My Understanding Of Marx Part VI — Robert Paul Wolff (Updated}

Marx goes on for quite some time portraying commodities and commodity exchange in deliberately mystified and buffoonish ways. Those who are interested in exploring this in greater detail can take a look at my little book, Moneybags Must Be so Lucky. But let me move along with my exposition of Marx’s argument. You will recall that I said Marx chose to write volume 1 as though Ricardo’s simple Labor Theory of Value were correct because he thought there was a deeper problem that neither Ricardo nor any of the other classical political economists had recognized. The problem quite simply is that they are unable to explain why there is any profit at all in a capitalist system of the sort we are examining....

The Philosopher's Stone
MY UNDERSTANDING OF MARX PART VI
Robert Paul Wolff | Professor Emeritus, University of Massachusetts Amherst

ANOTHER INTERMISSION, THIS TIME TO REPLY TO SOME COMMENTS

U.S. Economy Getting Better, But... — Brian Romanchuk

The reality is that current conditions are nowhere near normal. At the beginning of the last cycle, the only labour market series that offered useful information was the employment-to-population ratio. As the figure above shows, we are still below the lows of the last cycle....

Bond Economics
U.S. Economy Getting Better, But...
Brian Romanchuk

China and Russia Launch a ‘Global Resistance Economy’ — Alastair Crooke

Alastair Crooke channels Michael Hudson, who is becoming more popular with the alt-right than the alt-left, surprisingly for a self-declared Marxist economist. But then and again the neoconservatives are essentially Trotskyites, albeit with a different ideology (neoliberalism).

Anyway, Alastair Crooke explains how the game just changed big time.

Strategic Culture Foundation
China and Russia Launch a ‘Global Resistance Economy’
Alastair Crooke | founder and director of the Conflicts Forum, and former British diplomat and senior figure in British intelligence and in European Union diplomacy

Justice Thomas argues for making Facebook, Twitter and Google utilities — Issie Lapowsky

Only a matter of time now.

Protocol
Justice Thomas argues for making Facebook, Twitter and Google utilities
Issie Lapowsky

Breakthrough News - Biden Admits Real Reason Behind War on China

 Joe Biden just admitted the real reason behind the US anti-China crusade.

Never before has a US president acknowledged that the US may no longer be the world's undisputed superpower.

BT's Kei Pritsker analyzes Biden's admission and what kind of devastating conflict this could lead to.

How Eurasia Will be Interconnected — Pepe Escobar

By-passing maritime choke-points.

The Unz Review
How Eurasia Will be Interconnected

Pepe Escobar

See also

Historical backgrounder.

The Geopolitics
The Great Game: Tale of a Century
Danish Zahoor

Rich Warren - More Than Half of This Country Believes in Elves - For real.

Elves seem to suit Iceland's otherworldly landscape.

It's cute!  

Elves are small—only 36 inches high at most. And though they have big ears and wear old-fashioned clothing, they do not wear pointy hats.

Such facts can be learned on an “elf walk” in Hafnarfjörður, Iceland, a harbor town just outside Reykjavík reputed to be the elves’ capital.

National Geographic

Rich Warren - More Than Half of This Country Believes in Elves - For real.

The Russian economy – ‘small’, ‘impotent’, ‘insignificant’: true or false? — Arcturus Le

Numbers.

The Vineyard of the Saker
The Russian economy – ‘small’, ‘impotent’, ‘insignificant’: true or false?
Arcturus Le

China Is Missing from the Great Inflation Debate — James K. Galbraith

Once again, massive fiscal spending in the United States has invited warnings of inflation and triggered dark memories of the 1970s. But these fears are based on a model that has since been obliterated by economic realities – not least the rise of China, which has fundamentally reshaped the US and global economies....

Project Syndicate
China Is Missing from the Great Inflation Debate

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

Ego Is The Cosmic Karen — Caitlin Johnstone

On the fundamental problem and its solution.

CaitlinJohnstone.com
Ego Is The Cosmic Karen
Caitlin Johnstone

Academic Agent versus “Adam Friended” on Price Inflation and MMT — Lord Keynes

"Lord Keynes" clears up a misunderstanding about MMT and inflation with respect to certain priced rises owing to supply constraints.

Social Democracy For The 21St Century: A Post Keynesian Perspective
Academic Agent versus “Adam Friended” on Price Inflation and MMT

Lord Keynes

On hearing war drums beating in the distance

Stephanopoulos, Blinken Score a Win for MICIMATT
Ray McGovern, co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, and retired 27-year career CIA whose tasks included preparing and briefing The President’s Daily Brief and leading the Soviet Foreign Policy Branch

The Unz Review
War with China? What Fun!
Fred Reed

Brown Political Review
The Origins of a Distinguished Diplomatic Career and the U.S.-China Fight for Primacy—BPR Interviews: Chas Freeman
Sam Koltich

The Grayzone
Chomsky on the ‘joke’ of ‘Russian interference’ and the savagery of US sanctions
Aaron Maté

Ukraine — 3 April 2021

India Punchline
Ukraine: Frozen conflict is hotting up
M. K. Bhadrakumar | retired diplomat with the Indian Foreign Service

The Vineyard of the Saker (longish)
Crucial interview of Foreign Minister Lavrov
The Saker

Economics as Classical Mechanics (short, read in relation to Lavrov interview)
EU as a new Nazi superstate
Ivan Kitov

Defend Democracy Press (cui bono?)
Who needs a war in Ukraine?

Dimitris Konstantakopoulos

Ukraine — Links

PravdaReport (Russian state media)
Ukraine admits NATO prepares for war over Crimea

Zero Hedge
Biden Condemns "Russian Aggression" In Ukraine In First Belated Call With President Zelensky

Russia Warns NATO Against Sending Any Troops To Ukraine As "Frightening" Escalation LoomsTyler Durden

The Vineyard of the Saker
Drums of war in the Ukraine: OPEN THREAD

Understanding anti-Putin PSYOPs: Preparing for war

The Saker

Oilprice.com
Is Russia About To Invade Ukraine?
Cyril Widdershoven

SouthFront
Kiev Scrambles To Justify The Incoming Storm

Moon of Alabama
The 'Russian Military Build-Up'

Zero Hedge
As Russian Tanks Move Toward Ukraine, The Globe Braces For World War 3
Michael Snyder

Sputnik International (Russian state-sponsored media)
Joe Biden Vows 'Unwavering Support' for Ukraine in First Talks WIth Volodymyr Zelensky

Chief of General Staff of Russian Military Holds Talks With US Counterpart

TASS (Russian state media)
DPR head declares first ever draft campaign in republic

Russia And Myanmar–Balancing On A Knife’s Edge — John Helmer

Backgrounder on Myanmar. It's complicated.

Dances with Bears
RUSSIA AND MYANMAR – BALANCING ON A KNIFE’S EDGE

John Helmer

Birth of a new geopolitical paradigm— Pepe Escobar

"Blow back" from "maximum pressure."

As Prof. Mohammad Marandi of the University of Tehran described it to me, “It’s basically a road map. It’s especially important coming at a time when US hostility towards China altogether is increasing. The fact that this trip to Iran [by Foreign Minister Wang Yi] and the signing of the agreement took place literally days after the events in Alaska makes it even more significant, symbolically speaking.”

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh confirmed the deal was indeed a “roadmap” for trade, economic and transportation cooperation, with a “special focus on the private sectors of the two sides.”

Marandi also notes how this is a “comprehensive understanding of what can happen between Iran and China – Iran being rich in oil and gas and the only energy-producing country that can say ‘No’ to the Americans and can take an independent stance on its partnerships with others, especially China.”

China is Iran’s largest oil importer. And crucially, bill settlements bypass the US dollar.

Marandi hits the heart of the matter when he confirms how the strategic deal actually secures, for good, Iran’s very important role in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI):

Plus a lot of historical background. Pepe Escobar, a Brazilian freelance journalist and writer, is solidifying his position of an influential public intellectual. 

Mackinder, Mahan, Spykman – the whole conceptual “rule the waves” apparatus is being surpassed. China may have been an – exhausted – Rimland power up to the mid-20th century. Now it’s clearly positioned as a Heartland power. Side by side with “strategic partner” Russia. And side by side with another “strategic partner” that happened to be the first historical Eurasian power: Iran....

China, Russia and Iran are the land-powers that potentially control the heartland — Eurasia. The US and UK are sea-powers that oppose them. Germany is the lynchpin for control of Europe, which is why the US regards it so crucial to stop Nordstream 2.

The foremost criterion driving national policy is economics, power and its exercise being for the purpose of acquiring resources. Future growth of the global economy lies predominantly with the Global South/East. The question how being decided is whether globalization will be the perpetuation of the Western neo-imperial "rules-based" model ("we make the rules") or the equal partners model rules-based model (international law, UN Charter).

TheAltWorld
Birth of a new geopolitical paradigm
Pepe Escobar

See also

Counterpunch
Blinken to Germany: Stop Nord Stream II!

Gary Leupp | Professor of History at Tufts University

Also

Video

The Vineyard of the Saker
Pepe Escobar and Jeff J Brown

Also

Ray McGovern
Weren’t the Putin-“killer” & Diplomatic “Disasters” of Middle March a Boon for the MICIMATT?

Ray McGovern, co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, and retired 27-year career CIA whose tasks included preparing and briefing The President’s Daily Brief and leading the Soviet Foreign Policy Branch

See also

Truthout
In Alarmist Turn, NATO Is Increasingly Positioning Itself in Opposition to China

Ann Wright

Also

Counterpunch
China Isn’t the Problem, Neoliberalism Is
Rob Urie

My Understanding Of Marx Part Five — Robert Paul Wolff

"Abstract labor."

The Philosopher's Stone
MY UNDERSTANDING OF MARX PART FIVE
Robert Paul Wolff | Professor Emeritus, University of Massachusetts Amherst

BRIEF CLARIFICATION

See also

Open Culture
Prof. David Harvey Makes 5 Courses on Marx’s Capital Available for Free
Josh Jones

Lars P. Syll — Why ergodicity matters

Why Paul Samuelson's assumption of ergodicity is not applicable to economics.

Lars P. Syll’s Blog
Why ergodicity matters
Lars P. Syll | Professor, Malmo University

Treasury balance

 

Ok 1Q is over and Treasury projected their balance at quarter end to be $800B here:

Well let’s see how they did here:

Oh , only off by $300B .... a mere bag of shells....   AND they deposit $259B from securities issuance while withdrawing only $120B redeeming securities on the last day to make their miss EVEN WORSE right at the end.... what kind of dopes do we have working there?

Usually if you want the account balance to reduce you have to withdraw MORE than you deposit... that’s the way it usually works for the rest of us....

Then they scratch their heads and wonder why US rates are higher than ROW out the curve..  meanwhile they have over issued and are maintaining a financed balance of Treasury securities accounts >$1T in the non-govt sector that nobody in the non-govt wants or needs...

When are we going to get some competent people in there?

The China-Iran pact is a game changer — Part I-III — M. K. Bhadrakumar

Pretty thorough analysis of the geopolitics of the region. The dragon is spreading its wings there, too.

India Punchline
The China-Iran pact is a game changer – III

The China-Iran pact is a game changer – Part II

The China-Iran pact is a game changer — Part I

M. K. Bhadrakumar | retired diplomat with the Indian Foreign Service

See also

Oriental Review
False Reasons Of American Trade War
Ronny P. Sasmita

The Crooked Timber of History — Peter Radford

So, the question my friends and I were asking ourselves is not a new one, but it is still pressing: is artificial intelligence, and its coterie of related digital instances, a general enough technology to do what the various industrial technologies did a couple of hundred years ago? Are we in the midst of a total reconstruction of society? If so, who is in charge of that reconstruction?

One of our frustrations is the glibness of economists who simply argue that in the long run the current dislocation will be justified by the gains in prosperity. They rely on history. Or, rather, a particular reading of history. They tell us that in the end the entire population will benefit from the bounty bestowed on us by the digitization of everything. Productivity and efficiency will rise beyond currently imaginable levels. The need for irksome labor will fall away. Factories will be hives of robots attended by a handful of highly paid technicians.

And if we ask about all the other workers who are no longer needed in the factories? Silence.

Do we learn from the past and not repeat its mistakes, or …..

The Radford Free Press
The Crooked Timber of History
Peter Radford

My Understanding Of Marx Part IV — Robert Paul Wolff

As we begin to read Volume 1 of Capital, we must recall that half a century has passed since the publication of Ricardo’s Principles. If I may adopt a lovely trope used to such great effect by Thomas Piketty, the England of David Ricardo was Jane Austen’s England, whereas the England of Karl Marx was Charles Dickens’ England. In the intervening 50 years, factories had sprouted up not only in the north of England but in London as well and a large working class of low-paid factory workers had absorbed some but by no means all of the population that had flooded into the cities as a consequence of the enclosure of agricultural land to make way for herds of sheep.

The subtitle of the entire three volume work, Capital, is A Critique of Political Economy. It is not merely capitalism itself but the ruling theories of capitalism that are the object of Marx’s devastating criticism. Marx, who had steeped himself for almost 20 years in the economic literature written in German, French, English, Italian, and Spanish, was well aware of the theoretical problem about differing capital and labor intensities that Ricardo had failed to solve. Marx believed that he had found the solution of that problem, but nevertheless he wrote the entire text of volume 1 of Capital as though Ricardo’s theory of embodied labor was correct as stated. A puzzling decision. It was not until volume 3 that Marx would explain his solution of Ricardo’s problem. Why make so odd a choice?...

The Philosopher's Stone
MY UNDERSTANDING OF MARX PART IV
Robert Paul Wolff | Professor Emeritus, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Book review: 'The Deficit Myth: Modern Monetary Theory and the Birth of the People's Economy' — Megan Wildwood

Another positive review.

It’s a common sentiment that printing large amounts of money is a bad thing because it causes inflation. There has been a lot of hand-wringing lately due to the now three COVID-19 relief packages Congress has passed, which have triggered the printing of trillions of dollars. Forty percent of all U.S. dollars currently in existence have been printed in the last year; conventional economics would portend massive increases in prices or inflation, possibly to the point of hyperinflation.

But, as Kelton explains with Modern Monetary Theory (MMT), the existence of dollars by themselves does not cause inflation. Overspending, either on the government’s or the private sector’s part, does. I had to reread the chapters where Kelton explains how and why this is so, but taking the time to understand MMT is completely worth it. She’s clear: MMT does not give the government a license to print however much money it wants whenever it wants; she’s advocating for spending based on our values rather than our budget.

Since Uncle Sam has the legal authority to create U.S. dollars (indeed, he is the only one with that power), MMT frees us from the false constraints of balancing the federal government’s budget the way individual households and even cities and states must. Acknowledging the differences between how a currency-issuing government relates to money and how a private citizen does allows us to have conversations about what we value rather than argue about cutting budgets of vital programs due to an ultimately imaginary lack of funding.

Real Change

Book review: 'The Deficit Myth: Modern Monetary Theory and the Birth of the People's Economy'

Megan Wildwood

The Deficit Myth — Terry Sullivan

Positive review.

The Loop
The Deficit Myth

Terry Sullivan

Bill Mitchell — Governments must restore the capacity to allow them to run large infrastructure projects effectively

One of the major complaints that Milton Friedman and his ilk made about the use of discretionary fiscal policy was that time lags made it ineffective and even dangerously inflationary. By the time the policy makers have worked out there is a problem and ground out the policy intervention, the problem has passed and the intervention then becomes unpredictable in consequence (and unnecessary anyway). The Financial Times article (March 29, 2021) – To compare the EU and US pandemic packages misses the point – written by Ireland’s finance minister reminded me of the Friedman debate in the 1960s. Apart from the fact that the article is highly misleading (aka spreading falsehoods), it actually exposes a major problem with the way the European Commission operates. If Friedman’s claim ever had any credibility, then, they would fairly accurately describe how the European Union deals with economic crises. Always too little, too late … and never particularly targetted at the problem. The debate remains relevant though as governments move away a strict reliance on monetary policy and realise that fiscal policy interventions are the only way forward. Most governments around the world are talking big on public infrastructure projects. However, the design of such interventions must be carefully considered because they can easily be dysfunctional. Further, thinking these projects are a replacement for short-term cash injections is also not advised. I consider these issues in this blog post.

The good thing about "competition" with China is that Western governments will have to to do this to actually compete. But it's complicated as Bill points out. Instead, they are more likely to try to block Chinese progress and pull it down.

Bill Mitchell – billy blog
Governments must restore the capacity to allow them to run large infrastructure projects effectively

Bill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia

Is Money Supply Growth The True Definition Of Inflation? — Brian Romanchuk

No, but a lot of people still think so, even after the "widow-maker" trades that followed expectations generated by this erroneous interpretation of what would result from QE when the Fed introduced it in response to the GFC. They should ask former "bond-king" Bill Gross about it. Remember him?

MV = PQ (or PT) is an accounting identity if properly understood, but imputing causality in the wrong way results in error even if one understands the symbolism correctly. Or making assumptions that do not hold in the real world, like holding V and Q aka T constant, and taking M as the independent variable and P as the dependent.

Milton Friedman is, of course, remember for his interpretation of monetarism along these lines. It was tested in the crucible of monetary policy and failed as theory of inflation that could be used to formulate a rule.

Henry Hazlitt, a talented writer that was not an economist, was perhaps the most influential in disseminating this idea in his book, Economics in One Lesson (1946), about "inflation." It is apparently still influential since it "simplifies" a complex economic idea for the masses.

One could compare Economics in One Lesson with Stephanie Kelton's The Deficit Myth as influencers. They are popular accounts about essentially the same issue. Now that solvency is being brushed off the table in policy discussion in favor of the inflation constraint, The debate is more focused where it should be, because it actually matters, on inflation.

What is needed now is a popular book on inflation that responds to Hazlitt's Economics in One Lesson.

Brian looks at a more sophisticated Austrian view in this post.

Bond Economics
Is Money Supply Growth The True Definition Of Inflation?
Brian Romanchuk

KV - Nice Pics 2

 More to come. These are some of my favourite photos I have found on the net. 

Rose McGowan suspended from Twitter over Epstein and Clinton tweet

 Activist, author, and artist Rose McGowan has had her Twitter account suspended, over a tweet she posted about Jeffrey Epstein and President Bill Clinton.

The tweet included an image by artist Alison Jackson, and featured a Bill Clinton lookalike getting a massage in what looked like a hotel room. Apparently, the picture breached Twitter’s rules about posting ‘privately produced/distributed intimate media of someone without their consent’ – though all the hardcore porn you can access on Twitter is seemingly fine.

Rose McGowan has millions of social media followers, and her testimony launched the entire #MeToo​ movement. She’s made it her mission to call out establishment hypocrisy and corruption, regardless of what political camp she ends up exposing (here’s looking at you Joe Biden!). She told RT that Big Tech is trying to silence her.

Max Blumenthal debunks US accusation of China's 'genocide' against Uighurs

 A really good video. 

Adrian Zenz's accusations of China's Uyghur concentration and the forced labour camps don't as up. Why has no one in the media examined Adrian Zenz's claims to check them out? They are very serious accusations which could lead to a world war, or cause enormous hardship for millions of Uyghurs and the Hans Chinese as well as the sanctions harm the economy. 

We don't have an independent media. Westerners are the most propagandised people on the planet, because, A, the propaganda is sophisticated, and B, Western people can't spot the it, unlike the way people do from other countries. Nice middle-class, well educated, journalists at the BBC and the Guardian surely don't lie, do they, well, yes they do?

Max Blumenthal documents the deceptions behind the US government's accusation that China is committing "genocide" against Uyghur Muslims in its Xinjiang region, picking apart NED-funded studies that rely on botched statistics and exposing extremist Adrian Zenz and his error-filled research. 

Jason Lightfoot - Western Media's Baseless Xinjiang Claims 外媒的涉疆谎言 Xinjiang Cotton 🇨🇳 Unseen China

 Jason says he's not paid by the CPC and I believe him. I just connect with his sentiment, as I do with Numuves. 

Why do Western media always blank out the faces of Uyghurs in their propaganda videos? Well, it's to stop them from being identified, so that no one can interview them and find out that they are fine and happy? The BBC shoots secret videos in low light and use grey, low quality footage, while a reporter talks in a hush voice, because it's "so dangerous", and Jason goes the same spot and walks about freely and talking aloud in broard daylight. The BBC loves to add footage of barbed wire fences, search lights, and policemen with dogs, to give their videos a Nazi concentration camp look. 

I don't normally bother with these two libertarian conspiracists, but Numuves has compiled this, and it's good. 

Numuves : Ex-FBI predicted Xinjiang "crisis" in 2015!

Sibel Edmonds, an EX-FBI whistleblower and recipient of many free-speech awards laid out the ground work for why the US and Turkey were involved in training Uyghur Chinese. It's all about pipelines and geopolitics baby.