often chaotic policies..


Organised 'overkill': China shows off rapid lockdown system after latest outbreak

Friday, October 30, 2020

US sells oil seized from Iran to Venezuela for $40 million

 Imagine if China did this to Taiwan.


The United States said Thursday that it had sold Iranian oil seized on its way to Venezuela for more than $40 million.

Washington announced in August that it had confiscated 1.1 million barrels of petroleum from four tankers en route between the two countries, which are both under US sanctions.

"We estimate that in excess of $40 million will be recouped by the United States related to the sale of petroleum from those four vessels," Michael Sherwin, the acting US attorney for the District of Columbia, told reporters by telephone

Yahoo News

US sells oil seized from Iran to Venezuela for $40 million

Sputnik — Data Sharing Pact in Parliament, Ex-Minister Says


The Narendra Modi government should have debated in Parliament the pros and cons of the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA) before finalizing the crucial military pact on sharing geospatial data, former federal minister and Congress MP Manish Tewari told Sputnik on Thursday.

“The implications of getting close to the US are far-reaching and should have been thoroughly debated in Parliament," opines Tewari, adding that “getting closer” to Washington wasn’t necessarily a “wrong thing” against the backdrop of ongoing military standoff with China.

Tewari, however, adds that the Modi government should have followed the Indian parliamentary tradition on holding a proper discussion in the lead up to sealing the satellite data sharing pact.

"There is a distinction between strategic convergence and quasi-military alliances. The latter has far-reaching implications and should have been debated in Parliament," says the Congress lawmaker.

“With the signing of the foundational agreement, India is inexorably drawn into the US' sphere of influence,” underlines the MP....

This was a serious mistake on Modi's part and will come back to bite India and perhaps him. The US will never recognize India as a partner. An empire wants only colonies and vassals. One would think that Indians would have learned from the British experience, as Native American ("Indians") have from the American experience.

Sputnik International
Data Sharing Pact in Parliament, Ex-Minister Says

Zero Hedge — White Castle To Automate Kitchens As Contactless Shift Will Accelerate Job Loss

As restaurants across the country adjust for a post-pandemic world, driven mainly by the shift to a contactless environment via the adoption of automation and robotics, fast-food restaurant operator White Castle announced Tuesday morning additional robot deployments were nearing in the pursuit to automate kitchens.

White Castle, who announced a partnership with Miso Robotics' Flippy, a robotic chef, in July, which we've highlighted for years (see here & here), released a statement, announcing ten White Castle locations will soon receive robotic chefs.
More jobs not coming back post-pandemic.

Maybe time to revive and automate Horn & Hardart with separate eating stalls? And yes, Horn & Hardart really does have a Wikipedia entry.

Sputnik — US is Methodically Ruining Syrian Economy But Damascus Has Tools to Avert the Pressure, Prof Says


Economic warfare.

Sputnik International
US is Methodically Ruining Syrian Economy But Damascus Has Tools to Avert the Pressure, Prof Says

The Unseen Agenda Behind Trump: Destroy the Public Realm to Free the Rich — John McMurtry

In the words of Time, the US chose every step. “We chose to cut taxes on billionaires and to deregulate the financial industry. We chose to allow CEOs to manipulate share prices through stock buybacks, and to lavishly reward themselves with the proceeds. We chose to permit giant corporations, through mergers and acquisitions, to accumulate the vast monopoly power necessary to dictate both prices charged and wages paid. We chose to erode the minimum wage and the overtime threshold and the bargaining power of labor. For four decades, we chose to elect political leaders who put the material interests of the rich and powerful above those of the American people. – – – If wealth distribution since 1975 had continued in the same manner as between 1945 and 1975, today’s $35,000 salary would be over $60,000. It’s little wonder that so many Americans are lashing out at the broken system”.…
I put an article exposing weaknesses in a potential Biden administration. Here is one that is more on Donald Trump.

Taken together, they represent a binary choice for the American people that for many leaves much to be desired and much to oppose in both cases.

I was talking to a friend in Vienna yesterday and he asked many questions about US politics. One that he was particularly puzzled by is why there are only two choices.

From the point of view of the many that disagree with both options, there is no winning here. It is the tyranny of the majority of the electoral college, not even the electorate. (Donald Trump lost the popular vote in 2016, as did G. W. Bush in 2000.)

See also at Counterpunch

Democracy Calls Us to Fight the Lesser of Two Evils
Nozomi Hayase

The Times - France fights terror with camps for re-education

 France will send radicalised Islamists to re-education centres under a €40 million plan to tackle extremism, which the prime minister says is the biggest threat to the nation since Hitler.

The suspects will be taught their patriotic duties and forced to undergo psychological treatment in an attempt to counter jihadist indoctrination.

The aim is to prevent Muslim youths from following in the footsteps of the six home-grown terrorists who killed a total of 107 people in attacks in Paris on Charlie Hebdo, the satirical magazine, on a Jewish supermarket in January last year, and on the Bataclan concert hall in November.

Unveiling the programme, Manuel Valls, the prime minister, said: “We have entered a new epoch — the era of hyper-terrorism. 

The Times

The Times - France fights terror with camps for re-education


Moon of Alabama — Welcome Back In Independence - Why It Was High Time For Glenn Greenwald To Resign From The Intercept

The answer [to the question why did it take so long] is, as Greenwald himself mentions, the financial security the contract with the Intercept gave to Glenn and his family. But that came with a serious reputational price that is no longer worth to pay.…
Glenn Greenwald is a well known author. He will be able to gain enough readers to support his now again independent writing. Still independence comes at a price. Besides the income there are a lot of perks that come with writing for a larger outlet. As a lonely independent blogger one is at times missing those.

But Greenwald's career path only reinforces my determination to continue Moon of Alabama as an independent entity. It is the only way to report and opine without the interference of other interests. My thanks go to you, the readers, who make this possible.

Amen. 

Moon of Alabama
Welcome Back In Independence - Why It Was High Time For Glenn Greenwald To Resign From The Intercept

Glenn Greenwald gets kudos from the right, too.

Sic Semper Tyrannis
Glenn Greenwald Declares Independence from Journalistic Tyranny by Larry C Johnson

See also

SouthFront
When the Matter of “Truth” Becomes a Threat to “National Security”
Cynthia Chung

Can You Smell What the Chinese Are Cooking? — Pepe Escobar


Pepe comments on the fifth plenum of the 19th Chinese Communist Party (CPC) Central Committee that was just held in Beijing to plan the future course post-pandemic.

Strategic Culture Foundation
Can You Smell What the Chinese Are Cooking?
Pepe Escobar

See also
Two elements had contributed to US hegemonic thinking such as its historically "Protestant evangelical vision" of manifest destiny, where leaders believed in providential right to dominate North America and later, the world, he [Jeffrey Sachs] explained.
18th century Enlightenment liberalism as a quasi-religion liberal internationalism as the basis for new crusade (liberal interventionism). Economically and politically, it is the quest for global dominance based on dominance-submission as an evolutionary trait of a humanity that is still maturing and has not yet grasped the potential of reason. Liberal internationalism has become a quasi-religious fantasy with very real consequences for the whole planet. Grow up already.

Sputnik International
US Cold War on China to End in Failure, Multipolarity to Replace Thucydides Trap Policy - Academics

A Dem Presidency means The Return of the Blob — Pepe Escobar

Even if DJT wins, the Dem Establishment  will be the backbone of the opposition party, it is worth reading. "You can't tell the players without a score card."

Unlike Pepe, I would not describe the Blob chiefly in terms of the Democratic Establishment and Some GOP Never-Trumpers. I think that is a mistake. There are a lot people in the GOP that are totally on board with the Blob.

The Blob is what "what former CIA analyst Ray McGovern brilliant christened MICIMATT (the Military-Industrial-Congressional-Intelligence-Media-Academia-Think-Tank complex). "The Blob" is synonymous with "the Swamp."

Nor do I buy that Donald Trump and cohort are the shining knights trying to overcome the Blob/Swamp to return democracy to America and "make America great again." This is simply a tussle among elite factions for political control. 

For example, DJT differs in preferring to use the economic clout of the US first before turning to military might but the objective of extending the global reach of the American Empire to benefit the US elite (and their global cronies) are the same.

The Vineyard of the Saker 
A Dem Presidency means The Return of the Blob
Pepe Escobar

Zero Hedge — China Reveals First Glimpse Into Its Economic Plans For Next Five Years


Mostly aspiration without much detail (numbers). But this is only a first glimpse. The full report will not be released until March, 2021.

This is a summary of Goldman's summary.

Zero Hedge
China Reveals First Glimpse Into Its Economic Plans For Next Five Years
Tyler Durden

Lars P. Syll — Interpreting economic theory

Predictions from economic theory are not nearly as accurate as those offered by the natural sciences, and the link between economic theory and practical problems … is tenuous at best. — Ariel Rubenstein.
Economics is neither a natural science or like a natural science. It is a social science that is also heavily influenced by life science and psychology. The subject matter of natural science and social science are so different that different methodological approaches need to be applied. Moreover, social science is much more affected by hidden assumptions and implicit presumptions than natural science. In addition, it is difficult to eliminate value judgement and cognitive-affective bias in social science. Social science is therefore much more a mixture of philosophy and science than science, especially macroeconomics, which doubles as a policy science.

Heterodox economists, mathematicians (like Keynes), economic sociologists, and economic anthropologist have been pointing this out for well over a century, Karl Marx, who emphasized the historicity of economics, being a good example.

That is is still a subject of serious concern is amazing. Conventional economists are barking up the wrong tree and refuse to recognize it. They are in a state of denial, which is a psychological abnormality. They need treatment before they kill us all with their quack prescriptions.

Lars P. Syll’s Blog
Interpreting economic theory
Lars P. Syll | Professor, Malmo University

See also

Real-World Economics Review Blog
The drunk looking for the key
Yoshinori Shiozawa

Status Update — Brian Romanchuk

I just wanted to comment on my writing status....
Since that research is getting messier than I expected, I might be quiet on the writing front for awhile (unless I see something about fiscal policy that I want to rant about).
Bond Economics
Status Update
Brian Romanchuk

Tom Fowdy - It's time for Europe to stop blaming China for COVID-19 and learn

 China bit the bullet, so now Covid is almost over, where outbreaks are soon brought back under control by taking swift and decisive action, which works to be far cheaper and less disruptive in the long run.

Thus, the answer is European governments must be tougher whether their populations. Like it or not, it will be for their own good. Otherwise, this will never end. Not everything can be the same as China of course, but they should pursue aggressive political mobilization and force a "whole of society" approach to COVID-19, copying China's methods of making testing mandatory for the populations of entire impacted areas, enforcing uncompromising lockdowns on impacted suburbs and relying on preemptive strategies, than waiting until the last moment.


Ultimately, this lenient approach and fixation on classical liberty, believing the public will take adequate precautions themselves, has failed an entire continent, enormously not just once, but twice.

CGTN 

Tom Fowdy - It's time for Europe to stop blaming China for COVID-19 and learn


Thursday, October 29, 2020

6 Months Into the Pandemic, ‘Greener’ Jobs Are Safer, Higher Paid, More Resilient — Paul Herman, Scott Fullwiler, Fadhel Kaboub, and Amir Khaleghi

The monthly Green Jobs Report shows that “greener” enterprises align with more resilient jobs, higher pay for workers, fewer job losses, and the potential for better overall company and investor portfolio performance....
The Next Economy
6 Months Into the Pandemic, ‘Greener’ Jobs Are Safer, Higher Paid, More Resilient
Paul Herman. Scott Fullwiler, Fadhel Kaboub, and Amir Khaleghi

Ecns — China-Europe freight train number via Xinjiang port hits new high


Meanwhile. Export substitution in face of US tariffs and sanctions?

Ecns.cn
China-Europe freight train number via Xinjiang port hits new high

AlterNet — Gov. Ron DeSantis tried to vote in Florida. Police say a 20-year-old Naples man had changed his address


"Florida man." What to say?

AlterNet
Gov. Ron DeSantis tried to vote in Florida. Police say a 20-year-old Naples man had changed his address
Meaghan Ellis

What on earth is going on in the UK?

Axios
Jeremy Corbyn suspended by U.K. Labour Party over anti-Semitism report
Shane Savitsky

Sputnik — Xiaomi Loses Top Spot in India's Smartphone Market to Samsung Amid 'Boycott Made in China' Drive

In light of months of border tensions with China, public sentiment among Indians towards Beijing has turned sour, with many Indians calling for the boycott of Chinese goods in the country....
Sputnik International
Xiaomi Loses Top Spot in India's Smartphone Market to Samsung Amid 'Boycott Made in China' Drive

See also at Sputnik

Indo-US Defence Pact Potentially Gives Washington Control Over Delhi's Military Ops, Analysts Say

Zero Hedge — "All Hell Could Break Loose": Wednesday's "Liquidation Combination Of Doom" Has Taken Place On Only Two Prior Occasions In History


"Liquidation Combination Of Doom" = Deflation.

Zero Hedge
"All Hell Could Break Loose": Wednesday's "Liquidation Combination Of Doom" Has Taken Place On Only Two Prior Occasions In History
Tyler Durden

Wednesday, October 28, 2020

Bill Mitchell — Inflation is not necessarily due to excessive spending

Yesterday’s data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (October 28, 2020) – Consumer Price Index, Australia – for the September-quarter 2020, illustrates what a lot of people do not fully grasp. Inflation can be driven by administrative decisions and can be curtailed or restrained by varying those decisions. No tax rises or cuts to government spending are needed. The data also reflect on the reasons that predictions from mainstream (New Keynesian) economic models fail dramatically. Mainstream economists claim that monetary policy (adjusting of interest rates) is an effective way to manage the economic cycle. They claim that central banks can effectively manipulate total spending by adjusting the cost of borrowing to increase output and push up the inflation rate. The empirical experience does not accord with those assertions. Central bankers around the world have been demonstrating how weak monetary policy is in trying to stimulate demand. They have been massively building up their balance sheets through QE to push their inflation rates up without much success. Further, it has been claimed that a sustained period of low interest rates would be inflationary. Well, again the empirical evidence doesn’t support that claim. The Reserve Bank of Australia has now purchased more than $50 billion worth of federal government bonds and a smaller amount of state and territory government debt. And yet inflation is well below the lower bound of the RBA’s inflation targetting range. The most reliable measure of inflationary expectations are flat and below the RBA’s target policy range....
Bill Mitchell – billy blog
Inflation is not necessarily due to excessive spending
Bill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia

My new podcast is out.

Gallup — Americans Plan to Scale Back on Holiday Spending This Year

  • Consumers plan to spend $805 on gifts this year, down sharply from 2019
  • More than twice as many say they are spending less, versus more, than last year
  • Consumer spending intentions often change over holiday season
Gallup
Americans Plan to Scale Back on Holiday Spending This Year
Lydia Saad

The Perils Of Non-Causal Models: r* Edition — Brian Romanchuk

One important property of time series is models is whether they are causal or non-causal. A non-causal model has the property that future values of inputs affects the current values of outputs. For time series, the calculation implies the use of a time machine, which is generally not available. One needs to be careful of the issues posed by non-causality in financial model building, since time series libraries treat time series as single units, and contain many non-causal operations....
Bond Economics
The Perils Of Non-Causal Models: r* Edition
Brian Romanchuk

In Stunning Display of Popular Will, Protests in Bolivia to Chile Force Public Reckoning of “Chicago Boy” Economics — Alan Macleod

Like in Bolivia, the strength of public opinion in Chile was so immense that the government, led by Chile’s richest man Sebastian Piñera, immediately conceded.

“Yesterday Bolivia, today Chile, tomorrow Ecuador”
Mint Press NewsIn Stunning Display of Popular Will, Protests in Bolivia to Chile Force Public Reckoning of “Chicago Boy” Economics


See also

How many years did it take? “Chicago Boy” Economics has a lot to answer for.

The Conversation
Chile abolishes its dictatorship-era constitution in groundbreaking vote for a more inclusive democracy
Jennifer M. Piscopo, Associate Professor of Politics, Occidental College, and Peter Siavelis, Professor, Department of Political Science and International Affairs, Wake Forest University




China’s growth challenge — Michael Roberts

The reason that the NY Fed as well as many Keynesian and other critics of the Chinese ‘miracle’ are so sceptical is that they are seeped in a different economic model for growth. They are convinced that China can only be ‘successful’ (like the economies of the G7!) if its economy depends on profitable investment by privately-owned companies in a ‘free market’ where consumption rules over investment. And yet the evidence of the last 40 and even 70 years is that a state-led, planning economic model that is China’s has been way more successful than its ‘market economy’ peers such as India, Brazil or Russia....
Different assumptions, different model and different economic theory. Development economics is one of the knottiest areas of economics and China is doing outstandingly well on any measure in applying it.

Michael Roberts Blog — blogging from a marxist economist
China’s growth challenge
Michael Roberts

Bill Mitchell – Politics in a Podcast – fiscal statements and the pandemic future

A few weeks ago, I did a podcast for the group that has organised ‘Politics in the Pub, Newcastle’, which is a monthly event where a speaker(s) address a topic of public interest in a local Newcastle hotel and answer questions from the audience.

It is meant to be an educative engagement with the interested public....
Bill Mitchell – billy blog
Politics in a Podcast – fiscal statements and the pandemic future
Bill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia

CGTN - CGTN finds Mihrigul Tursun's claims false

 Okay, it's China state media, but Mihrigul Tursun's family say she was lying and that her son is still alive.

In a recent CNN interview, a woman named Mihrigul Tursun claimed one of her three children was killed by the Chinese government. She said she was separated from her triplets at the Urumqi airport in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and held in custody in 2015. Mihrigul said she was told after her release that her son died following an operation. But according to a CGTN investigation, what Mihrigul Tursun said about her child's death is a lie




UK study finds evidence of waning antibody immunity to COVID-19 over time

 But vaccines will still work. Phew!

Antibodies against the novel coronavirus declined rapidly in the British population during the summer, a study found on Tuesday, suggesting protection after infection may not be long lasting and raising the prospect of waning immunity in the community.

Reuters 

UK study finds evidence of waning antibody immunity to COVID-19 over time

Tuesday, October 27, 2020

Conservative and liberal attitudes drive polarized neural responses to political content — Yuan Chang Leong, Janice Chen, Robb Willer, and Jamil Zaki

Partisan biases in processing political information contribute to rising divisions in society. How do such biases arise in the brain? We measured the neural activity of participants watching videos related to immigration policy. Despite watching the same videos, conservative and liberal participants exhibited divergent neural responses. This “neural polarization” between groups occurred in a brain area associated with the interpretation of narrative content and intensified in response to language associated with risk, emotion, and morality. Furthermore, polarized neural responses predicted attitude change in response to the videos. These findings suggest that biased processing in the brain drives divergent interpretations of political information and subsequent attitude polarization.
PNAS
Conservative and liberal attitudes drive polarized neural responses to political content
Yuan Chang Leong, Janice Chen, Robb Willer, and Jamil Zaki

How I Became A Heretic To My Liberal Friends — Tom Couser


A fellow heretic. 

Not just "liberals." There are also a good many "progressives" in that boat to nowhere. 

Not that many conservatives know the whole story either. Libertarians do better.

AntiWar
How I Became A Heretic To My Liberal Friends
Tom Couser

USD/CNY

 

Trump happy:





The FT - Don’t be blind to China’s rise in a changing world

 Anti-Beijing bias has blinded too many for too long to opportunities


The FT is a bit fussy about copying and pasting, but it's a good article. They let me past the paywall now, but perhaps I will only get so many free goes. You have to sign up. 

 The FT - Don’t be blind to China’s rise in a changing world

Inside China's New $18 Billion Dollar Airport

Absolutely stunning, and just look at the gardens! This film isn't made by the Chinese government, or a Chinese media outlet. 


You won't believe what the inside of China's new Airport looks like! Worth over $18 Billion Dollars, it's the absolute height of luxury for the first class traveller! 



China Moves To Legalise Digital Yuan, Ban Competitors — Frank Tang

  • People’s Bank of China stipulates for the first time that the digital yuan will be allowed to circulate and be converted like physical currency
  • Head of central bank’s digital currency research institute admits potential problems with digital yuan, but says they reinforce need for central bank oversight
SCMP
Frank Tang

UK Police Take Down Knife Wielding Man. What Would Happen In The U.S.?

 It's 5 years old, so it hasn't been specially made for the present, that makes it even more powerful.

Police officers in Corby, UK were attacked by a man with a knife. They used pepper spray and batons to take him down. But in the U.S., some cops have a very different way of dealing with the problem.




Zero Hedge — Elon Musk's Aggregate Compensation Reaches $11.8 Billion After Hitting "Adjusted EBITDA" Milestones

Slow news day.

Zero Hedge
Elon Musk's Aggregate Compensation Reaches $11.8 Billion After Hitting "Adjusted EBITDA" Milestones
Tyler Durden

New economic ideas — Aqdas Afzal


MMT makes it to Pakistan.

Dawn (Pakistan)
New economic ideas
Aqdas Afzal teaches economics and public policy at Habib University, Karachi

Monday, October 26, 2020

Bill Mitchell — Drain the (corporate) swamp

Today, I celebrate – my home town of Melbourne has recorded zero new infections for the second time since June 9, 2020 and zero deaths. A consecutive day of double zero. My Melbourne band Pressure Drop is planning a live streamed gig soon – our first time playing since March. Details will come when we know more about when we can do it. Something to celebrate in a bleak year. Today I am writing about the underside of neoliberalism though. Nothing to celebrate about this at all. Revolving doors, corporatisation of public service and introducing the excesses and corruption that is endemic in that private sector, more on that, and a federal government that is refusing to introduce a federal corruption body despite the evidence of widespread malpractice at that level. Why this matters is because to build a better world we need to reverse the demolition of the traditional public service by the neoliberals over several decades, which has turned a once wonderful bureaucracy (departmental structure) from a public service delivery capacity into a contract brokerage for outsourced and deregulated service delivery units, chasing profits in the private sector and cutting as many corners as they can get away with. With lax oversight these days, they can get away with a lot. And when public agencies start behaving as if they are corporations then things really come unstuck. And then we see the alarming necrosis that exists at the top levels of Australian corporations. No wonder we have just had Royal Commissions into the banking and finance sector and into the (privatised) aged care sector which have delivered such shocking results. Nothing to celebrate at all.…
Bill Mitchell – billy blog
Drain the (corporate) swamp
Bill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia

Zero Hedge — 67 Million Ounces: World's Biggest Gold Reserves Discovered Deep In Siberia

Russia just got a lot richer.

Zero Hedge
Tyler Durden

Green and just — Fadhel Kaboub

How to finance a Green New Deal that is truly global? Fadhel Kaboub has a proposal that builds in colonial and climate reparations.
Fadhel Kaboub is an MMT economist.

New Internationalist
Green and just
Fadhel Kaboub | associate professor of economics at Denison University and president of the Global Institute for Sustainable Prosperity

US Department of State — GEC Special Report: Pillars of Russia’s Disinformation and Propaganda Ecosystem

 The view of the US State Department. 77 pages report. 

US Department of State
GEC Special Report: Pillars of Russia’s Disinformation and Propaganda Ecosystem
August 2020

US, EU capitals redouble efforts to contain Russia’s development - Sergey Lavrov

"Unfortunately, we have to admit that recently, Washington and a number of EU capitals have redoubled their efforts to contain Russia's development; they are trying to punish us for an independent foreign policy, for consistently upholding our national interests. <…> So we have no other choice but to conclude we cannot count on a mutually respectful consideration of the emerging problems, because the West has made it a rule to talk with Russia based on the presumption of its guilt," Lavrov said.

According to Lavrov, in order to justify their actions, including the introduction of new anti-Russia sanctions, Western states "throw in various accusations and insinuations" without showing any facts or evidence. "This rhetoric is always being kept at the ‘highly likely’ innuendo level; those claims are based on fabricated accusations and run contrary to even elementary logic," the foreign minister explained, noting that all Russia’s proposals to set up a professional dialogue on any concerns remain without any reaction....
See also
Three recent speeches and interviews given by major politicians have sharpened the political debate now raging in the Western media. Ironically, none of the three speeches received significant coverage in the Western media. Ironically, despite the lack of Western media coverage, all three mark a significant development in the world geopolitical dialogue.
NEO (publication of the Russian Academy of Science's Institute of Oriental Studies)
Recent Speeches by Putin, Lavrov and Xi Signal Fundamental Changes in the Pipeline
James O'Neil

The Economist - Covid-19: how to fix the economy | The Economist

The Great Depression, WW2, and other shocks triggered governments in the Western world to make a bigger commitments to their citizens, eg, the New Deal in the US, the NHS in the UK, Social Security and Welfare etc. Since Thatcher, Reagan, and neoliberalism, this commitment became loosened, but could the Covid pandemic be another shock that will bring governments back in line to taking more responsibility for the well-being of all their citizens, not just the few?

Governments will have to deal with the economic fallout from the pandemic for decades to come. If they get their response wrong, countries risk economic stagnation and political division.




Modern, Pre-Modern, Or Post-Modern Money? A Brief Guide For The Perplexed — Robert Hockett

History of economics. 

So where does this leave us? Milton Friedman and Richard Nixon are both said to have claimed that ‘we’re all Keynesians now.’ That sure beat Classicism, as that term was used in the ‘70s. But we can do better – in a way that recovers what’s true, but not false, in both ‘Austrian’ and ‘Post-Keynesian’ economics. What’s true in them all is endogeneity – money’s endogeneity. And this in turn means that, insofar as we’re right and not merely cranks, we’re all Wicksellians now.
Forbes
Modern, Pre-Modern, Or Post-Modern Money? A Brief Guide For The Perplexed
Robert Hockett | Edward Cornell Professor of Law and a Professor of Public Policy, Senior Counsel at Westwood Capital, and a Fellow of The Century Foundation.

Biden’s Economic Edge — Jeffrey Frankel

Contrary to widespread belief, post-war Democratic US presidents have been significantly better for the American economy than Republicans have. There is every reason to believe that trend will continue if Joe Biden wins on November 3.
Project Syndicate
Biden’s Economic Edge
Jeffrey Frankel

China Leads Again — Stephen S. Roach

US President Donald Trump wears his recent experience with COVID-19 infection as some perverse badge of courage, rather than as a warning of what may lie ahead. And the adverse economic consequences of his administration's approach to the pandemic could not contrast more sharply with the robust recovery in China.
Project Syndicate
China Leads Again
Stephen S. Roach, a faculty member at Yale University and former Chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia

This is your brain on neoliberalism — Ayeisha Thomas-Smith


Sixteen Tons.

The New Economics Foundation
This is your brain on neoliberalism
Ayeisha Thomas-Smith

Endless Versions of You in Endless Parallel Universes? A Growing Number of Physicists Embrace the Idea.

The Many Worlds Interpretation of quantum mechanics holds that reality is constantly splitting.

Conventionally speaking, there is a single physicist named Sean Carroll at Caltech, busily puzzling over the nature of the quantum world. In the theoretical sense, though, he may be one of a multitude, each existing in its own world. And there’s nothing unique about him: Every person, rock, and particle in the universe participates in an endlessly branching reality, Carroll argues, splitting into alternate versions whenever an event occurs that has multiple possible outcomes.


Modern Monetary Theory and the crisis of capitalism: Part two — Nick Beams

Capitalist production, with the development of the credit system, Marx noted, “constantly strives to overcome this metallic barrier, which is both a material and imaginary barrier to wealth, while time and again breaking its head on it.” Money in the form of precious metal, he insisted, remains the foundation from which the credit system “can never break free.” [Marx, Capital Volume III, p. 708, p. 741]…
It is said there is really nothing new under the sun, and MMT, as advanced by Kelton, is very much old wine in new bottles. It is the modern-day version of theories that have been advanced in previous periods of capitalist crisis to divert working people from the real tasks at hand. Not surprisingly, it has been seized on by sections of the pseudo-left such as Democratic Socialists of America member and congressional representative Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, who maintains that MMT must be “a large part of the conversation.”

The way forward is not the false perspective of some reform of the capitalist system via the “tricks of circulation,” but its overthrow by the working class to establish a workers’ government in order to open the way for the establishment of a democratically controlled and organised socialist economy in which the vast productive forces are used to meet human need.
These quotes present the article in a worse light than it deserves. It is continuation of a Marxist (not Marxian) critique, which has value on it own merits. MMT doesn't directly confront capitalist system that is based on class structure, class power, economic rent, and rent extraction. 

The question is whether capitalism could address these issues in a way that resolves them and remains capitalistic. Not if "capitalism" means favoring capital as factor over labor (people) and land (environment) because capital accumulation is the sine qua non of growth "that lifts all boats."

But if the only alternative an open-ended "socialism" that Marx never specified and has never been achieved — attempts so far have gotten stuck in the stage of the "dictatorship of the proletariat" — then it is rather unclear what the choice is. 

Rather, Marx stated that change of the social and political infrastructure comes with a change in the mode of production. What that would look like is not clear, although it may be coming as the world transitions from the analog to the digital era.

WSWS
Modern Monetary Theory and the crisis of capitalism: Part two
Nick Beams

Sputnik — Maduro Says Venezuela Found 100% Effective Medicine Against COVID-19

Maduro hopes that the World Health Organisation (WHO) will ratify the results obtained by the IVIC and Venezuela will be able to prepare the mass production of this molecule as a cure for COVID-19 and provide it worldwide with the necessary international collaboration....
Sputnik International
Maduro Says Venezuela Found 100% Effective Medicine Against COVID-19

See also

RT
Maduro says Venezuelan scientists developed medicine that ‘cancels 100% of Covid-19’ with no side-effects

Bill Mitchell – US claimants recovery stalls

Today, I celebrate – my home town of Melbourne has recorded zero new infections for the first time since June 9, 2020 and zero deaths. But things are not so hot elsewhere in the world. As the US labour market started to rebound over the summer, I stopped updating my analysis of the claimants data horror story that had earlier demonstrated how sharp the decline in March and April had been. But I have still been monitoring it on a weekly basis and the information we are now getting from the US Department of Labor’s weekly data releases are indicating that as the virus escalates, seemingly out of control, the labour market recovery has all but stalled and a reasonable prediction would be that it will deteriorate somewhat if the infection rate leads to tighter restrictions (which it should). A relatively short blog post today (tied up with things today) – just some notes as I updated the data to see what was going on. The conclusions are obvious. Much more fiscal support is needed in the US, especially targetted at the bottom end of the labour market. Devastation will follow with the sorts of numbers that appear to be entrenched at present.


Here is the latest update (as for the week ending October 17, 2020) from the US Department of Labor’s weekly data releases for the unemployment insurance claimants....
Bill Mitchell – billy blog
US claimants recovery stalls
Bill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia

The radical aristocrat who put kindness on a scientific footing — Lydia Syson

The story of Russian Prince Peter Kropotkin, evolutionary biologist and revolutionary anarcho-socialist.
Kropotkin was a forerunner of the theory of group selection based on group fitness as a necessary addition to individual selection based on individual selection in natural selection as the driver of biological evolution. 

A basis of this theory is synergy, that is, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, so groups that are capable of cooperating and organizing are more successful in meeting environmental challenges and seizing opportunities than individuals alone or less coordinated groups. Coordination has an evolutionary premium.

Pysche
The radical aristocrat who put kindness on a scientific footing
Lydia Syson

RiskMonger - The Germination of Outrage: How Vandana Shiva Fabricates Conspiracy Theories


Another conspiracist. 


 Vandana Shiva has made a lucrative business out of spreading conspiracy theories about agricultural technologies, sustainable farming, capitalism and industry. Her popularity has grown as she positions herself as a modern-day Gandhi, a social justice warrior, an ecological feminist and an agroecologist. The problem is that most everything that comes out of her much amplified mouth is complete nonsense: pure fabrications easily and often refuted.


Which leads to the question: How does Vandana consistently get away with such ridiculous falsehoods and oral assaults on intelligent thought? How can she weave the absurd into a web of allegations willingly consumed by her followers? How does she relentlessly fabricate conspiracy theories and package them for consumption among the Western liberal elite? This article will look at one web of lies she is presently spinning as an analysis of the germination of outrage.

RiskMonger - The Germination of Outrage: How Vandana Shiva Fabricates Conspiracy Theories

Reuters - Packed bars and mask-less catwalks: With Covid curbs fading, China set for consumption rebound

The Guardian casts doubts over the extent of China's economic recovery from covid, but the Chinese people don't. 


Over the weekend, crowds packed a former industrial warehouse in Beijing as the China Fashion Week got underway, with models strutting mask-less on a square runway and guests oblivious to social distancing norms.

Similarly vibrant scenes are being seen elsewhere in China as consumers return to cinemas, live performances and restaurants.

To many, they indicate a late-summer recovery in Chinese household spending is broadening and propelling the next stage of the economic recovery.

Reuters 

Reuters - Packed bars and mask-less catwalks: With Covid curbs fading, China set for consumption rebound



Huawei Launches Stunning New Strike At Google To Beat Android

 Alongside the Mate 40, Huawei also announced its enhanced “Petal Search,” part of a new app family that includes the company’s long-awaited Google Maps replacement. This is a stunning strike at Google’s search dominance on Huawei devices—at least those that sell outside China. With Google now under scrutiny given its dominance of web search, it is unsurprising that Huawei—driven by the loss of Google—is getting in on the act. With hundreds of millions on its ecosystem, it’s a compelling opportunity


And in that regard, the other news this week is the latest reported solution to restore Google Mobile Services to ineligible Huawei phones. According to XDA-Developers, “Googlefier” is a new way to use the LZPlay GMS recovery software that appeared last year before being withdrawn. “You’ll then be able to install the Google Play Store and other Google apps on your device and then log into your Google account.”


Huawei Launches Stunning New Strike At Google To Beat Androidalternative/



Googlefier lets you easily install Google apps on Huawei and Honor devices

Craig Murray - Covid-19 and the Political Utility of Fear

 Craig Murray is in the at-risk group as he is over 60, obese, and has chronic illnesses, but he thinks society needs to return to normal because the risk to most people is small and the economy cannot cope with more restrictions. He doesn't mention long-covid. He says the oligarchs are making a fortune out of the crisis. 

At the moment China’s spectacular economic recovery and its very low official coronavirus fatality rates is being questioned by the West. 


I am not a covid sceptic. But neither do I approve of fear-mongering. The risk to the large majority of the population is very low indeed, and it is wrong that anybody who states that fact is immediately vilified. The effect of fear on the general population, and the ability of politicians to manipulate that fear to advantage, should not be underestimated as a danger to society.

There has been a substantial increase in human life expectancy over my lifetime and a subsequent distancing from death. That this trend should be permanent, in the face of human over-population, resource exhaustion and climate change, is something we have too readily taken for granted. In the longer term, returning to the familiarity with and acceptance of death that characterised our ancestors, is something to which mankind may need to become re-accustomed.


Craig Murray - Covid-19 and the Political Utility of Fear 



The percentage of people who become critically ill with Covid in the UK



Sunday, October 25, 2020

New role for China and Russia – and how after a Biden victory? — Paul Schmutz Schaller

 On the world stage, profound changes are under way. Obviously, China and Russia have lost the confidence that the West will contribute to the solution of the world’s problems in some constructive manner. China and Russia have now accepted their role as the leading forces with the responsibility of holding the world together. The West held this role for centuries, but this time is over. The West has essentially become destructive. The West has lost the power of solving problems and now use her resources mainly for creating problems. In my eyes, this is the central evolution of the last months and it is an epochal change....

The Vineyard of the Saker
New role for China and Russia – and how after a Biden victory?
Paul Schmutz Schaller for The Saker Blog

The Chinese Uyghur Dark Legend and Washington’s Campaign to Counter Chinese Economic Rivalry — Stephen Gowans


Longish and detailed. Not mostly about the Uyghurs.

What's Left
The Chinese Uyghur Dark Legend and Washington’s Campaign to Counter Chinese Economic Rivalry
Stephen Gowans

Thomas Piketty — What to do with Covid debt?

According to Challenges, France’s 500 largest fortunes have thus risen from €210 to €730 billion between 2010 and 2020 (from 10% to 30% of GDP). Such a development is socially and politically unsustainable....
The whole history of public debt shows this: money alone cannot offer a peaceful solution to a problem of this magnitude, because it leads in one way or another to uncontrolled distributive consequences. It was by resorting to exceptional levies on the better-off that the large public debts of the post-war period were extinguished and that the social and productive pact of the following decades was rebuilt. Let’s bet that the same will be true in the future.
Le Monde — Le Blog de Thomas Piketty
What to do with Covid debt?
Thomas Piketty | Directeur d'études à l'Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Professeur à l'Ecole d'économie de Paris/Paris School of Economics, and Co-directeur, World Inequality Lab/World Inequality Database

Arvin Ash - Delayed Choice Quantum Eraser: Shocking Results may show Future Affects Past

 I'm going to have watch this one a few times, I think. 




What Does Democracy Mean To The Chinese? [Street Interview] | ASIAN BOSS

In the West changing the government only makes a minor difference to policy. We have freedom of speech although it does not make a lot of difference. 

In China people like their government and are fairly happy with their freedoms. The Chinese people being interviewed in the video below seem to be very happy and relaxed. 

Despite a recent report that China is poised to overtake the U.S. economy by 2020, China still remains very much a mystery in the eyes of the Western world and is often portrayed by the Western media as a communist country where its citizens have no freedom. So, we hit the streets of Beijing, China to ask ordinary Chinese people what democracy and freedom mean to them. This is what they had to say.

The opinions expressed in this video are those of individual interviewees alone and do not reflect the views of ASIAN BOSS or the general Chinese population.




Harvard University 15 year Independent research.

In 2016, the last year the survey was conducted, 95.5 percent of respondents were either “relatively satisfied” or “highly satisfied” with Beijing.


Long-term survey reveals Chinese government satisfactio


 Long-term survey reveals Chinese government satisfactio


Falling r* Is No Accident — Brian Romanchuk

A great deal of significance has been attached to the fall in r*, which is the current preferred term for what was known as the natural rate of interest. My belief is that this fall is not due to structural factors in the real economy, rather it is an artefact of the means of estimating r*, as well as the reaction function of New Keynesian central bankers....
Bond Economics
Falling r* Is No Accident
Brian Romanchuk

Lars P. Syll — Reforming economics

Apt quote, from FT of all places.

Lars P. Syll’s Blog
Reforming economics
Lars P. Syll | Professor, Malmo University

Saturday, October 24, 2020

It's Official: Solar Is the Cheapest Electricity in History — Caroline Delbert

Popular Mechanics
It's Official: Solar Is the Cheapest Electricity in History
Caroline Delbert

Why Do North Korean Defectors Keep Changing Their Stories

 



Some of the defectors’ stories seem downright unbelievable. And perhaps there’s evidence that they are, in fact, fabricated. Here’s what we know.

Are the Defectors Telling the Truth? Why the Horrifying Stories of Life in North Korea May Be Fabricated

KV - Toxic Individualism

Individualism vs Colectivism, is there a correct balance? 



Carl Jung was said to have had scintillating intelligence, but he found the works of Hegel impenetrable, despite this, Professor Sean Kelly found a great deal of similarly between their works when it came to self-consciousness (ego-consciousness / self-awareness) and individualism, where both believed mankind was further moving towards increased self-awareness, or self-consciousness as Jung and Hegel would described it. The word individual comes from the word indivisible, meaning we cannot be split any further. The collective has been divided into individual identities. 

Primitive man projected his soul onto the universe, so the trees, the sky, the Sun, the weather, the stars, ect, all had spirits. Man's primitive consciousness was hardly separated from his surroundings, said Hegel and Jung. 

Both Hegel and Jung saw the West as the pinnacle of civilisation, along with it's high level of individual self-consciousness. In Rome, they said, only the emperor was an individual and everyone else would just see themselves as part of the group, and it was the same in China and all other third-world countries, they added. They were more primitive collective societies. 

Christianity greatly increased the sense of individualism and self-consciousness, both Jung and Hegel believed. God knew every hair on your body, and there was a banquet in heaven when the lost sheep was found, so every individual person was very important to God.

The Bible eventually became translated into German, and then other languages, like English, so now every person could read the Bible, which led on to the Protestant reformation. People now had a much closer, more personal, individual relationship with God. 

Protestant Christianity produced Calvinism, which said that hard work and success signified that God had chosen you to go to heaven. And so the Calvinists - being puritans - did not spend their money on worldly possessions, but instead ploughed all their profits back into their businesses to grow them, and in this way they felt that they had been chosen. Modern capitalism was then born.

At that period in time most people were God-fearing Christians, and so for the first time in history it became possible for people to leave their money in an institution, like putting an investment into a company, and then be able to go back the next day to find their money was still there. This meant that banks and the stock market now became possible, which meant that western civilisation could make spectacular advancements, eventually leading to the industrial Revolution, much of which was funded by shares. This new Western sense of individualism eventually led to democracy where every person got a vote. 

But were Carl Jung and Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel both unwittingly intoxicated by Western hubris? They believed that Western civilisations were the most advanced, and that our self-consciousness (as individualism) was more heightened than those of people in the East, but could this belief in the absolute importance of the individual over the collective now be holding us back?

Neoliberalism, the Ayn Rand mentality, the extreme right, the populist alt-left, libertarianism, etc, all seem to be examples of corrosive individualism. 

Many people in the West refuse to wear masks, or practice social distancing, despite there being a serious pandemic going on which could kill millions. They say the economy needs to be saved first, which would save more lives in the long run, but they also object to wearing masks which could save the economy as well as lives, and so their concern does not seem to be all that genuine. It appears that they want to carry on the way they have always done, with little regard for anyone else, because they believe that coronavirus is harmless to them. 

The East was once considered less advanced than the West, but I'm beginning to believe that academics like Carl Jung and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel may have got it wrong. The East in many ways seems to be more cultured and civilised compared to some Western countries, and despite our emphasis on the value of the individual, the East seems to place far more value on an individual's life. 


In the video below Chinese children are being shown how to use public transport. There is little girl with a walking stick, but look at the little boy.

The libertarians might find this disturbing as it looks like social conditioning to produce a conformist, compliant society. But to me, it's culture, refinement, and civilisation. 




Stephanie Kelton Explains Taxes, Debunks National Debt Myth, Talks Dollar Depreciation — TheRealHeisenberg

Stephanie Kelton needs no introduction.

The face of Modern Monetary Theory in a world suddenly awake to the realities of government finance in currency-issuing nations with high levels of monetary sovereignty, Kelton catapulted to near celebrity status in 2020, as the pandemic compelled policymakers to deliver trillions in stimulus virtually overnight to avert a global depression.

Kelton’s The Deficit Myth became a New York Times bestseller over the summer. It’s a quick read, and the straightforward, at times colloquial, cadence makes it highly amenable to everyday people, no small feat for an economics volume.

If The Deficit Myth reads like a prescription for policymakers suffering from a kind of self-inflicted psychosis, that’s probably because it is....
AlphaExchange — The Heisenberg Report
Stephanie Kelton Explains Taxes, Debunks National Debt Myth, Talks Dollar Depreciation
TheRealHeisenberg

The Tragedy of the ‘Tragedy of the Commons’ — Matto Mildenberger

The man who wrote one of environmentalism’s most-cited essays was a racist, eugenicist, nativist and Islamaphobe—plus his argument was wrong....
Garrett Hardin argued for privatization of the commons to increase efficiency and effectiveness of use under pure capitalism. 

Scientific American
The Tragedy of the ‘Tragedy of the Commons’
Matto Mildenberger | assistant professor of environmental politics at the University of California, Santa Barbara

See also

Moon of Alabama
Putin On The Role Of The State In The Economy

RT
‘Pragmatic conservative’ Putin rejects totalitarian rule, but won’t embrace Western liberal democracy as Russia goes its own way

Chengdu library, China

 










Chengdu library, China

Contemporary inequality is a challenge to economics —Peter Radford

The challenge of contemporary inequality is not just to the cohesion of modern society it is also a challenge to economics, because it is economics and its values that sit squarely within the social framework that has allowed inequality to become so pervasive and debilitating. We have built a society resting on only one view of liberty and equality, that of the economic sphere, rather than on a more holistic view that allows the inclusion of other spheres. We persist in believing ourselves as free, but it is a harsh and hollow freedom built upon individuality and isolated action, rather than on solidarity and communal action.

There are economists of a certain type who question whether there is any distortion produced by inequality. They often repeat the claim that inequality is a benign consequence, a side effect of little interest, to the march of economic progress and the accumulation of modern prosperity. It is a profound error to think this. Then again these same people are often oblivious to the existence and importance of society, so they regard themselves as bereft of such an error.…

Challenge or opportunity? From POV of neoliberalism, inequality is the triumph of conventional economics (trickle down, TINA). 

Real-World Economics Review Blog
Contemporary inequality is a challenge to economics
Peter Radford

Scientists Predict Birthrates, Marriage, Gender Roles Will Change Dramatically in Post-Pandemic World — University of California - Los Angeles

As marriage rates plummet and people postpone reproduction in a virus-plagued world, some nations’ populations will shrink and fall precipitously below “replacement level,” the authors write. These birthrate drops, in turn, can have cascading social and economic consequences, affecting job opportunities, straining the ability of countries to provide a safety net for their aging populations and potentially leading to global economic contraction.…

Economic growth is correlated with population growth. 

SciTEchDaily
Scientists Predict Birthrates, Marriage, Gender Roles Will Change Dramatically in Post-Pandemic World
University of California - Los Angeles

See also
Two researchers claim that a single number they call the “political stress indicator” can warn when societies are at risk of erupting into violence. It’s spiking in the US, just like it did before the Civil War.
The way it is stacking up, neither side will accept the legitimacy of the election if it loses. This undermines the legitimacy of the state. In as large and influential a country as the US, this has implications for the world system as the world system and the world order also are challenged.

Buzzfeed 


Also at Fortune
Americans are frantically buying military gear before the election
Rachel Schallom

Modern Monetary Theory and the crisis of capitalism: Part one — Nick Beams


Marxist critique of The Deficit Myth by MMT economist Stephanie Kelton.

WSWS
Modern Monetary Theory and the crisis of capitalism: Part one
Nick Beams

Coyote-gate


Democrat morons all over the place reifying the figurative language and think they are real coyotes....  Same cognitive error  we see the econo-morons do with the figure of speech “money!” all the time.... 

When you employ figurative language as part of your dialogic method and the recipient does not understand it, the default mode is reification.... ie the recipient is left to think that the figurative is literal... 

Dialogic method is manifestly inferior...




Oh... and btw...  CHECKMATE.... AGAIN...  for like the 1,000th time here...





Treasury FX Report not forthcoming

 

I think Trump may have us somehow short the CNY:



Remember this one:



So if China devalues their currency vs USD we “make money!”...

Friday, October 23, 2020

Do The Neochartalists Advocate “Printing Money”? — V. Ramanan

Short answer, no. Ramanan shows why and on the way explains how he thinks that sometimes MMT economists' expressions are either confusing or give opponents an opening to criticize them.

The Case for Concerted Action
V. Ramanan

The time trend in global inequality — James Galbraith and Jaehee Choi

Inspection of trends and changes in inequality gives a strong clue to the sweep of events. There are four trends and three distinct turning points. From 1963-1971, no trend appears, and changes in individual countries are for the most part small. After 1971, while inequality increases in some of the wealthy countries, in much of the world it is declining. After 1980, there is a radical change….
Real-World Economics Review Blog
The time trend in global inequality
 James Galbraith and Jaehee Choi in The Inequality Crisis


The Bill From MMT: Higher Taxes, More Austerity, Rising Inflation Or Eventual Default — Stephen King


Here is the FT "kitchen sink" opinion piece by Stephen King, HSBC’s Senior Economic Adviser and author of ‘Grave New World’ without the paywall.

Zero Hedge
Stephen King

Thursday, October 22, 2020

It's mostly fiscal — Christian Kopf


Regardless of whether it is called MMT, the trend is now mostly fiscal. Monetary policy is over as central banks "used up all their ammo" and the "bazooka" is still smoking, to no effect. We are entering new territory.

OMFIF
It's mostly fiscal
Christian Kopf | Head of Fixed Income Fund Management at Union Investment

George Selgin hates it.

Cato Institute
Ground Proposals for “Helicopter Money”
George Selgin

FT Alphaville is convinced on MMT — Richard Murphy


Good work!

Tax Research UK
FT Alphaville is convinced on MMT

The case for MMT: or why the FT is wrong to publish ill-informed arguments against it
Richard Murphy | Professor of Practice in International Political Economy at City University, London; Director of Tax Research UK; non-executive director of Cambridge Econometrics, and a member of the Progressive Economy Forum

Comments On Palley's MMT Critique — Brian Romanchuk

Thomas Palley is one of the more persistent MMT critics. His article “What’s wrong with Modern Money Theory: macro and political economic restraints on deficit-financed fiscal policy” was published just as I was finishing up this manuscript. Although I am not greatly impressed with the quality of the criticism, it covers many of the topics discussed in this chapter. If one wanted a summary critique (and not rely on my summaries) of major points of dispute, this might be the briefest summary.
Bond Economics
Comments On Palley's MMT Critique
Brian Romanchuk

Wednesday, October 21, 2020

Bill Mitchell — Forget the record deficits and public debt – focus on what the net spending is doing to advance well-being

Yesterday (October 21, 2020), the British Office of National Statistics (ONS) released the latest – Public sector finances, UK: September 2020 – which, predictably tells us that government borrowing was “£28.4 billion more than in September 2019 and the third-highest borrowing in any month since records began in 1993” and that the public debt ratio has risen to “103.5% of … GDP … this was the highest debt to GDP ratio since … 1960.” Shock horror. While I yawn. The financial media went to town on the data. The Financial Times article (October 22, 2020) – UK government borrowing reaches record in first half of fiscal year – claimed the second wave that is now sweeping the northern hemisphere “have dampened hopes” that the stimulus “could be quickly scaled back” which has “fuelled concerns over the US’s mounting public debt”. It didn’t clarify as to who was concerned or why. The old canards seem to die slowly. Meanwhile, the IMF has changed tack somewhat after its tawdry display during the GFC. Overall, we should be relaxed about the records being set (deficits, public debt) and focus on what the net spending is doing to advance our interests. Focusing on the financial parameters will just divert our attention away from what is important....
Bill Mitchell – billy blog
Forget the record deficits and public debt – focus on what the net spending is doing to advance well-being
Bill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia

My new podcast episode is out.

DW - More long-term damage caused by COVID-19 than expected | COVID-19 Special

 Viral load seems to make a big difference as to whether you recover quickly, or not. 

Thousands of people of all ages are staying sick for weeks -- even months. A study by Denmark's Aarhus University found a third of corona patients suffered long-term side effects. For some, the virus doesn't just come and go. It stays. The disease can damage the lungs, heart and brain, increasing the risk of long-term health problems.




US to offer developing countries aid to ditch Huawei

The US is also warning developing countries against using Chinese finance agencies


The US praised capitalism, free markets, and globalisation while it was out on top, but now it's rigging the market.

The US is planning to offer billions of dollars in loans to developing countries in the hope of persuading them to use Western alternatives to Chinese companies...

The Telegraph 

The Battle For More Efficient Energy — Haley Zaremba

There is a war going on. And no, it’s not the one you think. This is a war against energy efficiency. The attack is on two fronts: a battle against energy efficiency standards on the part of the current United States administration which is generally anti-regulation, and an attack on the part of everyone’s favorite new common enemy, the novel coronavirus. The global pandemic has hurt nearly every economic sector, and it’s certainly not doing energy efficiency any favors, either.…
Oilprice
The Battle For More Efficient Energy
Haley Zaremba

Sputnik — NATO Military Budgets Rise, But Germany Lags Behind Alliance Defense Spending Goal

A new report by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) shows that more member nations are increasing their defense budgets to reach the alliance’s spending goals, but Germany, which has attracted US President Donald Trump’s ire, has yet to do so....
Sputnik International
NATO Military Budgets Rise, But Germany Lags Behind Alliance Defense Spending Goal

Sputnik — A World Without Oil and Uranium: Russian Scientists Research Clean, Safe Nuclear Power Generation

The ITER will use a mixture of hydrogen isotopes, deuterium and tritium, as fuel....
 Sputnik International

Sputnik — Tech Analyst Calls Jio Partnership With Qualcomm to Bring 5G to India a 'Breath of Fresh Air'

US-based chipmaker Qualcomm hosted a virtual event on Tuesday night and announced that in partnership with the Indian telco Jio, they were able to achieve a superfast internet speed of 1GBPS while working on developing independent 5G tech for India. Jio, with 385 million users, is India’s largest telco, headed by Asia’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani.
Sputnik International
Tech Analyst Calls Jio Partnership With Qualcomm to Bring 5G to India a 'Breath of Fresh Air'

U.S. Broadens Sanctions On Russia-Led Nord Stream 2 Pipeline — Charles Kennedy

It won't stop the project and will further alienate German and other European firms, who will view this as anti-competitive regardless of what spin the US puts on it.

Oilprice
U.S. Broadens Sanctions On Russia-Led Nord Stream 2 Pipeline
Charles Kennedy

See also

TASS
Kremlin slams US sanctions against Nord Stream 2 as 'hostile takeover competition'