Frank wrote on May 3^rd, 2022 at 10:49pm:


Congratulations, you are correct, all those things are created out of thin air, though you omitted a significant one: 'money is created out of thin air' .....


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Bummer----you failed at the very last hurdle. You are hereby ordered back into the corner with your dunce's cap, to repeat 100 times: 

All those things are created out of REAL RESOURCES.

Note: a symphony requires real instruments to be heard,  but is itself not a real resource (rather,  is transient sound) , in contrast to a building which requires real resources to be built, and remains a real  resource as long as it exists.   

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I never give up on educating those who are in most need. 

Democracy is threatened by political polarization…fueled by growing inequality, (and increasing homelessness)  and globalization without corrective oversight.

Journalists deluded by mainstream economists keep asking dumb questions of both sides of politics like; “how are you going to balance the budget?”, resulting in a jaded public – who know even less about macroeconomics – concluding ‘a pox on both your houses’.

Richard Denniss (of TAI) says tax the rich; Bill Mitchell (MMT) says the public sector should be authorized to spend money into existence, both are on the Left though Richard is orthodox, Bill heterodox.

On the Right (both Coalition and Labor, tweedle dee-tweedle dum), we have the ‘small government’ ideologues, chanting ‘ lower taxes and getting out of the way of markets will produce the best results’.

This last ideology is obviously absurd because it has been the dominant ideology since the 70’s (aka neoliberalism), and has given us the egregious inequality we see today, including more people locked out of the private housing market, while the public sector has withdrawn from public housing. Menzies was able to house everyone and grow the economy, by running continuous budget deficits in the years 1958-67.

Meanwhile dummies like Andrew Probyn (and the rest at the ABC) keep ‘probing’ polies on both sides of politics with his ‘penetrating’ question: "how will you balance the budget?"….as if a government’s budget has any similarities to a household budget.

The ABC, far from being 'Left-Wing' as claimed by the rabid Right, has been captured by the groupthink of mainstream economics.

US commentator Steve Grumbine interviews Oz economist Steve Keen, re the latter's bid for the Oz Senate (as a candidate for TNL, formerly 'The New Liberals).

https://youtu.be/dbh0ruADu9s

Along the way, fascinating insights into US right-wing ("anti-woke") fascism, from Grumbine, and discussion of racism in both countries. 

....and the effects of the reptilian brain(!)  eg govts. willing to spend on war, but not public housing....

aquascoot wrote on May 10^th, 2022 at 5:24am:

A good parable.

The MMT idea is for the government to print more free calves.... 

Frank wrote on May 10^th, 2022 at 10:29am:


aquascoot rubbishes welfare, but offers no alternative, hence not "a good parable". 

Like all conservative frauds, he wants to simultaneously  cut taxation, government spending AND welfare...without realizing they are like the fool sitting on the wrong side of the branch while cutting it off...

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No the idea is (to repeat):

MMT increases the government's policy choices, because  the electorate, not un-elected pointy heads in the so-called "independent reserve bank" , can choose between fiscal policies consistent with the nation's available resources (to avoid inflation), instead of ineffective monetary operations; eg, lifting interest rates is an absurd means to control inflation caused by  covid supply chain blockages. 

You of course are still unable to distinguish between things which can be created out of thin air (like money), and things which can't (like calves, which have to be born by a cow). 

And Australian MMT economist Steve Keen running for the senate, for TNL. (The New Liberals).

http://www.profstevekeen.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/keen_for_senate-1.pdf

"Career politicians, who aren’t equipped to read
the academic literature, don’t know that
they’re being conned by economists.
At TNL, we know that the economists are
wrong. Unlike economists, climate scientists
are terrified by the prospect of a 2°C warmer
world."

Frank wrote on May 12^th, 2022 at 12:36pm:


Well, in markets, timing is everything.  Keen didn't take into account the extent to which China would prop up the OZ economy, with China's demand for iron ore during and after the GFC caused by the subprime US real estate crash. 

And the fact remains, the OZ housing bubble is the most overblown in the world. If it pops, it's goodnight Australia.

Prof. Keen outlines a plan to maintain house buyers'   equity in their overpriced houses, while enabling house prices to fall to more sustainable levels, to avoid a crash when heavily indebted buyers can't cope with interest rate rises.   

Frank wrote on May 13^th, 2022 at 9:23pm:


He lost a bet, yes. 

Doesn't change the fact the mainstream economists  are serving the interests of power ie  private-debt owners, who demand interest when they lend money into existence. 

It's time for the public sector to be authorized to spend money into  existence, to accommodate a desirable balance between public and private spending.

(The limit to spending for a currency-issuer - to avoid inflation - is resources, not money). 

Pity Sri Lanka, another nation about to fall into the clutches of the IMF - Instant Misery Fund.