Monday, May 31, 2021

Plenty left behind in a national economy that the Government claims is ‘roaring back’ — Scott Baum

Today, we have a guest blogger in the guise of Professor Scott Baum from Griffith University who has been one of my regular research colleagues over a long period of time. Today he is continuing his discussions around the uneven regional impacts of job losses since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. So while I am tied up today it is over to Scott …
Bill Mitchell – billy blog
Plenty left behind in a national economy that the Government claims is ‘roaring back’
Scott Baum, professor at Griffith University

Mexico president says US funding of NGO 'interference'

 MEXICO CITY - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Monday that the apparent funding by the United States of an anti-corruption group critical of his government amounted to "interference."


"They have no reason to give money to these organizations. It's an interference in the public life of our country, and Mexico is an independent, free and sovereign nation," he told reporters.


Lopez Obrador said on May 7 that he had asked the United States to confirm whether it had given $1.8 million to the nongovernmental organization Mexicans Against Corruption since 2018.


The self-styled anti-graft crusader said Monday that he had yet to receive a response.


China Daily

Mexico president says US funding of NGO 'interference'

It’s a Nikolai Patrushev-Yang Jiechi world — Pepe Escobar

Cold War 2.0 and arms race on track.
We don’t need a weatherman to see which way the wind is blowin’ when it comes to the top three “existential threats” to the declining hegemon – Russia, China and Iran. What’s clear is that none of the good old methods deployed to maintain the subjugation of the vassals is working – at least when confronted by real sovereign powers....
The Vineyard of the Saker
It’s a Nikolai Patrushev-Yang Jiechi world
Pepe Escobar

Inflation Monitoring Comments — Brian Romanchuk

It's complicated.

Bond Economics
Inflation Monitoring Comments
Brian Romanchuk

China Boasts Successful Nuclear Fusion — Irina Slav

Chinese media have reported that researchers working on a nuclear fusion project have succeeded in holding plasma of 120 million degrees Celsius for close to two minutes. Chinese daily Global Times reports that the so-called artificial sun as the Chinese nuclear fusion project is known also succeeded in maintaining plasma at 160 million degrees Celsius for 20 seconds. These times, while not very long in absolute terms, are records in the quest for nuclear fusion....
Proof of concept. Now the issue is scale. 

Moon of Alabama — Ryanair Bomb Threat In Belarus - 'Western' Media Narrative Disagrees With The Facts

There is still a bit more to learn about the Ryanair flight 4978 from Greece to Lithuania which on May 23 diverted to Minsk after a bomb thread against the plane had been received by several regional airports.

The west has waged a media war over the case claiming that Belarus had invented the bomb threat to capture a Belorussian dissident who was on board. However it is clear that the bomb threat happened and that Belarus acted on it by the book. The quick implementation of a deceiving western narrative lets me believe that the bomb threat was initiated by those who oppose Belarus. It was probably managed by one of those British narrative managers who also wrote the books for the Skripal and Navalny Novichok dramas.

But there are few actual facts to that support the narrative. Its 'truth' must thus be constructed by bending the facts to fit the intended story.

Also

Internationalist 360º
Belarusian President Latest to Warn of World War Starting in Europe

US Actively Prepares for War with Russia

The Saker

Also

TASS
British intelligence suggests al-Nusra start cooperating with West - diplomatic source

Russia provided for both economic and force measures to thwart threats — Patrushev

West’s hegemony aspirations provoke conflicts between states — Russian Security Council

Russia reliably protected against military threats, says security chief




Bill Mitchell — Criticism of failed economists is not cancel culture

Everybody is concerned with ‘herd immunity’ at present as the pandemic continues on ravaging our social and economic lives. But I have been studying the concept of ‘herd mentality’ for some years, aka – Groupthink. Mainstream macroeconomics is sustained, not by any internal logical consistency (on which it fails), by close congruency with the empirical data (on which it fails), which are the usual qualities of a dominant system of ideas, but, rather, by (using modern terminology) its long-standing and on-going cancel culture. So it is rather amusing to read one of the leading voices in that paradigm, Kenneth ‘Spreadsheet’ Rogoff, whinging on the Internet that ‘cancel culture’ is being used to undermine the reputations of one of his mates (Larry Summers). Both continue to get platforms in the world media without trouble to push their vapid ideas into the narrative. The antithesis of cancel culture it would seem. What is going on is that more people are realising that the prognostications of mainstream macroeconomics are deeply flawed, and, while many may not know the technicalities and the theoretical complexities, they can see the empirical dissonance, and that means they know a – lemon – when they see one. And social media has given more people a voice and they are using that to call these characters out for what they are. And the sense of invulnerability that pervades all disciplines riddled with Groupthink is being questioned.
Bill Mitchell – billy blog
Criticism of failed economists is not cancel culture
Bill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia

Sunday, May 30, 2021

The Two Major Obstacles To A Hydrogen Revolution — Alan Mammoser

Whatever the final outcome may be, industry watchers now largely agree that there are two realms where costs must come down for carbon-free hydrogen to advance. The cost of renewable energy, already the object of remarkable reductions in the past decade, must continue to fall. And the cost of water electrolysis for hydrogen production, encompassing the basic hardware of green hydrogen, the electrolyser, must follow a similar path downward.

Many see both poised to happen. In fact, the two are integrally related, with operating expense and capital cost factoring into the total cost of electrolyser operation. The decline of renewable power prices is expected to continue, with accelerated deployment of renewables into grids. But capital costs must come down as well, with electrolysis equipment being manufactured more quickly and less expensively.
Oilprice
The Two Major Obstacles To A Hydrogen Revolution
Alan Mammoser

Modern Money Consensus Carlos García Hernández

On the Washington Consensus as foreign policy based on neoliberal economic policy, which became the basis for Post WW II  neo-imperialism and neocolonialism. That policy was subsequently adopted domestically, making neoliberalism a global phenomenon that still infects the world system negatively, resulting in growing income and wealth inequality.

The way to combat this pernicious framework lies through applying an MMT-based lens to reframe the assumptions, eliminating the false and replacing them with the true in order to eliminate the inherent bias of current economic policy by changing the models on which it is based.

The Gower Initiative for Modern Money Studies
Modern Money Consensus
Carlos García Hernández 
(originally published in Spanish in El Común)

See also

The Enlightened Economist
Humanomics – yes please
Diane Coyle | freelance economist and a former advisor to the UK Treasury. She is a member of the UK Competition Commission and is acting Chairman of the BBC Trust, the governing body of the British Broadcasting Corporation

Also

CaitlinJohnstone.com
The Screams Of A Dying Empire: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix
Caitlin Johnstone

Saturday, May 29, 2021

Moon of Alabama — How ProtonMail Lost The Public Trust It Needs To Do Business

The latest on the Belarus incident.

Moon of Alabama
How ProtonMail Lost The Public Trust It Needs To Do Business

KV - Black and White






















 
















The Chinese Dreamers vs. the U.S. Hegemon — John V. Walsh

John V. Walsh explains how the US is on a collision course with China.

Dissident Voice
The Chinese Dreamers vs. the U.S. Hegemon
John V. Walsh , formerly Professor of Physiology and Cellular Neuroscience at a Massachusetts Medical School

See also

This article does not present the best argument, but the idea of risking over-extension has legs.

Sputnik International
Biden's Budget: US Entering New Stage of Great Power Rivalry, Risks Stretching Thin, Observers Say


CaitlinJohnstone.com
Australia Is A Giant US Military Base With Kangaroos: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix
Caitlin Johnstone

President Biden’s budget shows what true “fiscal responsibility” means: Pushing the economy closer to full employment, reducing inequality, and measuring the debt burden more accurately — Josh Bivens

Pivoting left. 

The right cries, "socialism, Marxism, communism." Sound money people see imminent hyperinflation and dollar devaluation.

EPI
President Biden’s budget shows what true “fiscal responsibility” means: Pushing the economy closer to full employment, reducing inequality, and measuring the debt burden more accurately
Josh Bivens, director of research

Overview of Russian Ports — Anatoly Karlin

Pivot East.

Unz Review
Overview of Russian Ports
Anatoly Karlin

The history – and future – of American capitalism — Diane Coyle

Reading Jonathan Levy’s Ages of American Capitalism: A History of the United States has been quite a commitment: over 700 pages of text, plus notes, in hardback. The sheer weight militated against my taking in the grand sweep if its ambition, as I had to read it sitting at home propped on cushions. Nevertheless, it was well worth it.

As the title suggests, the account is organised into different ages: commerce (early days from late 17th century, and the role of slavery); capital (post Civil War to Fordism and the Depression); control (New Deal & postwar golden age); chaos (1980 on). The organising idea is the changed relationship between state and business in each of the eras, but importantly that the state, and political decisions, always ultimately determined the character of capitalism. The private sector – titans such as Morgan and Ford – clearly made a massive contribution to shaping US industrialisation through their business model choices, union-bashing and personal force of will; but they were not writing the story of capitalism on a blank sheet of paper. Government decisions and political forces constrained them and tamed them. And in each of the eras, there were distinct political visions, starting with the conflicting Hamilton and Jefferson visions.…
The Enlightened Economist
The history – and future – of American capitalism
Diane Coyle | freelance economist and a former advisor to the UK Treasury. She is a member of the UK Competition Commission and is acting Chairman of the BBC Trust, the governing body of the British Broadcasting Corporation

Friday, May 28, 2021

Geopolitics Links — 28 May 2021


Belarus

Moon of Alabama (staying up to date)
Ryanair Incident - Email Warning Received Before Plane Entered Belorussian Airspace

Irrussianality (a voice of reason)
More Thoughts on Belarus
Paul Robinson | Professor, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa

TASS ((Russian state media)
Integration of Russia, Belarus should not be rushed, Putin says

China



Global Times (Chinese state-sponsored media) (tit for tat)
China urged to increase sea-based nuclear deterrent amid US intensified strategic threat
Zhang Hui

Syria

Sputnik International (Assad wins with over 95% of the 78% voter turnout)
Syria’s Victory Stuns NATO Enemies

Elsewhere

Thursday, May 27, 2021

Market dirigisme — Steve Randy Waldman

Market dirigisme is the name I give to a style of public policy I think we ought to use more. The idea is pretty simple. Governments form preferences over how the polity ought to be but currently is not. Often, what governments should do is to explicitly purchase the changes in behavior they desire from the general public.... 
Interfluidity
Market dirigisme
Steve Randy Waldman

Cost of Living Indices: Why Use Them? — Brian Romanchuk

One technical issue that comes up when looking at consumer price indices is that the concept of a “cost of living index” comes up. This is a technical definition, as opposed to the vaguely defined notion of a “cost of living” that is used in popular discussion.

In most of my writing, I aim to explain technical concepts and debates in plain English. In this case, I am not going to attempt it. My feeling is that the specifics of this technical debate are not going to be meaningful to a general audience. Meanwhile, my attempt at explaining it may be more confusing that just reading the literature for someone with a technical background. Instead, I am just going to give a simplified explanation of why this debate happened in the first place, with just a tease of the underlying issues (as I understand it).
Bond Economics
Cost of Living Indices: Why Use Them?
Brian Romanchuk

A Natural Food Supplement May Relieve Anxiety

 Beta-sitosterol, a natural plant-derived supplement, reduced anxiety in mouse models, both in stand-alone use and in combination with Prozac.


A Natural Food Supplement May Relieve Anxiety


Western Diet Causes Damage to Immune Cells in Gut, Study Shows

"Our research showed that long-term consumption of a Western-style diet high in fat and sugar impairs the function of immune cells in the gut in ways that could promote inflammatory bowel disease or increase the risk of intestinal infections.”

Science News

 Western Diet Causes Damage to Immune Cells in Gut, Study Shows

Bill Mitchell — ECB realises it has to keep funding Member State deficits for the foreseeable future

Well, the Melbourne virus outbreak has scuttled lots of plans and events. We wouldn’t be in this situation if the Federal government had have invested in dedicated quarantine facilities last year when they were told to and taken advice to ensure their vaccination purchases were sufficient. Anyway, that is for another day. Today, I have been examining European data and matching them against a recent interview (May 26, 2021) – Interview with Fabio Panetta, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, conducted by Jun Ishikawa – that Nikkei published yesterday. Things have changed a bit in Europe since the GFC although the fundamental problem of the Eurozone remains – there is a disjuncture between fiscal responsibility and fiscal capacity and the only way that that mismatch is being addressed is the via the on-going ECB funding of fiscal deficits, despite the denial that that is what is happening. It is plainly obvious to all.
Bill Mitchell – billy blog
ECB realises it has to keep funding Member State deficits for the foreseeable future
Bill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia

Fed RRP now $450B

 



This is funny you have all these people (finally, we’ve been covering this here for years) talking about this but NOOOOOOBODY is asking why the Fed is doing this in the first place...  it’s as if all these people think the reserve balance accounting abstractions are real and they are flying in from Mars or something...

WHERE is the technical criticism of this policy?  (Other than here...). Where???  Where is it???

DOES... NOT... EXIST... ANYWHERE... ELSE...

You have the Fed creating/issuing  $120B per month of reserve balances for over a year to the point where they have eliminated the ability of their DEPOSITORIES (yo key syllable  here being ‘DEPOSIT’) to accept deposits.  Why?  Why would anyone want to do that?  

Then having just created/issued them in the system, they now have to take them out or redeem them... having just put them in.... why?   Why not just don’t put them in in the first place?

All this is doing is creating another LARGE account of reserve balances in the system that can for whatever reason (rates are reduced further and MMMFs close to new investors?) for whatever reason doesn’t matter...these balances, as long as they exist, can come rushing back in to the depositories and cause another crash in risk asset prices like they always do... when the FRA charges them with “stable prices”...

It’s a BAD POLICY ... and dangerous  ... that directly conflicts with other regulatory constructs... its impairing the ability of their own depositories to perform their function within the system... and btw it’s Monetarist at core ... with the people there thinking these regulatory accounting abstractions are real and they have to “be there” so depositories can lend them out.. if not then what is the reason?  What?

All the people there need to be CANNED...




Josie Glausiusz- Blood Brothers: Palestinians and Jews Share Genetic Roots

Jews break down into three genetic groups, all of which have Middle Eastern origins – which are shared with the Palestinians and Druze.


Confronted by the violence sweeping over Israel, it can be easy to overlook the things that Jews and Palestinians share: a deep attachment to the same sliver of contested land, a shared appetite for hummus, a common tradition of descent from the patriarch Abraham, and, as scientific research shows - a common genetic ancestry, as well.

Haaretz.com 


Stephen Johnson - Despite social pressure, boys & girls still prefer gender-typical toys

Fifty years of research on children's toy preferences shows that kids generally prefer toys oriented toward their own gender.


For decades, studies have shown that boys and girls generally prefer playing with toys typically associated with their biological sex: toy trucks for boys and dolls for girls, to give a rough example.

These results have remained remarkably stable over the past 50 years, according to a 2020 meta-analysis of research on gender differences in toy preferences

Big Think


Wednesday, May 26, 2021

Sanctions-busting Iranian Pipeline To Make First Shipment In June — Simon Watkins

End run — with further ramifications: Iran can now disrupt shipping through the Straits of Hormuz without disrupting oil deliveries, giving it new leverage.

Oilprice
Sanctions-busting Iranian Pipeline To Make First Shipment In June
Simon Watkins

The Iranian presidential shocker — Pepe Escobar

Moderates out of the running, hardliners in. As expected. What is surprising in how it went down. Pepe Escobar explains.

Doubtful that there will a US return to the agreement. It's a political hot potato anyway.

The Vineyard of the Saker
The Iranian presidential shocker
Pepe Escobar

Childhood Disadvantage Affects Brain Connectivity

Our type of capitalist system makes this problem worse, and it's expensive too, as many people who fall to the bottom compensate by turning to crime, drink, and drugs, and become unproductive. Extra police, prisons, remand Centers, social workers, are all needed too. Mental illness, depression, and anxiety means many days off work. 

In a new study, researchers have examined how “neighborhood disadvantage” can affect the developing brain, including the brain’s connectivity between regions.

Functional connectivity was reduced within and between several brain networks in children raised in disadvantaged neighborhoods.

Researchers say a positive home and school environment can mitigate some of the effects.

Many socioeconomically disadvantaged children face poor cognitive and mental health outcomes, and researchers are working to determine the specific factors that link childhood conditions to those poor outcomes, including how they might shape brain circuitry.


Childhood Disadvantage Affects Brain Connectivity

My new podcast episode is out.

POLL: Voters Support Economic Renewal Plan Centering Climate, Labor, and Justice — Data For Progress

Today, Data for Progress and Green New Deal Network released a new poll finding that voters support a comprehensive and justice-oriented approach to creating new jobs and infrastructure: the THRIVE Act, a $10 trillion community investment over the next 10 years that tackles the multiple overlapping crises in their communities, from pollution and climate change to unemployment....

See also

Jacobin
The US Will Spend $634 Billion on Nuclear Weapons in the Next Decade
Julia Rock

We Just Got Proof that Americans, Not China, Are Paying for the Tariffs — Brad Polumbo

As reported by Reason’s Eric Boehm, a new analysis from Moody’s Analytics finds that only about 8 percent of the tariffs’ costs have fallen on China. In contrast, US consumers have suffered a whopping 92 percent of the costs.
Activist Post
We Just Got Proof that Americans, Not China, Are Paying for the Tariffs
Brad Polumbo

Belarus Sanctions Might Be The Real Deal — Gerald Jansen

Not mentioned in the post, but the most likely outcome is that Belarussia moves closer to the Russian/Chinese orbit as the West shuts it out economically in the attempt to effect regime change that sets up a NATO proxy. Russia is unlikely to let that happen without resistance. Putin is likely to tell Biden that Ukraine, Belarussia and Georgia are strategic red lines for Russia.

Oilprice
Belarus Sanctions Might Be The Real Deal
Gerald Jansen

See also

The war is directed more against Russia and China than Belarussia. Ukraine, Belarussia and Georgia are just stepping stones.

Axios
Belarus leader Lukashenko accuses EU of "hybrid war" over response to hijacking
Fadel Allassan

Josh Cohen - Ukraine’s Got a Real Problem with Far-Right Violence (And No, RT Didn’t Write This Headline)

 It sounds like the stuff of Kremlin propaganda, but it’s not. Last week Hromadske Radio revealed that Ukraine’s Ministry of Youth and Sports is funding the neo-Nazi group C14 to promote “national patriotic education projects” in the country. On June 8, the Ministry announced that it will award C14 a little less than $17,000 for a children’s camp. It also awarded funds to Holosiyiv Hideout and Educational Assembly, both of which have links to the far-right. The revelation represents a dangerous example of law enforcement tacitly accepting or even encouraging the increasing lawlessness of far-right groups willing to use violence against those they don’t like.

Since the beginning of 2018, C14 and other far-right groups such as the Azov-affiliated National Militia, Right Sector, Karpatska Sich, and others have attacked Roma groups several times, as well as anti-fascist demonstrations, city council meetings, an event hosted by Amnesty International, art exhibitions, LGBT events, and environmental activists. On March 8, violent groups launched attacks against International Women’s Day marchers in cities across Ukraine. In only a few of these cases did police do anything to prevent the attacks, and in some they even arrested peaceful demonstrators rather than the actual perpetrators.

Atlantic Council 

Josh Cohen - Ukraine’s Got a Real Problem with Far-Right Violence (And No, RT Didn’t Write This Headline)



US-funded Belarusian regime-change activist arrested on plane joined neo-Nazis in Ukraine — Ben Norton

Another dimension of the story. Pictures.

The Grayzone
US-funded Belarusian regime-change activist arrested on plane joined neo-Nazis in Ukraine
Ben Norton

See also


Also

Note that Belorussia retained the initials "KBG" for its security service, while Russia changed its designation to GRU for external affairs (comparable to the CIA) and FSB for its internal security service (comparable to the FBI)

TASS
Protasevich giving testimony on sponsors of subversive activity in Belarus, says KGB chief

Also

BRICS Info
EU’s outrage at Belarus’ “state-sponsored terrorism” is full of hypocrisy
Paul Antonopoulos

Also

The Unz Review
Roman Protasevich Served in the Azov Battalion
Anatoly Karlin

Bill Mitchell — Manufacturing growing strongly in the UK as jobs fall in Australia with the fiscal cuts

It is Wednesday so a blog lite day for me. The next part of this week is a bit up in the air for me after the Covid outbreak that resulted from a breach of quarantine in Adelaide has spread to Melbourne and looks a bit ugly. Fingers crossed that I can get back home to Melbourne tomorrow. Today I briefly review the latest payroll data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, which shows that despite all the bluster from the Federal government to the contrary, their fiscal retreat in March is now costing jobs, as predicted. I also examine the latest production data from the UK, which should provide good news for British manufacturing workers. And finally, we have a little birthday celebration with some singing....
Bill Mitchell – billy blog
Manufacturing growing strongly in the UK as jobs fall in Australia with the fiscal cuts
Bill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia

When you are a new neo-Nazi in the Ukraine


 

Lee Fang - DRUG INDUSTRY MONEY QUIETLY BACKS MEDIA VOICES AGAINST SHARING VACCINE PATENTS

 Doctors, economists, lawmakers, and civil society groups fighting the WTO waiver are funded by the pharmaceutical lobby.


JUST BEFORE GOING live on Al Jazeera last week, Achal Prabhala, an activist for equitable access to medicine, performed a quick internet search on his sparring partner in a debate on the proposal to share vaccine technology with low-income countries.


It didn’t take long before Prabhala found that his opponent, an academic who favors pharmaceutical monopoly rights, leads an institute at Duke University funded by Pfizer and AstraZeneca. He pointed this fact out to the producers on air.


The apparent conflict of interest is hardly a rare occurrence.


The Intercept

Lee Fang - DRUG INDUSTRY MONEY QUIETLY BACKS MEDIA VOICES AGAINST SHARING VACCINE PATENTS


SLAVA ZILBER - The ‘completely corrupt’ US lobbying system uses China and Russia to justify military spending

Only the money counts in Washington. 

Phoenix Media Co-op asked nuclear policy specialist Joe Cirincione about the power of the arms lobby in US politics. And he explained how treating China and Russia as enemies helps to justify massive spending on weapons, especially considering that “the defence-industrial complex has got such a hold over Congress”.

Cirincione said:

I worked in Congress for 10 years. I’m telling you – it’s money that matters when it comes to Congress. … They listen a lot more to what the defence contractors have to say than they listen to diplomats or arms control experts. … It’s just too much money.

It’s hard to believe, but members of Congress don’t think it’s a conflict of interest if they’re taking money from defence contractors as political contributions, taking trips funded by defence contractors, and then voting on what kind of contracts those defence corporations should get. They don’t see that as a conflict of interest; but, of course, it is.


 The Weapons Industry's Hold Over Congress. Interview with Joseph Cirincione.



Phoenix Media 


SLAVA ZILBER - The ‘completely corrupt’ US lobbying system uses China and Russia to justify military spending

Science Shows that Jews and Palestinians are Siblings!

Does Palestine belong to the Palestinians?

The genetic data is totally consistent with the idea that Palestinians are direct descendants of ancient Jews who never left ancestral lands and later converted to Christianity and Islam. 


Science Shows that Jews and Palestinians are Siblings!

Tuesday, May 25, 2021

Sputnik — Biden Says US Sanctions Against Nord Stream 2 Would Be 'Counterproductive'

Reading between the lines, Germany (the people that run the place) said no, and Angela Merkel would not backdown in the face of threats. This was not a gift to Russia by Biden, as some make it out to be. It's about knowing when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em.

Germany is pivotal in the global system as presently configured. The US was trying desperately to prevent Germany from swinging east through energy dependence. But the threat of sanctions against a top-level ally just resulted in a greater potential for that to unfold. There was no good solution.

Natural gas just plays too big a role in Germany's longterm plan to decarbonize, and German business depends on an inexpensive and reliable source. For Germany it is a matter of national security since sourcing is vital to an economy dependent on imported energy. There was no alternative if they wanted to maintain their dominance of the region economically.

Henry Bauer — Science in the 21st Century: Knowledge Monopolies and Research Cartels

Abstract
Minority views on technical issues are largely absent from the public arena. Increasingly corporate organization of science has led to knowledge monopolies, which, with the unwitting help of uncritical mass media, effect a kind of censorship. Since corporate scientific organizations also control the funding of research, by denying funds for unorthodox work they function as research cartels as well as knowledge monopolies. A related aspect of contemporary science is commercialization. Science is now altogether different from the traditional disinterested search, by self-motivated individuals, to understand the world. What national and international organizations publicly proclaim as scientific information is not safeguarded by the traditional process of peer review. Society needs new arrangements to ensure that public information about matters of science will be trustworthy. Actions to curb the power of the monopolies and cartels can be conceived: mandatory funding of contrarian research, mandatory presence of contrarian opinion on advisory panels, a Science Court to adjudicate technical controversies, ombudsman offices at a variety of organizations. Most sorely needed is vigorously investigative science journalism.…
Suggested by Neil Wilson.

Henry Bauer
Journal of Scientific Exploration 18(4) December 2004

 

Do Free Markets Still Beat Central Planning? — Andrew Sheng and Xiao Geng

Institutional arrangements are complex systems, shaped by history, geography, and culture. The objective should not be to identify a one-size-fits-all approach, but rather to devise the combination of characteristics that would deliver the greatest good for the greatest number of people, with the right checks and balances.
Should-read. Adopts the world system POV without calling it that. This approach emphasizes unity in diversity. This requires a multilateral approach rather than a unipolar one. This requires multi-dimensional thinking based on feedback rather than a uni-dimensional approach based on imposing an ideology as dominant.

Project Syndicate
Do Free Markets Still Beat Central Planning?
Andrew Sheng, Distinguished Fellow of the Asia Global Institute at the University of Hong Kong and a member of the UNEP Advisory Council on Sustainable Finance, a former chairman of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission; and Xiao Geng, Chairman of the Hong Kong Institution for International Finance, and professor and Director of the Research Institute of Maritime Silk-Road at Peking University HSBC Business School

Lars P. Syll — Functional finance and Ricardian equivalence

Abba Lerner and John Maynard Keynes against Robert Barro. Who wins?

Some keeper quotes.

Lars P. Syll’s Blog
Functional finance and Ricardian equivalence
Lars P. Syll | Professor, Malmo University

Michael Hudson — Surprise: Corporate Junk Before Students?

Paul Jay interviews Michael Hudson.

Michael Hudson — On Finance, Real Estate And The Powers Of Neoliberalism
Surprise: Corporate Junk Before Students?
Michael Hudson | President of The Institute for the Study of Long-Term Economic Trends (ISLET), a Wall Street Financial Analyst, Distinguished Research Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, and Guest Professor at Peking University

Monday, May 24, 2021

Bill Mitchell — Don’t say its over until its over – MMT is not close to dominating the narrative

Don’t say its over until its over. There has been progress in the macroeconomics narrative since the GFC, which accelerated during the pandemic. Governments have certainly expanded fiscal deficits and taken on more debt and the usual hysteria, which many of those same governments helped to ferment in the public debate, has fallen away. Obviously, for political reasons, a government that has previously been terrorising the population about the dangers of deficits and rising debt as a cover for ideologically-driven austerity programs, has no incentive in continuing those narratives while they have been dragged into maintaining capitalism on life support. The question has been whether these narratives will return once the health emergency starts to fade a little. There is clear evidence emerging that the lessons that the pandemic has taught us are not being absorbed by the economics commentariat, who dominate the public space with their opinions. Two clear examples of this came out this week (already) in the Australian press, which replicates the sort of commentary I am increasingly seeing around the globe. Deeply sad.
What I am noticing is that much that is written about MMT or mentioning MMT is based on caricature rather than accurate description. The consequence is that "MMT" is coming to means something different from actual MMT. Much of this is deliberate disinformation coming from ideologues, while some is due to ignorance, including some of those favorably disposed to MMT as an explanatory framework based on institutional analysis of money, finance, and economics, and their structural and functional interrelation in an economy. Generally, the commentary exhibits shallow understanding about MMT. Very little is grounded in the literature, which is now abundant and widely available, much of it free to download, e.g., at Levy Institute.

Bill Mitchell – billy blog
Don’t say its over until its over – MMT is not close to dominating the narrative
Bill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia

Moon of Alabama — Lukashenko's Revenge–(Served Cold)

The backstory.

Moon of Alabama
Lukashenko's Revenge (Served Cold)


Bill Mitchell — Australia – wages growth remains flat with no household consumption boom in sight

On Wednesday last week (May 19, 2021), the ABS released the latest – Wage Price Index, Australia – for the March-quarter 2021. The WPI data shows that nominal wages growth remains suppressed and workers were able to glean only the most marginal real improvement in purchasing power. Public sector workers endured real wage cuts. The public sector is clearly not demonstrating leadership with their ridiculous wage freezes and wage caps stifling wages growth not only in the public sector but also via the spillover effects to the private sector. Most sectors went backwards in real terms and it was only the annual minimum wage adjustment that saw gains in some sectors – militating against any narrative that suggests that the market is driving inflationary pressures. Not even close....
Bill Mitchell – billy blog
Australia – wages growth remains flat with no household consumption boom in sight
Bill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia

The Russian Concordat Between Patriarch And Kremlin Isn’t At All Like The One Napoleon Got Pope Pius Vii To Sign — John Helmer

 Of interest regarding the historical dialectic between liberalism and traditionalism.

Dances with Bears
THE RUSSIAN CONCORDAT BETWEEN PATRIARCH AND KREMLIN ISN’T AT ALL LIKE THE ONE NAPOLEON GOT POPE PIUS VII TO SIGN
John Helmer

Caitlin Johnstone — My Experiments With Hacking Capitalism

I just realized I’ve never really written about how I make a living doing what I do, which is odd because it’s easily the most interesting aspect of my weird little operation here. I’ll put the information out there just in case it’s useful to anybody.

Like anyone else who criticizes capitalism within earshot of hardcore capitalism enthusiasts, I get the “and yet you participate in capitalism ha ha” line all the time. They claim that because I have links to Patreon and Paypal at the bottom of my articles I am hypocritical for criticizing capitalism, which is silly for a number of reasons....
CaitlinJohnstone.com
My Experiments With Hacking Capitalism
Caitlin Johnstone

See also
I saw another article this weekend about culture war in America. Supposedly, America is deeply divided, and I’m not denying there are divisions. But when you ask Americans what they want, what’s surprising is how united we are, irrespective of party differences. For example, Americans favor a $15 minimum wage. We favor single-payer health care. We favor campaign finance reform that gets big money donors and corporations out of government. Yet our government, which is bought by those same donors, refuses to give Americans what we want. Division is what they give us instead, and even then it’s often a sham form of division.

What do I mean by “sham”? Well, our so-called divided government is strongly united in support of huge war budgets and endless war. Strongly united in support of Israel. Strongly in favor of, and obedient to, special interests and big money in politics. Strongly in favor of business as usual (with a stress on “business”), with sham elections every four years between the center-right Democrats and the increasingly unhinged-right Republicans. Sadly, when it comes to policy that impacts the working classes, there isn’t much difference between Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell. They are unified in what they deny us.

It’s a war of the have-mores versus the haves and especially the have-nots, and the have-lots-more are winning. Why? Because they’ve bought the government too....
Bracing Views
Culture War!
WJ Astore

Sputnik — Russian Media Watchdog Threatens to Throttle Google Traffic Over Noncompliance

Russia’s media oversight body Roskomnadzor warned Google on Monday that it could slow down access to the global platform in the country if it did not comply with the agency's demands....
Sputnik International
Russian Media Watchdog Threatens to Throttle Google Traffic Over Noncompliance

FRED — The jump in used car prices

This blog has discussed trends for vehicle sales in general, but let’s stick with used vehicle prices and add some historical context. Before the current recession, annual growth in used vehicle prices hadn’t hit 3% since May 2012 and remained largely flat during the period from 2013 to 2020. Indeed, this trend goes back well over two decades: As measured by the CPI, used vehicle prices were largely flat or falling going back to 1997.

So the current spike in prices feels more like a correction after a lengthy stretch of falling prices. A 21% annual rise in prices is extraordinary, but it came about due to a unique and unprecedented set of economic conditions now impacting the supply of vehicles. Looking at how and why it happened gives us a better understanding of where things stand....
FRED Blog
The jump in used car prices

KV - Nice Pics 11

 Wood Shavings 


Hot Air Balloon Tech



Fall in Winter in Boston



Haesley Nine Bridges Golf Clubhouse, Japan 



The Black Pearl steam powered motorcycle


Strawberry Finch




Urban Bike



Heated Drill Bit



110 year old bank vault door located in Alabama



Great Blue Heron



Angelo Giuliano & Brian Berletic: The US Hijacking of Myanmar

 The West is vicious, but hardly anyone in the West knows this. They think we are the good guys, because of the "equality, WOKE, and liberal values." 

Once upon a time the ruling elite were conservative - well, at least outwardly, as we know how decadent they can be - and hated the idea of democracy, but now they are able to use "democracy, the free press, and liberal free markets" to control the world and steal its  resources. 


In this discussion we talk about how deeply the US infiltrated Myanmar's socio-political landscape - about the foreign advisors now confirmed to have been shaping Aung San Suu Kyi's policy shortly before Myanmar's military removed her from power - and how Suu Kyi's government was a product of foreign interference, not a "democratically elected" government.




What Eating Just 1 Mushroom A Day Does To Cancer Risk!

 In this video we're going to look at the extraordinary power of mushrooms. A new study has shown the power of eating mushrooms even in crazily low amounts! We're also going to look at an unique compound found in mushrooms!  Here's why we should consume mushrooms everyday...




Sunday, May 23, 2021

Gower Initiative for Modern Money Studies — Poverty and homelessness are failures of government, not individuals

People who don’t understand the capacities of a currency-issuing govt telling us we have no choice but to accept deaths in the community for the sake of the economy. Tell me again how understanding economics is “obscure” and “academic.”’
—Tweeted by Jason Restante
The Gower Initiative for Modern Money Studies
Poverty and homelessness are failures of government, not individuals

Zero Hedge — David Rosenberg: "A Whole Bunch Of People Are Really, Really Wrong" About Inflation

David Rosenberg gets it essentially correct about "inflation" and mistaking winding down of pandemic distortions for it. It's not happening.
Instead, Rosenberg essentially agrees with Fed Chairman Jerome Powell that the recent acceleration in inflation seen in April will be temporary.

What's going on isn't a fundamental "regime shift", but rather a "pendulum" swinging back to the opposite extreme following the sudden deflationary demand shock caused by the pandemic. We had three consecutive months of negative CPI prints last year, Rosenberg pointed out. To offset all that, April saw the biggest MoM jump in consumer prices since 1981.

Rosenberg argues that the factors that contributed to this surge in prices are already starting to fade....
He also addresses "stagflation" without naming it. Stagflation occurs when the labor market is still loose so that there is no wage pressure, but there are supply shortages, especially of commodities needed for production, that result in a general and continuous increase in the price level. 

That condition could be in the cards if supply doesn't return to normal as the pandemic winds down, but he sees no evidence of that of any significant reason to expect it.

And ,of course, a caricature of MMT gets a lot of the blame in the current inflation hysteria based on "conventional wisdom" based on "commonsense". While not mentioning MMT, Rosenberg refutes the this.

The question remains as to whether the relief will be enough to fund a smooth recovery. So far so good fiscally, but a debt limit looms in the distance (projected around Oct 2021) and that is generally political.

Zero Hedge

China Watch

America must acknowledge its systemic problems and implement structural reforms that curtail financial capitalism and embrace smart industrial policies.
Nation of Change

Related

Michael Roberts explains why China will most likely do fine despite the "demographic crisis." Increased productivity offsets decreased employment.

Michael Roberts Blog — blogging from a marxist economist
China: demographic crisis?
Michael Roberts

KV - Nice Pics 10

 Family Portrait 



Fairy Castle: 

Neuschwanstein Castle, built by-Ludwig II in southwest Bavaria


Edinburgh, Scotland 


New College University, Edinburgh 



Amsterdam 
 



Birds eye view of Amsterdam 




Amsterdam at night 



Abandoned Church in France 



Dew on a plant spiral



Contents of fire engine (firetruck) 


China beats USA by following Western classical economics!


 America must acknowledge its systemic problems and implement structural reforms that curtail financial capitalism and embrace smart industrial policies.


China is state capitalism and industrial socialism, the winning ticket Germany used to catch up with the European countries that had empires. Germany borders many countries and doesn't have a large coastline, like the seafaring nations, so they had no empire. This meant resources and labour were expensive, and so they devised Industrial Socialism instead, where the government owned many of the service industries, and provided low cost services to the public and private sector. Private companies were not able to do this sort of long term investment, but they are very innovative, and so were able to flourish under these conditions. Many banks were publicly owned, and many the private ones were non profit, but all of the German banks would lend long term to industries and businesses to help nourish them. 

Instead of competing, the Anglo-Saxon nations destroyed Germany by warfare instead, and they are now trying to do the same to China, which has no empire either.

Once in Western countries the government provided many of the services, but the finance sector wanted them in their portfolio instead, so now we have permanent austerity and monopoly capitalism.

China disavowed the communist model forty years ago. China’s contemporary economy is modeled after Germany’s 19th century system, which can be described as state capitalism or industrial socialism. This hybrid economy led to immense prosperity and made Germany the biggest European economy within a few decades. 

Communist China Follows Classical Western Economics


What an irony that China is now demonized for following the suggestions of great western minds! China provides free school, free college, free basic healthcare, affordable (and world-class) transportation, inexpensive utilities, cheap raw materials etc., which enable Chinese corporations to become prolific manufacturers and exporters. People-oriented development is the cornerstone of industrial socialist policy. (Click here to see a collage of Chinese infrastructure – airport, library, bookstore, theater, skyscraper, bridge, subway train and more). 

Nation of Change



Saturday, May 22, 2021

KV - Nice Pics 9

 Shaman Caterpillar 


Wet Fly


NS Savannah Control Room


A Wave


My girlfriend didn't like the new shower 

(Marrakesh shower) 


Perception (Top of Building). It looks like an electronics board. 



Engineering can be beautiful! 



It failed the audition for the part in Star Wars as RD-D2 



The same here. 



This one didn't stand a chance. A nice try, though. 


A British farmer decided to dye his sheep different colours, using a natural wash-out dye, to cheer drivers up during Covid as they drove by his farm. The only thing is, the sheep felt a little embarrassed when their mates saw them through the fence at the neighbouring farm. 



More tomorrow. 

Danial Cawrey - Market Wrap: China Breaks Crypto as Bitcoin Falls to $36K, ETH Drops $300 in Two Hours

The main catalyst for the move down Friday was a statement from a China’s State Council on BTC: “We should crack down on bitcoin mining and trading activities and prevent individual risks from being passed to the whole society.”

Within two hours, bitcoin fell from $41,454 around 14:15 UTC (10:15 a.m. ET) to as low as $36,880, an 11% decrease, based on CoinDesk 20 data. Bitcoin is still falling, at $36,224 as of press time. 

“I expect BTC/USD to range around $38,000 for a while,” said George Clayton, managing partner at investment firm Cryptanalysis Capital.

Coindesk

Danial Cawrey - Market Wrap: China Breaks Crypto as Bitcoin Falls to $36K, ETH Drops $300 in Two Hours

The science behind ‘us vs. them’ | Dan Shapiro, Robert Sapolsky

 We are hard wired to see our group as good and the other group as bad. If we want to stop wars and promote harmony, we need a rethink. 

You will never win an argument with a anti-vaxxer or climate change denier, as being a valid member of their group is more important than any facts, or even the survival of the planet.

 


 

Paul Sutter - How a weird theory of gravity could break cause-and-effect

 New research shows that gravity can travel faster than the speed of light, which breaks the relationship between cause and effect. 

However, new research has found a critical flaw in modified gravity theories: They allow for effects to occur without causes and for information to travel faster than the speed of light.


Paul Sutter - How a weird theory of gravity could break cause-and-effect

KV - Optical Illusion

 A lot of people can't fathom out this Illusion, but I think the poor photo quality doesn't help.

She looks sunk into the ground, but she is leaning on a wall. The top of the wall looks the same as the road, and the grass bank is a high as the wall.