Giant Pictures & Kanopy Acquire ‘Finding The Money,’ Documentary That Explodes Myth Of Deficit Spending — Matthew Carey (with Trailer)

 "Finding the Money" Trailer.

Deadline
Giant Pictures & Kanopy Acquire ‘Finding The Money,’ Documentary That Explodes Myth Of Deficit Spending
Matthew Carey

The SDGs are not achievable—Unless we decolonize the global economic architecture — Fadhel Kaboub

I’m on my way back to Nairobi. I spent the last 3 days in Rome at a UN expert group meeting on SDG2 (Ending Hunger) at the FAO, in preparation for the 2024 High-Level Political Forum that will be help in July 2024. It was a bit ironic that the FAO building where we held the meeting used to be the Italian Ministry of the Colonies under the Mussolini regime, and my main message to the FAO was about decolonizing the global economic architecture is a prerequisite for achieving the SDGs, including SDG2 to end hunger. It is 2024, and the global food system reflects the legacy of colonial and post-colonial hierarchies. This blog is a brief summary of my main message to the FAO.…

Very clear presentation of the conditions of colonization in neocolonialism and of the requirements for decolonization by an MMT economist, although MMT is not involved in the post specifically. Rather, it addresses structural problems facing the Global South.

SDGs = Sustainable Development Goals. There are 17.

Global South Perspectives—Reflections & Analysis by Fadhel Kaboub
The SDGs are not achievable—Unless we decolonize the global economic architecture
Fadhel Kaboub, Associate Professor of economics at Denison University (on leave) and President of the Global Institute for Sustainable Prosperity. He currently serves as the Under-Secretary-General for Financing for Development at the Organisation of Educational Cooperation in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.He also held a number of research affiliations with the Levy Economics Institute, the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, the Economic Research Forum (Cairo), Power Shift Africa (Nairobi), and the Center for Strategic Studies on the Maghreb (Tunis). Fadhel is Tunisian-American MMT economist. Ph.D. in Economics & Social Science Consortium, 2006, University of Missouri - Kansas City. M.A. in Economics, May 2001, University of Missouri - Kansas City. B.S. in Economics, June 1999, with Distinction

Rinse and repeat–Truss chaos–the new benchmark — Bill Mitchell

For years, those who want selective access to government spending benefits (like the military-industrial complex and other parasitic sectors), while claiming the government cannot afford to provide adequate income support to the most disadvantaged citizens have used various ruses to give an air of authority or legitimacy to their claims. So in the UK, the lie in 1976 by the then Labour government that it was going to have to borrow from the IMF to stay solvent has been regularly wheeled out. In Europe, it was the ‘tournant de la rigueur’ (austerity turn) introduced by the French government of François Mitterrand in 1983 that effectively cancelled the commitment to the progressive – Programme commun – that is often cited as a demonstration of the limited capacity of governments to resist the global power of the financial markets. The fact that it was progressive governments that instigated these events made it more emphatic – the Left essentially swallowed the fictions introduced by the Right and the corporate elites that governments were now powerless against the power of the financial markets. The macroeconomic contest was essentially ceded to the conservatives and it has been that way since. There is now a new ruse that the elites are using that the progressives are also spreading – the Liz Truss Ruse. This apparently tells us that governments must appease the financial markets or face currency destruction and rising bond yields. Like its predecessors, there is no validity to the claims. But the Left is so bereft that it cannot see through the smoke and mirrors. And that is why the world is in the parlous state that it is – the contest of ideas is non-existent. It is a case of rinse and repeat – except all is happening is lies and posturing is being recycled....

William Mitchell — Modern Monetary Theory
Rinse and repeat – Truss chaos – the new benchmark
Bill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia

Mark Blyth: Unionists 'taking my words on independence out of context' — Xander Elliards

 The sequel.

The National (Scotland)
Mark Blyth: Unionists 'taking my words on independence out of context'

Xander Elliards

Philip Pilkington turns the page on MMT?

 Philip Pilkington turns the page on MMT?

https://twitter.com/philippilk/status/1772538175564447823

The US, like the UK, can’t go broke in their own currency. But if foreign lenders don’t buy into net bond issuance, USD will have to adjust to shrink the trade deficit. This will put upward pressure on inflation and is what the UK faced under Truss. Will Trump get Trussed?… pic.twitter.com/fDuYrC3Gzx

— Philip Pilkington (@philippilk) March 26, 2024

Monetary Sovereignty and Mark Blyth’s critique of MMT — Peter May

And there is indeed a ‘current account constraint’ – if you are a small open economy you need things you can sell in order to get the stuff you don’t have.

MMT really applies, as many others suggest, uniquely to the US as it issues the world’s reserve currency.

If you are not the US and your Sovereign Currency is weak, it will drive import inflation so it really means that your currency is not properly sovereign.

MMT does recognize this constraint by treating it with more nuance.

MMT's basic framework includes the priority or primacy of real resources over government finances for all countries including those that issue their own currency and don't undertake obligations is other currencies.

MMT acknowledges that a country must either be able to produce is own real resources, which implies having the required natural resources and well as the industrial power, technology, etc. that go into production. This necessitates having ample factors that not all countries enjoy and probably every country including the US is exposed to in some way. 

If a country does not have the means of production for self-sufficiency or cannot acquire financial resources from exports, then it will have to either pay for imports by issuance, which may have an effect on the exchange rate, which in turn may affect the inflation rate.

This implies that any country, even through "monetarily sovereign," is constrained by real resources limitations that may the general prices level.

While a monetarily sovereign country can issue all the currency in wants to infinity, there are consequences based on availability of real resources that boil down to an inflation constraint. This includes the exchange rate, hence imported inflation.

There is also the issue of jobs. To the degree that imports are real benefits they also export jobs through labor embedded in imports. MMT addresses that through economic policy and specifically through an MMT JG as a universal job guarantee that also acts as a price anchor.

In other words, it's complicated (highly nuanced).

Progressive Pulse
Monetary Sovereignty and Mark Blyth’s critique of MMT

Peter May

There are other factors involved including geopolitical. From the time of Adam Smith, economics has focused on trade. The objective of economics in the colonial world was for the periphery (colonies) to send natural resources and agricultural produce to the core (colonialist countries) where technology was reserved and industry was developed for producing finished goods. Finished consumer goods were exported by to the colonies to be paid in specie, while capital goods exportation was restricted.

This condition still exists to a degree as the following post shows. China has the needed USD reserves to purchase goods and services from the US but is restricted from doing so in some important cases where the US desires to continue the previous system by protecting the core through keeping the periphery weak. But China can play that game too since it is no longer a colony even though it is not yet considered to be a developed economy. Trade suffers as a consequence, affecting the global economy.

• China introduced new guidelines to replace Intel, AMD chips and Microsoft Windows in government computers with domestic alternatives.
• The move is part of China's "xinchuang" strategy to achieve technological independence and reduce reliance on foreign technology.
• Analysts predict faster adoption of domestic server processors compared to PCs due to a less complex software ecosystem.

Oilprice

Chip War Escalates as China Bans Intel, AMD Chips in Government Computers

ZeroHedge

Climate Reparations, not "finance" — Fadhel Kaboub

A brief note on the EU, Egypt, Palestine, and Copenhagen

MMT's man on the ground in the Global South. 

Global South Perspectives—Reflections & Analysis by Fadhel Kaboub
Climate Reparations, not "finance"

Fadhel Kaboub, Associate Professor of economics at Denison University (on leave) and President of the Global Institute for Sustainable Prosperity. He currently serves as the Under-Secretary-General for Financing for Development at the Organisation of Educational Cooperation in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He also held a number of research affiliations with the Levy Economics Institute, the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, the Economic Research Forum (Cairo), Power Shift Africa (Nairobi), and the Center for Strategic Studies on the Maghreb (Tunis). Fadhel is a Tunisian-American MMT economist. Ph.D. in Economics & Social Science Consortium, 2006, University of Missouri - Kansas City. M.A. in Economics, May 2001, University of Missouri - Kansas City. B.S. in Economics, June 1999, with Distinction

Untangling the "socialism" vs. "capitalism" dichotomy — Alex Krainer

 Interesting post that deal with some of the same concepts as MMT but is not MMT. It's an interesting take. He has seen both sides, having grown up in a communist country (Yugoslavia). He is former hedge fund manager, commodities trader and author based in Monaco. He now blogs on geoeconomics and geopolitics at TrendCompass on Substack.

Alex Krainer's TrendCompass
Untangling the "socialism" vs. "capitalism" dichotomy

Alex Krainer, The Naked Hedgie

"For full disclosure, I do have a university degree, but I’ve worked hard ever since to recover from it."

Entropy, the Theory of Value and the Future of Humanity — James K. Galbraith

In a keynote address to a conference on “Geopolitical Changes” at Kozminski University, Warsaw, on January 29, 2024, Professor James Galbraith called for economics to break with equilibrium dogma and re-found itself on the life principles that govern physics, biology and every existing mechanical and social system. Noting the distinguished presence of Professors Francis Fukuyama and E.S. Phelps, Galbraith called attention to the spectacular fallacies of “an end to history” and a “natural rate of unemployment,” arguing that these doctrines have helped blind our generation to the damage inflicted by rising resource costs and neoliberal policies of austerity and precarity, with dire consequences for households in wealthy societies, for their reproduction rates, and for the long-term viability of the species.

Transcript.

James K. Galbraith is an MMT-friendly economist.

Post-Neoliberalism—Pathways for Transformative Economics and Politics
Entropy, the Theory of Value and the Future of Humanity
James K. Galbraith | Lloyd M. Bentsen Jr. Chair in Government/Business Relations and Professor of Government at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, The University of Texas at Austin

See also at Post-Neoliberlsm

Whatever it Takes: How Neoliberalism Hijacked the Public Purse

Pavlina Tcherneva | Founding Director of OSUN-EDI, Professor of Economics at Bard College, Research Scholar at The Levy Economics Institute, and Senior Research Associate at the Center for Full Employment and Price Stability

Top 25 Heterodox Economics Books — Lars P. Syll

Chronological order. Randy Wray and Stephanie Kelton each make the list.

Lars P. Syll’s Blog
Top 25 Heterodox Economics Books
Lars P. Syll | Professor, Malmo University

Claims that mainstream economics is changing radically are far-fetched — Bill Mitchell

I have received several E-mails over the last few weeks that suggest that the economics discipline is finally changing course to redress the major flaws in the curricula that is taught around the world and that perhaps Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) can take some credit for some of that. There has been a tendency for some time for those who are attracted to MMT to become somewhat celebratory, even to the point of declaring ‘victory’. This tendency is not limited to the MMT public who comment on social media and the like. My response is that we are probably further away from seeing fundamental change in the economics profession than perhaps where we were some years ago – after the GFC and in the early years of the pandemic (which continues). My answer reflects the incontestable fact that the make up of faculties within our higher education systems has not changed much, if at all, and the dominant publishing and grant awarding bodies still reflect that mainstream dominance. There is still a lot of work to be done and a lot of ‘funerals’ to attend (à la Max Planck)....

Summary: Nothing is going to change while the same clique remains in power and controls the educational and publishing process. Same in politics, although it is much more difficult to control the narrative that serves as an instrument of control than the narrative in terms of which the public understands economics. Heterodox economics has a long way to go in disrupting and eventually replacing this "Econ 101" narrative that firmly rules the collective mindset.

There is much more in this post than the title and lede paragraph would suggest.

Here is an example.

[Angus] Deaton then admits that “I have recently found myself changing my mind, a discomfiting process for someone who has been a practicing economist for more than half a century.”

How so?

Well,

1. He now says that the dominance of the “virtues of free, competitive markets” has meant that mainstream economics has ignored corporate power.

He wrote: “Without an analysis of power, it is hard to understand inequality or much else in modern capitalism.”

That is, without beginning with class conflict, an analyst has zero chance of gaining an understanding of the dynamics of capitalism, where capital seeks to influence outcomes in any way that advances their cause to retain their hegemony.

But if we introduced that into economic analysis there would be no mainstream elements worth retaining.

The dominance unit of analysis in mainstream economics is the individual.

Society is not considered.

Collectives are not considered.

Conflict is played down.

And when power does come up in mainstream economics the focus has been of trade unions as perverting the free workings of the labour contracting process. 

It continues.

This inquiry requires distinguishing two kinds of approach to economics.

1. One based on a "for-profit model" which assumes that a "free market" maximizes efficiency so that everyone gets more of a growing pie, which increasing inequality belies.

2.  The other based on a "fo- purpose model" that is designed and operated as the life-support system of a society. 

The former is a purely economic model while the latter is a socio-economic model that incorporates everything relevant, considering not only economics but also economic sociology and anthropology, economic geography, and comprehensive history, as well as psychology and evolutionary theory. Moreover, the scope of economics in a for-purpose model needs to include so-called heterodox approaches to economics in addition to the now dominant conventional model on which neoliberalism is based and which delivers ongoing control to the wealthy and powerful, creating plutocratic oligarchy in the place of actual democracy and government of the people for the people and by the people.

William Mitchell — Modern Monetary Theory
Claims that mainstream economics is changing radically are far-fetched
Bill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia

Will BRICS launch a new world in 2024? — Pepe Escobar

BRICS doubled its membership at the start of 2024, and faces huge tasks ahead: integrating its newest members, developing future admission criteria, deepening the institution's groundings, and most importantly, launching the mechanisms for bypassing the US dollar in international finance.

The financial plans are toward the end of the post. No details yet, but a plan is supposed to be presented at the BRICs meaning in the fall of this year. An alternative BRICs currency is not being planned at this stage when BRICs is just getting off the ground and has yet to be adequately institutionalized yet itself. It still just "a club" at this point. Lots of work to be done, especially with many more countries already lining up for membership.

The Cradle

Will BRICS launch a new world in 2024?
Pepe Escobar

Joe Stiglitz really should not talk about modern monetary theory when he so obviously has no clue about what it actually says — Richard Murphy

Joseph Stiglitz makes freshman mistakes about MMT in addressing the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee on the sustainability of the UK’s national debt. Richard Murphy calls him out on it.

Funding the Future (formerly Tax Research UK)
Joe Stiglitz really should not talk about modern monetary theory when he so obviously has no clue about what it actually says
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

Keynes was wrong because he failed to consider class conflict — Bill Mitchell

 Important for MMT aficionado's. 

I was asked during an interview the other day from Paris whether I was a Post Keynesian. I replied not at all and explained that I have never felt that my ideas fit into that category although in a facile sense we are all post keynesian in a temporal sense. Most progressive economists would answer yes if confronted with that question, even most of the economists involved in advancing Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). My point of departure is that while there was a lot of important analytical material in Keynes’ writing that is worth preserving and integrating into, say, MMT, where Keynes went astray was his antipathy to the insights provided by Karl Marx. In particular, I consider that Keynes seriously misunderstood what the dynamics of the class conflict were within a capitalist mode of production. Keynes made major errors in his predictions that one can directly attribute to this blinkered approach to capitalism. I was reminded of this when I read an Op Ed in the Japan Times this week (March 10, 2024) – The economic future of our overworked grandchildren. This blinkered approach, which has fed into the modern Post Keynesian literature – which examines capitalism as if it is an ahistorical, neutral system of production and distribution – is a major reason that I do not associate my work with that school of thought.

Failing to note the economic importance of class and class conflict  is a foundational error. 

"Class struggle" is foundational for Marx. Keynes knew this, of course. R. H. Tawney's Religion and the Rise of Capitalism was published in 1926. Keynes would have been aware of Weber and Tawney as well as Marx, all of whom viewed economic systems as historically determined socio-economic artifacts rather than natural systems. Keynes acknowledge this in calling economics a "moral science," which was also Adam Smith's view. The big three — Smith, Marx, and Keynes — were on the same page here.

Class is something that Keynes could not have missed being a member of the British upper class in a highly class-ridden society. Not only that the rise of Marxism in Russia and it's challenge to the West by socialists and communists in in the West had a particular salience at the time that Keynes was writing.

Did he miss the importance of class conflict to economics, or was he intentionally countering Marx in the West as the time that socialism was rising as an option to capitalism ("bourgeois liberalism").

In other words, was Keynes at apologist for capitalism that tried to put a better face on a fundamentally flawed socio-economic system by tweaking it. 

Where Keynes came down on this is still debated, and there is wide disagreement about what role Keynes played and how he actually viewed it himself.

On the other hand, Keynes also was working in what he terms the "classical" paradigm prevalent at the time, which is now called "neoclassical." As Bill says, Keynes's "blinkered approach ... examines capitalism as if it is an ahistorical, neutral system of production and distribution."

Keynes seems to have had a foot in two boats. Bill claims that this results in major issues.

How does Bill's position affect MMT, as he admits that he difference from some other MMT economists on such issues.

William Mitchell — Modern Monetary Theory
Keynes was wrong because he failed to consider class conflict
Bill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia

Disclaimer

 

LOL… Need a similar disclaimer when reporting on the debt doomsday morons who have been continuously wrong for 40 YEARS…

I find it hilarious that Bloomberg feels it necessary to include this disclaimer every time Kolanovic makes a market call. pic.twitter.com/sclIvqZm9V

— wu wei (@wu_wei_invest) March 12, 2024

EU: Austerity for the people and Keynesianism for the war — Riccardo Zolea

MMT-related.

Monetary Policy Institute
EU: Austerity for the people and Keynesianism for the war

Riccardo Zolea, Sapienza University of Rome

Global South Repositioning — Fadhel Kaboub

Not MMT per se, but a post on recent doings in the real world by an MMT economist of rising prominence in the Global South. This post is broadly about a strategy for decolonization and leveling the playing field.

Global South Perspectives—Reflections & Analysis by Fadhel Kaboub
Global South Repositioning
Fadhel Kaboub, Associate Professor of economics at Denison University (on leave) and President of the Global Institute for Sustainable Prosperity. He currently serves as the Under-Secretary-General for Financing for Development at the Organisation of Educational Cooperation in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.He also held a number of research affiliations with the Levy Economics Institute, the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, the Economic Research Forum (Cairo), Power Shift Africa (Nairobi), and the Center for Strategic Studies on the Maghreb (Tunis). Fadhel is Tunisian-American MMT economist. Ph.D. in Economics & Social Science Consortium, 2006, University of Missouri - Kansas City. M.A. in Economics, May 2001, University of Missouri - Kansas City. B.S. in Economics, June 1999, with Distinction

How Sustainable is our National Debt? — NeilW

The UK House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee is running an inquiry entitled “How sustainable is our National Debt?”

The GIMMS written evidence to the inquiry has now been published....

New Wayland

How Sustainable is our National Debt?

NeilW

The Trouble with Words — Peter Radford

The title of the post should be "The Trouble with Economics." Words. The point is well-taken.

The Radford Free Press
The Trouble with Words
Peter Radford

Why and how economics must change — Jayati Ghosh

While this post is not MMT, it is consistent with MMT and implies that MMT is needed to address the issues that stem from wrong assumptions about the relationship of economics, finance, money and banking, as well as the mistaken view that money is neutral, being only a veil over what is at bottom a barter economy under the veneer of a monetary economy.

While MMT doesn't deal directly with the relationship of economics and power, being an institutional approach is incorporates the role of power implicitly in its analysis of the the relationship of economics and finance. 

Much of what is presented as received economic wisdom about how economies work and the implications of policies is at best misleading and at worst simply wrong. For decades now, a significant and powerful lobby within the discipline has peddled half-truths and even falsehoods on many critical issues for example, how financial markets work and whether they can be “efficient” without regulation; the macroeconomic and distributive implications of fiscal policies; the impact of labor market and wage deregulation on employment and unemployment; how patterns of international trade and investment affect livelihoods and the possibility of economic diversification; how private investment responds to policy incentives such as tax breaks and subsidies and to fiscal deficits; how multinational investment and global value chains affect producers and consumers; the ecological damage wrought by patterns of production and consumption; whether tighter intellectual property rights are really necessary to promote invention and innovation; and so on.

Why does this happen? The original sin could be the exclusion of the concept of power from the discourse, which effectively reinforces existing power structures and imbalances. Underlying conditions are swept aside or covered up, such as the greater power of capital compared with workers; unsustainable exploitation of nature; differential treatment of workers through social labor market segmentation; the private abuse of market power and rent-seeking behavior; the use of political power to push private economic interests within and between nations; and the distributive impacts of fiscal ani.e. monetary policies.

The influence of power on economics and finance has been institutionalized legally in spite of blatant conflicts of interest and double standards.

The relationship of economics and power is studied specifically by economic sociology. For example, neoliberalism is a political theory based on economic liberalism. For example, state capture results from economic liberalism in a democracy through the influence of the donor class on institutions and policy. This also results in the capture of academia, resulting in "orthodox" quasi-religious doctrine.  

Real-World Economics Review Blog

Why and how economics must change

Jayati Ghosh | Professor of Economics at the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, School of Social Sciences, at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, in New Delhi

America Enters the Samizdat Era — Matt Taibbi

The bloodiest period of Soviet totalitarianism ended in the fifties, but the habits remained long after, including the advanced system of alternative media that ultimately broke the state: samizdat.

Tonight, along with Stanford’s Dr. Jay Bhattacharya and New York Post reporter Miranda Devine, I’ll be accepting the inaugural Samizdat Prize, given by the RealClear Media Fund. Samizdat is a bit of a play on words, since like a lot of politically oppressive groups the Soviets had a mania for reducing beautiful language to state-acceptable ugly compound words (GosPlan, GULAG, etc.), so in place of GosIzdat (State-Publish, the official publisher) dissidents created Sam- or “Self” Izdat: “Self-Publish.”

Ten years ago PBS did a feature that quoted a Russian radio personality calling Samizdat the “precursor to the Internet.” Sadly this is no longer accurate….

On the emergence of gatekeepers.

Racket News

America Enters the Samizdat Era

Matt Taibbi

"The Debt Crisis Is Here": The Conference Board Is At It Again — Brian Romanchuk

The Committee for Economic Development (CED) of Conference Board recently put out “Explainer: The National Debt” which is pretty much a greatest hits of debt scare mongering. Other than the references to recent events and data, it is timeless: the authors could have put out the same report in any year since the mid-1980s and not much of the contents would have changed. Anyone who thinks that the MMT debate would improve things just needs to read the report to see that progress in conventional economics is largely illusionary.….

Bond Economics
"The Debt Crisis Is Here": The Conference Board Is At It Again
Brian Romanchuk

Pavlina Tcherneva – Whatever it Takes: How Neoliberalism Hijacked the Public Purse — Pavlina R. Tcherneva

The spectacular government spending post-2008 and post-2020 appeared to upend the neoliberal logic of the past decades, enabling bold public action and opening the door to a more just and democratic social order. Specific policy choices stamped out this opportunity. These pivotal moments did, however, point to policy levers that can facilitate a breakthrough....

Brave New Europe
Pavlina Tcherneva – Whatever it Takes: How Neoliberalism Hijacked the Public Purse
Pavlina Tcherneva | Founding Director of OSUN-EDI, Professor of Economics at Bard College, Research Scholar at The Levy Economics Institute, and Senior Research Associate at the Center for Full Employment and Price Stability

MMT sees America through rapid economic recovery — Stephanie Kelton

Modern monetary theory has been influential in helping America rise out of the recession that crippled the economy during the pandemic, writes Professor Stephanie Kelton and Dr Steven Hail.

The overwhelming number of articles appearing attack MMT pretty much as the work of the devil.  Regarding the the quote, "first they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win" (misattributed to Mahatma Gandhi), we seem to be at the attack stage. 

Independent Australia
MMT sees America through rapid economic recoveryStephanie Kelton | Professor of Public Policy and Economics at Stony Brook University, formerly Democrats' chief economist on the staff of the U.S. Senate Budget Committee, and an economic adviser to the 2016 presidential campaign of Senator Bernie Sanders

After Nigeria’s eNaira Disaster, Another “Live” Central Bank Digital Currency, Jamaica’s Jam-Dex, Founders — Nick Corbishley

Just three countries have so far introduced CBDCs, according to the IMF, and two of them are already having serious issues.

The roll-out of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), while still in its early stages, is not going as smoothly as the central banking community may have hoped. The latest central bank to admit to serious difficulties is the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) whose governor Richard Byles has acknowledged that the rollout of the country’s CBDC, the Jam-Dex, has been a lot slower than originally anticipated. In fact, the total amount of Jam-Dex in circulation has remained stuck at just 230 million Jamaican dollars (USD 1.47 million) since the first — and so far only — batch of the digital currency was “minted” 19 months ago.

The Jam-Dex is one of just three fully-launched retail CBDCs in the world, according to the IMF, alongside the Bahamian sand dollar and Nigeria’s eNaira.

“Being one of the first in the world has its unique challenges,” Byles said at the BOJ’s quarterly monetary policy report press conference last Wednesday. “What we are finding in the roll-out is that as we address an issue and move ahead, another one pops up. I guess that’s what you get for being amongst the first; you don’t have a road map set out by others, but we are determined.”...

Naked Capitalism
After Nigeria’s eNaira Disaster, Another “Live” Central Bank Digital Currency, Jamaica’s Jam-Dex, Founders
Nick Corbishley

Google Demands That We Censor Our Content — Yves Smith

FYI. The information space is narrowing.

Naked Capitalism
Google Demands That We Censor Our Content
Yves Smith

Voters Say Biden Will Make Inflation Worse

 Biden still has a big “inflation!” political problem…. Story at National Pulse:

As the U.S. economy braces itself for the third year of an inflation surge that has substantially hiked the cost of living and sharply depressed real wages, most registered voters believe President Biden’s policies will cause prices to rise.   

A poll by CBS News and YouGov released Sunday shows that 55 percent of registered voters believe Biden’s policies will trigger price increases. 

Only 17 percent of registered voters believe his policies will cause prices to decline. 

Twenty-seven percent believe his policies won’t impact prices either way, suggesting that 82 percent of voters believe Biden is ineffective at controlling inflation or is actively making it worse.

Voters Say Biden Will Make Inflation Worse, But He Says 'I'm Really Proud of My Record.'

Read more:https://t.co/hBBMoSDSGN

As the U.S. economy braces itself for the third year of an inflation surge that has substantially...

— The National Pulse (@TheNatPulse) March 5, 2024

Biden still using Larry Summers’ monetarist playbook to get himself out of his political problem:

Joe Biden's chief of staff says Biden is not isolated, and in fact regularly speaks with critics with such wide ranges of view as Larry Summers, Thomas Friedman and Mitch McConnell https://t.co/Aa2VLuqsYz by @EvanOsnosz pic.twitter.com/A9sIUQDwt6

— ☀️ Jon Schwarz ☀️ (@schwarz) March 4, 2024

Which will mean the continued regressive high interest rate policy during this election year…. Democrats sacrificing their political prospects on the alter of monetarism…

British government designs fiscal policy within a flawed framework – result = poor policy — Bill Mitchell

This week, the UK Chancellor releases the latest fiscal statement (aka ‘the budget’) and will also have a eye to the general election which must be held before January 28, 2025. One would expect the government would stall the announcement and delay the election for as long as is possible, given the current situation and the cumulative impacts of 12 years of Tory rule, which are plain to see at all levels of British society. All the talk is of tax cuts, that typical ‘sugar hit’ approach to winning votes that soon works it way out of the system. The debate as to what the British government should now be doing is clouded, as these debates are always clouded, by the input of organisations such as the Office of Budget Responsibility, which claims its charter is to “to examine and report on the sustainability of the public finances”, yet consistently provides input which is irrelevant to the substance of the issue and just feeds the flawed political scrum. In the end, the policy choices are not based on the actual opportunities and threats that are available to and confront the currency-issuing government but rather a fictional mindset that all the players are trapped within.

William Mitchell — Modern Monetary Theory
British government designs fiscal policy within a flawed framework – result = poor policy
Bill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia

See also

 Simplicius comments on a recent Rasmussen article. The polling data reinforce similar conclusions others have drawn as well about the great class divide that is is worsening under the neoliberal framework.

One wonders whether some cognitive bias may be responsible or is it more the result of pursuing class interest. Or rent-seeking behavior. Or was it more the deadly combination of wealth and power that already destroyed the Empire on which "the sun never sets" and shifted it to the American elites. Now the British elites appear to be at least as enclosed in their bubbles as their American counterparts as the remants of empire are being challenged.

Dark Futura
America's Super-Elite Disconnect
Simplicius

See also the Tory reaction to George Galloway's win. Speaking truth to power.

Consortium News
MSM Target Galloway at Victory Party

Joe Lauria reporting from Rochdale, England

Prince: How to flood Hamas tunnels

 

Prince is ripping off my stuff! … I was saying this a week after the attack duh…. sheesh no brainer..