tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.comments2024-03-18T19:09:18.510-04:00Mike Norman Economicsmike normanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03296006882513340747noreply@blogger.comBlogger155591125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post-642762489965940472024-03-18T19:09:18.510-04:002024-03-18T19:09:18.510-04:00This inquiry requires distinguishing two kinds of ...<i>This inquiry requires distinguishing two kinds of approach to economics.</i><br /><br />There is only one valid approach for economics: the scientific method. This leads to models that deal with facts. For example, MMT.<br /><br />There is an approach for analyzing power: politics.<br />There is an approach for analyzing the abuse of power: justice.<br />This leads to models based on values rather than facts. As in science, value systems are subject to interpretation, which necessitates disagreement. Unlike theories, value judgements can't be falsified.<br /><br />I don't want "economists" who extol the virtues of capitalism, socialism, etc. I don't want so-called experts pushing an agenda. I want facts. I want an objective foundation upon which politics, justice, activism and policy-making can be pursued. I accept that there will always be disagreement in those subsequent endeavors.<br /><br />The scientific method is a 'for-purpose' approach. When used outside of that purpose, it contributes to the noise. Economic models serve the same purpose as lipstick on a pig. To normalize value systems as factual. To anyone paying attention, it is a vulgar agenda.Peter Panhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09473311771939167712noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post-73800395385589442072024-03-17T12:37:28.094-04:002024-03-17T12:37:28.094-04:00"Yeah, because currency union worked out grea...<i>"Yeah, because currency union worked out great for the Euro."</i><br /><br />Hahahahahaha. Right!mike normanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03296006882513340747noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post-42787439465926477242024-03-16T21:30:45.215-04:002024-03-16T21:30:45.215-04:00The issue is civilization, which fails to live up ...The issue is civilization, which fails to live up to the ideals put forth by some people. But it does meet the expectations of many.<br /><br />Marx is correct in the sense that purely socialist or capitalist economies don't work under current conditions. Nevertheless there are places in the world where mixed economies give way to informal arrangements. Subsistence agriculture, pastoralism and homesteading are examples of this. In much of the developing world, the role played by public institutions is limited, infrastructure is rudimentary, and people are forced into self-reliance. As with western lifestyles, there are pros and cons to living in materially dire situations.<br /><br />Material conditions indicate a decline in civilization, if not a collapse. In that scenario, a 'post-capitalist socioeconomic system' will be not be to the liking of most people. Especially for those of us who have experienced the comforts of modernity. For those born into a declining society, the reality of it will be perceived as normal.<br /><br />Power has to be checked by countervailing power, and individuals have to be held accountable for their actions. Otherwise our so-called "progress" eventually turns to dust. Too much time was spent articulating lofty ideals, and not enough effort was put towards the mundane work of keeping people and institutions honest. So here we are, reaping the consequences.Peter Panhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09473311771939167712noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post-55933056944448559602024-03-16T19:30:39.376-04:002024-03-16T19:30:39.376-04:00Yeah because currency unnion worked out great for ...Yeah because currency unnion worked out great for the Euro...sthshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05038626037505679179noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post-43478933340501705202024-03-16T18:26:08.465-04:002024-03-16T18:26:08.465-04:00HOW is this happening?
This has been rather exhau...<i>HOW is this happening?</i><br /><br />This has been rather exhaustively explored by<br /> 1) heterodox economists e.g., Michael Hudson (because Hudson doesn't limit his analysis to economics separate from the rest of life), <br />2) sociologists like C. Wright Mills (see <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Power_Elite" rel="nofollow">The Power Elite</a>), <br />3) anthropolists like David Graeber (see <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dawn_of_Everything" rel="nofollow">The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity</a> with David Wengrow), and <br />4) historians like Howard Zinn, author of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_People%27s_History_of_the_United_States" rel="nofollow">A People's History of the United States</a>.<br /><br />See also <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_capitalism" rel="nofollow">Criticism of capitalism</a> at Wikipedia.<br /><br />Those heavily into numbers can look at the work of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Turchin" rel="nofollow">Peter Turchin</a>. His most recent book is <i>End Times: Elites, Counter-Elites and the Path of Political Disintegration</i> (2023).<br /><br />As far as addressing this, I think Marx get it basically right in <a href="https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1859/critique-pol-economy/preface.htm" rel="nofollow">Preface to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy</a><br /><br /><i>No social order is ever destroyed before all the productive forces for which it is sufficient have been developed, and new superior relations of production never replace older ones before the material conditions for their existence have matured within the framework of the old society. <br /><br />Mankind thus inevitably sets itself only such tasks as it is able to solve, since closer examination will always show that the problem itself arises only when the material conditions for its solution are already present or at least in the course of formation.</i><br /><br />So where are we as a world now. Is the current world order shifting to the degree that conditions have changed sufficiently to suggest a post-capitalist socio-economic system and political system are either developing or in the offing?Tom Hickeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08454222098667643650noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post-63703258671603153782024-03-16T01:41:34.157-04:002024-03-16T01:41:34.157-04:00Tom, we have a mixed economy. Part of it is public...Tom, we have a mixed economy. Part of it is public and private. The ideal of capitalism and socialism doesn't exist.<br /><br />Addressing corruption is a political problem. No need for ideological baggage.<br /><br />And corruption is perennial. What gets addressed at one juncture, always gets undone.Peter Panhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09473311771939167712noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post-67969285040960391262024-03-16T01:28:06.493-04:002024-03-16T01:28:06.493-04:00Yes, an infinite world with infinite growth.Yes, an infinite world with infinite growth.Peter Panhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09473311771939167712noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post-32638318832586868672024-03-15T23:08:30.898-04:002024-03-15T23:08:30.898-04:00This comment has been removed by the author.Matt Frankohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11978352335097260145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post-47102551026899269452024-03-15T23:04:44.996-04:002024-03-15T23:04:44.996-04:00This comment has been removed by the author.Matt Frankohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11978352335097260145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post-14645133275316235162024-03-15T22:58:32.024-04:002024-03-15T22:58:32.024-04:00This comment has been removed by the author.Matt Frankohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11978352335097260145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post-979411261479350782024-03-15T22:51:44.670-04:002024-03-15T22:51:44.670-04:00Tom,
Don’t think about the fact that these people...Tom,<br /><br />Don’t think about the fact that these people think abstractions are REAL.,, ANYBODY can do that.., <br /><br />Think about HOW , let me repeat that, HOW? (second order, THINK about it) they can come to that belief.. HOW does this happen?<br /><br />It’s irresponsible, immature and childish to simply lament that it’s happening..<br /><br />ANYBODY can do that…<br /><br />HOW is this happening?<br /><br /><br />Matt Frankohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11978352335097260145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post-29176466617607378552024-03-15T20:20:51.727-04:002024-03-15T20:20:51.727-04:00“ The problem that heterodox economists face is th...“ The problem that heterodox economists face is that admitting the foundational nature of class conflict brings in class power, and class power results in market asymmetry.”<br /><br />Tom, <br /><br />You’re clueless…<br /><br />All these people are morons and think Accounting abstractions are REAL…<br /><br />Matt Frankohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11978352335097260145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post-78103612360822015572024-03-15T19:26:55.277-04:002024-03-15T19:26:55.277-04:00The problem that heterodox economists face is that...The problem that heterodox economists face is that admitting the foundational nature of class conflict brings in class power, and class power results in market asymmetry. <br /><br />Asymmetry undermines the assumption in economic models that so-called free markets are also fair markets, when they are actually rigged by the powerful in their favor through state capture. <br /><br />This is true not only of conventional approaches to economics but also alternative ones that do not address the underlying issue of market asymmetry, especially the asymmetries that result from unequal power.<br /><br />The issue is whether this can be addressed from within the system, or something else is required. <br /><br />This is not an economic problem as much as it is a political one. The problem has to do with the powerful giving up their power in a system they control. The alternative is forcing the powerful to change the system and this requires superior power. This is the problem called "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belling_the_Cat" rel="nofollow">belling the cat</a>." <br /><br />This is why Marx held that there are only two solutions. One is that capitalism runs its course and is replaced when the material conditions that support it change sufficiently. Marx thought this next stage would be socialism and it would develop as conditions warranted into communism as the final state. <br /><br />The other option associated with Marx is revolution conducted those disadvantaged — victimized, really — by the system when they get fed up and realize how they are being victimized. Being a political activist, this is the course he and Engles encouraged in The Communist Manifesto.<br /><br />BTW, there has never been a test of Marx's views, which are in terms of capitalist countries. Neither Russia nor China were at the time of their revolution and neither is "capitalist" now to the degree that the state controls the commanding heights of the economy.<br /><br />It appears to me that the conditions that Marx specified may be developing now. One one hand, capitalism is pretty much global although not as thoroughgoing as globalists envision, and cracks are appearing—growing inequality, pollution, climate change, and decolonization can all be construed as effects of "late-stage capitalism. This is also resulting a wide-scale political unrest.Tom Hickeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08454222098667643650noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post-85942103887918218052024-03-15T17:39:19.835-04:002024-03-15T17:39:19.835-04:00Bill, Thomas Fazi and the Gower Initiative of mode...Bill, Thomas Fazi and the Gower Initiative of modern studies and some of the green sustainability MMT guys in the US, Fadheel Kaboub's group and Steve from real progressives are the only ones who see the EU for what it is.<br /><br />Yes, that's even after having a front row seat over the last 10 years.<br /><br />Warren, Randy, Stephanie, Pavlina, Dirk Ehnts all think they can change it from within.<br /><br />They are deluding themselves.<br /><br />The other Australian MMT'rs are way too soft and think the battle can we won in a class room.<br /><br /><br /><br />Footsoldierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06061374661482934570noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post-6650155830104108852024-03-15T17:23:58.723-04:002024-03-15T17:23:58.723-04:00Richard Murphy really should not talk about moder...<br />Richard Murphy really should not talk about modern monetary theory when he so obviously has no clue about what it actually says.<br /><br />He is so dumb, he fails to understand the importance of the job guarentee. Dismissed it as workfare.<br /><br />Plays away at neoliberal Utd any chance he gets. Especially, when he is completely ignored by true MMT'rs Quickly joins the "other group" and attacks the founders of MMT to gain attention. His ego demands it.<br /><br />If he doesn't get to talk at the MMT summit in Leeds he will attack the MMT founders a fortnight before the event. That is 100% guarenteed.<br /><br />The Scotonomics tribe is his true home and where he is most comfortable. Surrounded by other EU lovers. If they start to ignore him, he would sell them down the river in a heartbeat and join the Oxford brigade just out of spite.<br /><br />There is an evil streak that runs down that bastards back bone. Only a fool would ever trust him. Nothing that a baseball bat couldn't sort out.<br /><br />I fooking despise the man. I really don't know why you entertain him Tom.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Footsoldierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06061374661482934570noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post-5445796443094488512024-03-15T17:10:09.384-04:002024-03-15T17:10:09.384-04:00And at the same time that twat adores the EU ??
T...And at the same time that twat adores the EU ??<br /><br />Taking out of both sides of the same mouth and saying different things. <br /><br />He never mentions the deficit and debt rules within EU uber alles. Why ?<br /><br />Because he is completely deluded and thinks he can change the EU from within. All they need to do is listen to Richard Murphy and Brussels will change.<br /><br />Murphy hasn't a clue, who or what, he is up against and the raw power they have. As he has lived in an academic bubble all of his life.<br /><br />I know how academics think, I work with them every day. When the chips are down and their career is at stake they wave their white flags quicker than you can say, your mortgage is due.<br /><br />He hates Brexit for all those reasons. When every other true MMT'r sees it as an oppertunity.<br /><br />I wouldn't trust this charlatan to take my bins out or my granny to the bingo. He will attack Stiglitz for all the right reasons then support the EU to the hilt.<br /><br />He's a massive hypocrite and his ego can't even see it.<br /><br /> Footsoldierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06061374661482934570noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post-33604349379359008612024-03-15T08:14:08.077-04:002024-03-15T08:14:08.077-04:00How is this guy not canned yet? At least Morgan St...How is this guy not canned yet? At least Morgan Stanley demoted Mike Wilson.mike normanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03296006882513340747noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post-46180047266367005392024-03-14T20:49:42.692-04:002024-03-14T20:49:42.692-04:00Lets see how Egypt reacts to millions of Palestini...Lets see how Egypt reacts to millions of Palestinians setting up camps in the desert.Peter Panhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09473311771939167712noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post-84800790558893042812024-03-14T20:06:53.429-04:002024-03-14T20:06:53.429-04:00Open borders and a ban on Tiktok. MAGA !Open borders and a ban on Tiktok. MAGA !Peter Panhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09473311771939167712noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post-38548730092224200992024-03-14T20:03:57.597-04:002024-03-14T20:03:57.597-04:00Keynes and Keynesians are apologists for the statu...Keynes and Keynesians are apologists for the status quo.Peter Panhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09473311771939167712noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post-40250400138127652912024-03-14T13:34:31.574-04:002024-03-14T13:34:31.574-04:00This is the point MMT'rs are always trying to ...This is the point MMT'rs are always trying to get to. The debate about skills and real resources. What do you want them to do, where are you going to get them from, what are they doing now etc.<br /><br />But we can never get there because placard waving, slogan shouting ideologues always the everything to money, the size of the deficit, size of the debt and the tax payer money myth and how will it be funded.<br /><br />It is a strategy that ensures we never get the debate we want. A strategy to ensure both the banks and companies stay in control and they always decide how skills and real resources are allocated. From which they can extract rent.<br /><br />China doesn't entertain any of that. They are always having the debate about how best to use their skills and real resources. Exporting their way to growth allowed them to steal many technologies and know how. Now they are moving to the next part of their plan with that knowledge.<br /><br />Footsoldierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06061374661482934570noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post-24396318962820007232024-03-14T13:24:39.383-04:002024-03-14T13:24:39.383-04:00Common Prosperity zones.
They always pick one re...Common Prosperity zones. <br /><br />They always pick one region and try stuff and if it works they roll it out across China.<br /><br />https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tI94IbntajI&pp=ygUSRGF2aWQgaGFydmV5IGNoaW5hFootsoldierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06061374661482934570noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post-6529008319365698852024-03-14T13:21:57.389-04:002024-03-14T13:21:57.389-04:00It is the size and speed of transformation that is...It is the size and speed of transformation that is simply incredible.<br /><br />https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zQk5zd4Y1A0Footsoldierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06061374661482934570noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post-61326418909647546012024-03-14T13:06:19.052-04:002024-03-14T13:06:19.052-04:00Trump will speed up that process.
If he attacks C...Trump will speed up that process.<br /><br />If he attacks China exports, China will simply move their skills and real resources around to achieve their plan. They are brilliant at it.Footsoldierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06061374661482934570noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761684730989137546.post-88642060501968328972024-03-14T10:23:29.888-04:002024-03-14T10:23:29.888-04:00Recent Putin interview that is heavily economic. I...Recent Putin <a href="http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/73648" rel="nofollow">interview</a> that is heavily economic. Is Russia on a roll? Putin makes a case for it. It's really about domestic circulation along with shifting markets to the East.<br /><br />China GDP is still rising at ~5% with China shifting economic focus away from RE development and onto industry. China needs to increase domestic circulation but apparently is not planning any big stimulus now.Tom Hickeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08454222098667643650noreply@blogger.com