Saturday, July 19, 2014
an auto moblizer : operating without a net
turn the safety net tax and transfer system into a mobilizer
when FM is not spontaneous injected added demand thru jobbler households thru transfers from the earned dividend fund
Thursday, July 17, 2014
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
Hymerizing PA ursprüngliche akkumulation
"The word primitive is here used in the sense of “belonging to the first age, period, or stage,” i.e., of being “original rather than derivative,” and not in the sense of “simple, rude, or rough.” Marx’s original term was “ursprüngliche akkumulation,” and as Paul Sweezy suggests, it would have been better translated as “original” or “primary” accumulation. But it is too late to change current usage, and the word primitive should be interpreted in a technical sense, as in mathematics, where a primitive line or figure is a line or figure “from which some construction or reckoning begins.” In economics primitive accumulation refers to the period from which capitalist accumulation springs. It was not simple, though it was rude and rough."
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
operating without a net
this Thoma screed
is solid safety net progressive thought
but we need perpetual full employment ...no ?
I suggest we push a tax and transfer system
that can operate without a net
using earned social dividends based on
each citizens life time social security contributions
Monday, July 7, 2014
Debs
"The Mission of Socialism is Wide as the World": Speech at Chicago, Illinois -- July 4, 1901.
Published in the Social Democratic Herald [Chicago], v. 4, no. 4, whole no. 158 (July 13, 1901), pp. 1, 4.
"Ladies, Gentlemen, and Comrades:
It is our good fortune, if we can boast, no other, to live in the most marvelous age of all the centuries, not contemplating the material progress of our time, which overwhelms and bewilders by its extraordinary achievements. Improvements have been accomplished as if by magic and we behold with wonder and awe the march of human conquest. The forces of nature which terrified primitive man, and before which the ancient world bent in superstition, have to a large extent been conquered and are the subject servants of man's desire. In this march of progress the brain and heart have been expanded, the one shedding light and the other life, without which civilization would turn back upon its axis. Fortunately for man, everything is subject to change, and all change tends to the development of the race and the advancement of human institutions. Institutions crumble in this march of time. All of were disregarded. They objected to taxation without representation. Their protests were scorned. Finally they revolted. They issued the Declaration of Independence and enunciated the proposition that men are created equal. But the founders of this republic had only vague conceptions of democracy. The working class as we understand it today were not represented in the Constitutional Convention. The founders of the republic in declaring that men were created equal evidently meant themselves alone. They did not include the negro, who had been brought here against his will and had been reduced to a state of abject slavery. The institution of chattel slavery was already securely established at that time. It was founded in iniquity, yet it did not seemingly disturb the consciences of the founders of the them have their periods of gestation, of birth, of development, maturity, decline, decay, and death. All of them come in their order. They fulfill their mission, they give birth to their offspring, and they pass away.
A little over a century ago the inhabitants of this country were not citizens. They were ruled by a foreign king. They petitioned for relief. Their petitions republic. This institution was in conflict with the spirit of the Declaration, with the genius of free institutions, and yet it was incorporated in them. It steadily grew in power, and in course of time it controlled the country and the courts and the life of the people.
On this day, commemorating the 4th of July, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was issued.
Thousands of orators all over this broad land will glorify the institutions under which we live. In pride they will point toward Old Glory and declare that it is a flag that waves over a free country. In these modern days we hear very much about that flag and about the institutions over which it waves. I am not of those who worship the flag. I have no respect for the stars and stripes, or for any other flag that symbolizes slavery. It does not matter to me what others may think, say, or do. I propose to preserve the integrity of my soul. I will give you a transcript of my mind and tell you precisely what I think. Not very long ago the President of the country [William McKinley], in the attitude of mock heroics, asked who would haul down the flag. I will tell him. Triumphant Socialism will haul down that flag and every other that symbolizes capitalist class rule and wage slavery.
I am a patriot, but in the sense that I love all countries. I love the sentiment of William L. Garrison: "All the world is my country and all mankind are my countrymen." Thomas Jefferson once said: "Where liberty is, is my country." That is good. Thomas Paine said: "Where liberty is honored, that is my country." That is better. Where liberty is not, Socialism has a mission, and, therefore, the mission of Socialism is as wide as the world.
The framers of the Constitution of this country had no faith in the people. They did not suffer them to see the proceedings of the Convention. The insufferable institution of chattel slavery was compromised in the American Constitution. It was at this time a perfectly legal institution, but it was founded inn iniquity. It was doomed to finally disappear and the agitation against it began in a feeble way. Lovejoy was one of the pioneers of the revolt. He went to New England and then to Illinois, and with all the vigor of his intellect began to attack slavery. A committee called upon him. He said to them, "I can afford to die at my post, but I cannot afford to desert it." I take pride in paying to such a man the humble tribute of my gratitude and love. It is such men as he who have made it possible for me to enjoy some degree of liberty. I can only discharge my duty to him and to them to try to do something for those who are to come after me. In 1837 the mob took his office and destroyed it by fire, his printing press was thrown in the Mississippi River, and he was murdered.
But to the greatest and noblest figure among those early pioneers was reserved the final act which culminated in the rule in which the institution of slavery disappeared from American soil. I need only mention his name, and although it is a very common one, you will at once recognize it -- John Brown. He was educated in no college, he graduated from no university -- he was simply a child of the people. He knew that is part in that struggle required the sacrifice of his life, and with a dozen men he attacked the so-called Commonwealth of Virginia. He struck the immortal blow. He was dragged through a mob trial, he was sentenced to death. On his way to the gallows he begged for a negro child and pressed a kiss upon its black face.
He was strangled to death. His soul went its way to that bourne from which no traveler returns. John Brown was branded a traitor, a scoundrel, and a monster of iniquity. The whole country applauded the crime [of his execution]. In just 10 years, with the mellowing wings of time, John Brown was the hero of the people; enshrined in their hearts -- he had won immortality.
Chattel slavery disappeared because in the development of machinery an improved form of slavery was required, and this new slavery must not be confined to the black race alone, but must embrace within its mighty folds all of the toiling children of men. Slavery in that form only became extinct and the people as such only rose against it when it became impossible; and just here it is in order to say that the development in every form is dependent upon economic conditions.
We live today under a system that has the best code of morals and the best instruments of production and distribution. It has also the most destructive weapons of warfare. Commercialism not only requires the cheapest possible production, but it also requires the most murderous instruments of death, and in the full development of this system the world pays its highest tribute to that man who can devise ways and means that can murder the most men in the smallest space of time. If you go to the city of Washington tomorrow with some device that will enable you to kill one million human beings in the twinkling of an eye, your name will become famous.
When the [Civil] war closed, modern machinery was developing very rapidly, the small workshop was beginning to disappear, being supplanted by the larger factory. The individual worked no longer by himself, for his tool had been touched by the magic of industrial evolution; the shop began to expand and the modern industrial revolution was on. Up to this time production was carried on largely for use in separate communities. There was no demand for a foreign market because there was no surplus production, and the worker's ability to consume was equal to his producing capacity. But with the advent of machinery, conditions were changed. If the workers had had intelligence enough to have retained the ownership and control of the tool -- that is to say, of the means of production, there would have been no such problems as now confront us.
The women were formerly the queens of the homes, and the children were being sent to school and equipped for the battle of life. When labor began to supply so abundantly and the machine could be operated by the finger of a little child, we had an intensification of the struggle -- women competing with men and the child competing with all. No workingman is given employment that he may provide for himself and his family. It is only on condition that a profit can be extracted from his labor. If there is no profit he is discharged. His wife may suffer, his children may be on the street, no matter what the results, he cannot work.
I have said again and again in this system there is nothing quite so cheap as human flesh and blood. It is in the power of a single individual sitting in New York to press a button that will send a message over the wire that will doom 50,000 willing men, women, and children. Concentration and cooperation are the master forces of this age. In the conflict that is going forward among the capitalists, the capital of the country is held in the hands of a few, and these few, though untitled and uncrowned, wield greater power than crowned kings and despots. The owners of the means of production are the real rulers of the American people and of all other people of other nations. Those who control the means of production, land, and capital, control all human institutions.
Now, there are a great many men who believe that they have a voice in government. You workingmen have as much to do with the control of this government as if you inhabited Mars or some other planet. (Cheers.) You regularly deposit your ballot and suppose it to be counted. The will of the people is supposed to be registered. But what your votes register is the will of the capitalist class. The capitalist class rules absolutely in every department of our government. It controls every legislature. It controls both branches of Congress and the Supreme Court is simply its convenience. Why, it is not possible for a lawyer, whatever his attainments, to find his way to the bench of the Supreme Court unless he has given overwhelming evidence of his capacity to serve the capitalist class and his willingness to crook the pregnant hinges of the knee that thrift may follow fawning. Every judge who sits on the bench of the Supreme Court today is a tool of the capitalist class. I had an experience. (Great applause.) I think it was a good thing. I ought to have known better. The working class have no rights.
I am not fond of denouncing the capitalist class. I am more inclined to find fault with the working class. Now, do you know that for every capitalist, large and small, in the United States there are about 10 workingmen? That is to say, you workingmen are in the majority, are in the clear majority of 10 to 1, and as long as you suffer the capitalist class to rule, you do not deserve to fare better. As Lincoln said: "If that is what you want, that is what you want," and as long as you are satisfied with the capitalist rule or misrule, you will have to submit to it.
Now, a few workingmen realize that the old parties are simply two wings of the same capitalist vulture, and that every reform party is a straggling tail feather in that same bird. Socialism is after that bird, and if you look at it you can see the light between the wings. Some of that light is beginning to reach gradually the working class. They are beginning to realize, first, that their interests as workingmen are absolutely identical, that what is good for one is good for all, what it equal for one is equal for all. They are beginning to realize that there are trade unions in the year 1901 which fall short of requirements; that while organization is a necessity upon the economic field, it is vastly more important on the political field. There was a time when there was some efficiency in the strike. What difference does it make to you to go out on strike, even if you win a raise in your wages of 15, 20, or 25 cents per day, if the same class that employs and pays your wages has also the power to raise the cost of the commodities?
In the wage system you and your children, and your children's children, if capitalism shall prevail until they are born, are condemned to slavery and there is no possible hope unless by throwing over the capitalist and voting for Socialism. Now, what you want to do is quit every capitalist party of every name whatsoever. What you want to do is to organize your class and assert your class interests as capitalists do the interests of the class that is robbing you. It will not do for you to go to the polls and vote for some good men on some of the tickets and expect relief in that way. What can a good man do if he should happen to get to Congress? What could he do? Why, he simply would be polluted or helpless, or both. What we want is not to reform the capitalist system. We want to get rid of it. (Tremendous cheers.)
Now, it is a curious thing to me that a great many workingmen will vote for a thing that will do them no good, a thing that they do not want, because they are dead sure of getting it; and they will vote against the thing they need, against the thing they want, because they reason that if they all vote for it they might get it. Every workingman in every community should assert himself on election day, totally regardless of what others do.
Suppose you are the only Socialist in the community. Now, that might require a little more courage on your part, and if you lack it we cannot win. But if you have a little more courage and if you cast a Socialist vote, you will give some evidence of the final redemption of your community. If you cast that vote, someday you and your children will be proud of it; you will make a beginning and you will soon have company. Now, I would rather vote my convictions and vote alone than to vote against my convictions and be with the majority. What good is it to be with the majority of cowards, anyway? As a matter of fact, in the history of great principles, men everywhere have been wrong outside the minority. All of these great changes depend upon minorities, and in the march of time a minority becomes a majority and everyone applauds. In 10 years from now it will be very difficult in the city of Chicago to find a man who was not a Socialist 25 years ago.
There has never been any democracy in the world. Political democracy in the United States, so called, is a myth. A single capitalist, upon whom 25 workingmen depend, has political power more than equal to the slaves in his employ, simply because he owns and controls the means upon which their lives depend, without which they are doomed to idleness and starvation. What good would it do if it were in my power to shut off the supply of life and heat; you would all vote my ticket, would you not? Your lives depend upon the control and ownership of the means of production and distribution.
The owner of the slaves had to provide for them, he had to feed them, and he had to care for them in a way. It is not necessary to own slaves bodily today in order to exploit their labor. You simply have to own the tool, then they are completely at your mercy. To begin with, a slave cannot buy the modern tool. They are gigantic machines of great cost. The great mass of workingmen cannot buy them. They are compelled to present themselves at the door of the giant and humbly petition him for the privilege of using the tools they made for a share of what their labor produces. They are at his mercy, and not only this, but in the regular periods of depression that always follow periods of activity, it is even a privilege to be a slave, and thousands of so-called free Americans are denied that privilege. (Cheers.) If they go on voting the Republican ticket and the Democratic ticket, either party perpetuates the system that keeps them in fetters and their wives in rags and their children in hunger.
Arouse, ye slaves! Declare war, not on the capitalist, but on the capitalist system, and if it should be your fate or your fortune to suffer in years to come, that suffering will not be the result of your own deliberate act. I am for the freedom of the working class. Though my heart yearns for the freedom of men, I am powerless. Only the working class itself can achieve its emancipation. The workingman who is not yet awakened, who has not yet realized all his class interests, is a blind tool, the willing instrument of his own degradation, and thousands of them on the 4th of July, when reference is made to the capitalist flag that symbolizes the triumph of capitalism only, thousands of these wage slaves will applaud their own degradation. What is wanted is not a reform of the capitalist system, but its entire abolition.
Notwithstanding the boast that is often made that this is an era of prosperity, notwithstanding the statement that is made by capitalist politicians that the wages of workingmen are higher than ever in the history of the history of the country, I do not hesitate to declare, and I challenge refutation, that there never was a time when wages were so small in proportion to the products as now. Politicians assure us that we are extremely prosperous because our exports exceed the exports of all other nations of the world. What have you got to do with the exports? I think if you held a little interview with your stomach, you are more interested with import than export. Much money goes into the pockets of the capitalist class out of the product of your labor. You never receive notice from the government to get your share of the dividends, and as a matter of fact, in this system the more you produce the worse you are off. If you could produce as much tomorrow as you could in the next six months, you would be out of a job the day after tomorrow. (Loud applause.)
I wonder how many of the workingmen of Chicago are enjoying today at the sea coast this summer, or how many of them are toying with icicles in the arctic region, and next September how many will go down to Florida and stop at the Palmetto Hotel? Not many of them. Only the man can afford these luxuries, can afford these enjoyments, who has nothing to do with the production of them. No man that has anything to do with building a Pullman car can ride in it. You show me a man who has to make a Pullman car, and I will show you a man who walks when he travels.
If you have calloused hands, I will show you precisely what degree you mark on the social thermometer. I will locate you close to the zero point.
A man has to be a master or a slave. He will have to either wield a lash or hold the plow. Socialism proposes to free them both and level them both up to the plane of manhood. Whatever walk of life, constant struggle is going forward, man is arrayed against man, nation against nation, and all due to the capitalist system. The survival of the fittest is a survival of cunning over conscience. Business means doing somebody else, and in the struggle the middle class loses in economic power. Men are driven to dishonesty in the system; they suspect each other, not because they do not know each other, but because they do. It is a mock civilization. Socialism will give humanity a new world. (Great cheer.)
Business men attend the same prayer meeting, but they keep a business eye on each other. Business is business, and each one knows that the other is trying to do him. In the capitalist system we cannot give expression to the noblest sentiments of humanity; all success is born of failure and he who achieves the largest success succeeds in destroying the largest number of his fellow men.
The revolution is under way, but, like all revolutions, it is totally blind. It is in the nature of great social forces that they sometimes sweep humanity down. Let us work so that this revolution may come in peace. Socialists are organized to pave the way for its peaceful culmination.
We appeal first to the working class to come together in one class-conscious solidarity. We likewise appeal to the middle class who will day by day be forced down in the crowded ranks of the working class. We are asking them to open their eyes and see the new light. Their class is doomed and this debauched civilization is doomed to disappear with them. If I were in the middle class today, I would be a Socialist. I would be a socialist from a perfectly selfish motive. I would say to myself: "My class is to be crowded out, and my only hope is in the new social order; and although I may not live to see it, I may be doomed to die a slave, I will cast my lot with the man that proposes to make it possible for my children and the children of my children to enjoy life."
But there are a great many who say that is all well enough, but we will not see it in our time. When a man talks so to me, I am inclined to think that there is something seriously wrong with him. Very often the case is that it is impossible to reach the intellect of such a man as this. It is questionable whether he has a thing that we can properly call by that name.
So far as I am concerned it does not matter in the slightest whether it comes next year or next century, or in a thousand centuries -- that is not a question that concerns me. I simply know that the change is bound to come sometime and I know that it is my duty to do all I can to hasten its coming; and although I feel and indeed, I know, that I will be here to help celebrate its coming, to ratify its triumph, whether I am or not is a matter of the slightest consequence. I simply say that the capitalist system has almost fulfilled its mission. On every hand we behold the signs of change. It is disintegrating. It is to dissolve and pass away and you can prolong it if you wish and that is what you are doing if you war supporting the old parties.
There are two fundamental principles that are in conflict with each other -- individualism and cooperation. Now there is perfect individualism among the beasts of the jungle. They do not cooperate, they compete, and the stronger competitor devours the weaker. You see a girl in the sweatshop only able to earn enough to keep her wretched soul within her shrunken body. Her pulled cheeks, her sunken eyes, her emaciated body testify to the poverty and horror of the competitive system. Hail the coming of Socialism!
But in every nation, in every civilized nation,men and women are massing beneath the banner of Socialism, men and women, for in Socialism woman stands side by side with man, she has all the rights that he enjoys.
We declare then, that the time has come when working men should open their eyes to the economic struggle, when they should have an intelligent understanding of Socialism and pave the way for its triumph and the abolishment of capitalism from the face of the world.
Now I have a right to get rich if I can in this system. I scorn to get rich. I could get rich only by making someone else poor. Suppose I have sharper claws and keener fangs than some of the rest of you, am I justified in using them to prey upon your vitals? If I have any ability whatever, I can only prove it by using it for the benefit of my fellow man. John Rockefeller is as completely a slave as any coal miner in the anthracite region of Pennsylvania. He lives in a gilded cell, but he is serving a life sentence. He does not mingle with his fellow men, he does not enjoy the fellowship of the class he robs. He rules by the power of private ownership and he tries to ease the pangs of conscience by endowing universities. We do not want educational institutions in that way and when Socialism supplants capitalism, and when the wealth that is created is in the possession of the men who created it, when every man has not only plenty of what is required to supply his physical wants, but has leisure to enjoy, we will fill this country with educational institutions, we will make education universal; not only that, we will rescue industry from its cupidity. Then man shall stand erect in touch with his fellow man. He will be the monarch of his work. It will not be possible for one man to enslave another without forging fetters for himself. There is no release, there is no relief on any other line. It is Socialism or capitalism; as capitalism declines, Socialism follows it, so it is only a question of time.
I like the 4th of July. It breathes a spirit of revolution. On this day we reaffirm the ultimate triumph of Socialism. It is coming as certain as I stand in your presence. Trials are not to be regretted. T hey are a part and a necessary part of the development. We may disagree. We may divide. It is possible that we shall quarrel and still be perfectly honest. The development demands it all. We are all subscribers to the same fundamental principles. We all stand upon the same uncompromising platform. We all have our faces turned toward the economic dawn. We are battling for the triumph of the producers of the world. We are in touch with the International Socialists of the world -- with our ears turned down, we can hear the thrones totter before the great march of the international hosts of Socialism.
So do not be discouraged for a single instant. If you have the courage of your convictions you can face the universe. So far as I am concerned, if there were a million, I would be one of the million. If they should be reduced to a thousand, I would be one of a thousand; if reduced to a hundred, I would be one of the hundred; if a single one survive, I would be that one against the world. I want every one of you to be that one and if you find that you are not so constituted that you can be that one against the world, you have no place in the Socialist movement, but go to the old parties and stay there until you get ripe.
We are educating, we are agitating, we are organizing, that is to say we are preparing for the inevitable. It is only a question of time when Socialists will be in the majority. They will succeed on a platform declaring for the social ownership of the means of production and distribution. Then the factory will no longer be a dismal den thronged with industrial convicts. Then for a' that and a' that, man to man the world o'er, shall brothers be for a'that "
by sammo request
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chartalism
chartalism it used to be called
this guy is one of the so called new chartalists
or modern monetary theorists
consequently he hasn't a worry about peak debt
a sovereign state with debt payable entirely in its own costlessly augmentable un gold tied currency
can never go bankrupt if it don't want to
this means he hasn't idiotic long run burdens of short term gaping deficits to drag down his mind
as it does even the best non party line non neo liberal/neo classical poli econs ie the new post samuelson eclectics like joe stiglitz
chumps that still retain unexamined attachments to prudent fiscal finance for uncle
http://www.vanityfair.com/society/features/2011/05/top-one-percent-201105
mostly out of inflation fear of course
but he hasn't much else on his mind either on that front
he's a one trick pony
ie
"The greatest lie—endlessly repeated by neoliberal economists and uncritically echoed by the mainstream media—is the claim that if governments cut their spending, the private sector will “crowd in” to fill the gap. British Prime Minister David Cameron’s austerity campaign and President Obama’s foreshadowed budget cuts are built around these lies."
true enough but ...
oh ya there's this line you've seen else
"In the past, real wages grew in line with productivity, ensuring that firms could realize their expected profits via sales. With real wages lagging well behind productivity growth, a new way had to be found to keep workers consuming. The trick was found in the rise of “financial engineering,” which pushed ever increasing debt onto the household sector"
that begs the question why not use uncle's transfer system as is done now ??
behind this is a notion of greed pushing ever higher the rate of exploitation
as if that itself is a cyclical animal spirit
some how subdued by the great depression the world at war and the subsequent pax americana
hmmm
i think it had more to do with changes in the global structure of capitalism
but that's for another day
i'll add
in the ike ewra rads claimed the chronic shortage of investment against nominal "acc\umulation"
was relieved by kold war military budgets
that were nice employment builders and effective demand maintainers
but no more that cry not after say 1975
btw
this type of magic bullet crusader usually fails to notice open systems like national economies
are operating in a web of trading nations and even if their currency is still taken in exchange for products
their foreign exchange rate and their inevitable trade gap creates another set of macro problems
often called de industrialization
solving domestic under employment by simply stimulating demand thru massive deficit financing
can often make this problem far worse
in fact you notice he does have inflation and possibly exchange rates in the back of his head
as he pops in that pinko favorite
"I would introduce an open-ended public employment program—a Job Guarantee—that offers a job at a living (minimum) wage to anyone who wants to work but cannot find employment. These jobs would “hire off the bottom,” in the sense that minimum wages are not in competition with the market-sector wage structure. By not competing with the private market, the Job Guarantee would avoid the inflationary tendencies of old-fashioned Keynesianism, which attempted to maintain full capacity utilization by “hiring off the top” (making purchases at market prices and competing for resources with all other demand elements). Job Guarantee workers would enjoy stable incomes, and their increased spending would boost confidence throughout the economy and underpin a private-spending recovery. There is no reason the government could not afford this program. The labor is available for work, and the government can easily supply the jobs. There were no questions asked when the government, in the early days of the crisis, instantly provided billions for the banks. Let me repeat: the government has no financial constraint on its spending and should immediately allocate funds to a massive job-creation program."
yup ...the uncle job gulag
despite not needing it according to pure MMT
err in a closed system mate
but open -ness
it comes from a back door limit on market driven employment created here not by import explosion
but by high job demand by firms leading to a wage price spiral ala the infamous 70's
birth place of the mass adherence to the nairu line taboo
which is buried in this bit of fandango
the gulag is kool because
" minimum wages are not in competition with the market-sector wage structure"
oddly he fails to notice making that gulag wage a living wage would indeed lift all market earned wages right ??
" By not competing with the private market," dubious point
" the Job Guarantee would avoid the inflationary tendencies of old-fashioned Keynesianism"
here it comes
" which attempted to maintain full capacity utilization by “hiring off the top” (making purchases at market prices and competing for resources with all other demand elements)."
this conflates demand pull inflation something impossible with the type of capacity slack thst would trigger macro policy in the first place
with wage push inflation which happens because of corporate price cost pass thru power
he is buying into the nairu gig
without admiting it if he even clearly understands it
nairu woulsd keep the market the rate of unemployment just high enough to prevent an acceration of wage rates
now as a good rad matey
billy boy here wants to soak up the reserve army so he offers them a iron floor wage rate job
that he flat out guarantees won't set of a wage explosion
cause he's drawing form the bottom not the top
instead of injecting enough purchasing power into the system thru the transfer system ala 12 cylinder macro ala wild bill vickrey
letting tight markets pull wages where they may thhis plan has uncle's contrived jobster gulag soak up the surplus labor pool
wpa a go go
and all i repeat without triggering a wage boom
how ??
its possible but only by making sure the jobster gulag is no place any one wants to be
both wage rate wise and i suspect conditions wise
obviously the diect necessity here
is to design and imlement a mechanism with the ability to regulate inflation set the price levl quarter by quarter
as a key and essential part of the full advanced solution that this guy tries to run from
ie
enter the mark up market along with the trade balancing dollar exchange rate
neither semms to be arrows in his quiver
solve the fear of run away inflation and de industrialization
that lurk like ghouls in the hearts of white hats like joe stgilitz and paul krugman
and is why they never get to bill vickrey land
chartalism it used to be called
this guy is one of the so called new chartalists
or modern monetary theorists
consequently he hasn't a worry about peak debt
a sovereign state with debt payable entirely in its own costlessly augmentable un gold tied currency
can never go bankrupt if it don't want to
this means he hasn't idiotic long run burdens of short term gaping deficits to drag down his mind
as it does even the best non party line non neo liberal/neo classical poli econs ie the new post samuelson eclectics like joe stiglitz
chumps that still retain unexamined attachments to prudent fiscal finance for uncle
http://www.vanityfair.com/society/features/2011/05/top-one-percent-201105
mostly out of inflation fear of course
but he hasn't much else on his mind either on that front
he's a one trick pony
ie
"The greatest lie—endlessly repeated by neoliberal economists and uncritically echoed by the mainstream media—is the claim that if governments cut their spending, the private sector will “crowd in” to fill the gap. British Prime Minister David Cameron’s austerity campaign and President Obama’s foreshadowed budget cuts are built around these lies."
true enough but ...
oh ya there's this line you've seen else
"In the past, real wages grew in line with productivity, ensuring that firms could realize their expected profits via sales. With real wages lagging well behind productivity growth, a new way had to be found to keep workers consuming. The trick was found in the rise of “financial engineering,” which pushed ever increasing debt onto the household sector"
that begs the question why not use uncle's transfer system as is done now ??
behind this is a notion of greed pushing ever higher the rate of exploitation
as if that itself is a cyclical animal spirit
some how subdued by the great depression the world at war and the subsequent pax americana
hmmm
i think it had more to do with changes in the global structure of capitalism
but that's for another day
i'll add
in the ike ewra rads claimed the chronic shortage of investment against nominal "acc\umulation"
was relieved by kold war military budgets
that were nice employment builders and effective demand maintainers
but no more that cry not after say 1975
btw
this type of magic bullet crusader usually fails to notice open systems like national economies
are operating in a web of trading nations and even if their currency is still taken in exchange for products
their foreign exchange rate and their inevitable trade gap creates another set of macro problems
often called de industrialization
solving domestic under employment by simply stimulating demand thru massive deficit financing
can often make this problem far worse
in fact you notice he does have inflation and possibly exchange rates in the back of his head
as he pops in that pinko favorite
"I would introduce an open-ended public employment program—a Job Guarantee—that offers a job at a living (minimum) wage to anyone who wants to work but cannot find employment. These jobs would “hire off the bottom,” in the sense that minimum wages are not in competition with the market-sector wage structure. By not competing with the private market, the Job Guarantee would avoid the inflationary tendencies of old-fashioned Keynesianism, which attempted to maintain full capacity utilization by “hiring off the top” (making purchases at market prices and competing for resources with all other demand elements). Job Guarantee workers would enjoy stable incomes, and their increased spending would boost confidence throughout the economy and underpin a private-spending recovery. There is no reason the government could not afford this program. The labor is available for work, and the government can easily supply the jobs. There were no questions asked when the government, in the early days of the crisis, instantly provided billions for the banks. Let me repeat: the government has no financial constraint on its spending and should immediately allocate funds to a massive job-creation program."
yup ...the uncle job gulag
despite not needing it according to pure MMT
err in a closed system mate
but open -ness
it comes from a back door limit on market driven employment created here not by import explosion
but by high job demand by firms leading to a wage price spiral ala the infamous 70's
birth place of the mass adherence to the nairu line taboo
which is buried in this bit of fandango
the gulag is kool because
" minimum wages are not in competition with the market-sector wage structure"
oddly he fails to notice making that gulag wage a living wage would indeed lift all market earned wages right ??
" By not competing with the private market," dubious point
" the Job Guarantee would avoid the inflationary tendencies of old-fashioned Keynesianism"
here it comes
" which attempted to maintain full capacity utilization by “hiring off the top” (making purchases at market prices and competing for resources with all other demand elements)."
this conflates demand pull inflation something impossible with the type of capacity slack thst would trigger macro policy in the first place
with wage push inflation which happens because of corporate price cost pass thru power
he is buying into the nairu gig
without admiting it if he even clearly understands it
nairu woulsd keep the market the rate of unemployment just high enough to prevent an acceration of wage rates
now as a good rad matey
billy boy here wants to soak up the reserve army so he offers them a iron floor wage rate job
that he flat out guarantees won't set of a wage explosion
cause he's drawing form the bottom not the top
instead of injecting enough purchasing power into the system thru the transfer system ala 12 cylinder macro ala wild bill vickrey
letting tight markets pull wages where they may thhis plan has uncle's contrived jobster gulag soak up the surplus labor pool
wpa a go go
and all i repeat without triggering a wage boom
how ??
its possible but only by making sure the jobster gulag is no place any one wants to be
both wage rate wise and i suspect conditions wise
obviously the diect necessity here
is to design and imlement a mechanism with the ability to regulate inflation set the price levl quarter by quarter
as a key and essential part of the full advanced solution that this guy tries to run from
ie
enter the mark up market along with the trade balancing dollar exchange rate
neither semms to be arrows in his quiver
solve the fear of run away inflation and de industrialization
that lurk like ghouls in the hearts of white hats like joe stgilitz and paul krugman
and is why they never get to bill vickrey land
mankiw and peak debt
the mankiw piece is an addiction story eh
simple message drink that booze like you drink it now
for another 15 years and you'll have a pink elephant moment
and a 5 year turkey trot over thin ice
but cut that crap out now
sure the joy of the happy hour high will leave its cavity in the soul of your job day
but
a certain purgatory trumps a perfect hell baby
pure preacher boy bull balls
simple message drink that booze like you drink it now
for another 15 years and you'll have a pink elephant moment
and a 5 year turkey trot over thin ice
but cut that crap out now
sure the joy of the happy hour high will leave its cavity in the soul of your job day
but
a certain purgatory trumps a perfect hell baby
pure preacher boy bull balls
paine said...
jump out of the mankiw pot now amerika !!!
rewrite the rule book
rewrite the rule book
paine said...
we had one of these moments already
recall the moynihan greenspan payroll tax and benefit fix ??
that was so well slid in on us
it wasn't till twelve years or so ago
it begain to really bite
but you hardly feel what you miss all together
do we know today what that the trust fund build up
has cost us in additional burdens and forgone simple pleasures ??
well a couple trillion left in your pockets
you jobbled creeps
spread over 12 years or so
isn't the biggest alternative policy route
i can imagine
bringing the boys and girls in helmets home
and declaring peace with the world
exceeds that by a few times
--- as our anne faithfully points out
at every juncture --
but its still real money eh ??
there's more
there's the rampant
private health "CARE" sector !!!!!
go back to 65 and use the swedish or german trend cost rise
not ours
yikes
talk about yer boiled frog !!!!!
why betwqeen premiums and payroll taxes
the median gal in our job class has gone practically no where despite large gains in her per job hour value added
my my
no wonder the Dembos the party of the little people
has lost the faith of its base
recall the moynihan greenspan payroll tax and benefit fix ??
that was so well slid in on us
it wasn't till twelve years or so ago
it begain to really bite
but you hardly feel what you miss all together
do we know today what that the trust fund build up
has cost us in additional burdens and forgone simple pleasures ??
well a couple trillion left in your pockets
you jobbled creeps
spread over 12 years or so
isn't the biggest alternative policy route
i can imagine
bringing the boys and girls in helmets home
and declaring peace with the world
exceeds that by a few times
--- as our anne faithfully points out
at every juncture --
but its still real money eh ??
there's more
there's the rampant
private health "CARE" sector !!!!!
go back to 65 and use the swedish or german trend cost rise
not ours
yikes
talk about yer boiled frog !!!!!
why betwqeen premiums and payroll taxes
the median gal in our job class has gone practically no where despite large gains in her per job hour value added
my my
no wonder the Dembos the party of the little people
has lost the faith of its base
mandarins and mandarins
spence seems to like
wallowing in his soft brand
of aging mandarin cruise control fatuity
in these days i guess that beats strident idiocy
like say
john roach taylor or bobby barro
wallowing in his soft brand
of aging mandarin cruise control fatuity
in these days i guess that beats strident idiocy
like say
john roach taylor or bobby barro
Size structure of firms
U.S. Firms and Establishments by Size, 2001
Employment
Size of Firm
Total Number of
Firms
Total Number of
Establishments
Total Number of
Employees
Average Number of
Establishments per
Firm
Average Number of
Employees per
Establishment
All firms
5,657,774 7,095,302 115,061,184 1.3 16.2
less than 20
5,036,845 5,093,660 20,602,635 1.0 4.0
less than 500
5,640,407 6,079,993 57,383,449 1.1 9.4
500+
17,367 1,015,309 57,677,735 58.5 56.8
0
703,837 705,612 0 1.0 0.0
1-4
2,697,839 2,703,984 5,630,017 1.0 2.1
5-9
1,019,105 1,033,719 6,698,077 1.0 6.5
10-19
616,064 650,345 8,274,541 1.1 12.7
20-99
518,258 670,477 20,370,447 1.3 30.4
100-499
85,304 315,856 16,410,367 3.7 52.0
500-999
8,572 102,229 5,906,266 11.9 57.8
1,000-2,499
5,161 131,911 7,894,226 25.6 59.8
2,500-4,999
1,770 103,347 6,063,596 58.4 58.7
5,000-9,999
934 120,158 6,456,068 128.6 53.710,000+ 930 557,664 31,357,579 599.6 56.2
adventures on the knife edge of i=g
recall neumann result
i=g optimally
that's fine because that is with an assumed full employment
ie
no need for stablizing deficits or surpluses
would that our market system with its
firm level profit driven production system
could produce such a fine performance
i=g optimally
that's fine because that is with an assumed full employment
ie
no need for stablizing deficits or surpluses
would that our market system with its
firm level profit driven production system
could produce such a fine performance
back to the NRA ???
a comprehensive industrial policy at the national level...
the last time we had even close to one
was the arsenal of democracy
-- some say the NRA was the only real full blown INDUSTRIAL POLICY ..
.......fair enough ---
okay we had a partial policy
after the kold war hit warp drive
post nsa 68
the point remains
we as global hegemon have sublated
our narrow national interests for many decades
since 1945 uncle sam has more or less
operated official policy
with the larger earth wide interests of our multi national trans border corporations
upper most in his mind
in fact so much upper most
even secondary mnc concerns trump
primary domestic job class concerns
to pull this off
within the formalities of a two party liberal democracy
is really quite a fete ..no ??
housing a totalizing global security state
completely inside
a liberal nation state
why it's like a matryoshka doll system
the mind gapes
and rattles itself with an aweful trembling
Woody and gust off
We have argued that the key to dealing with a situation in which monetary
policy is constrained by the zero lower bound on short-term nominal
interest rates is the skillful management of expectations regarding the
future conduct of policy. By "management of expectations" we do not
mean that the central bank should imagine that, if it uses sufficient guile,
it can lead the private sector to believe whatever the central bank wishes it
to believe, no matter what it actually does. Instead we have assumed that
67 Tinsley (1999).
Gauti B. Eggertsson and Michael Woodford
there is no point in the central bank trying to get the private sector to
expect something that the central bank does not itself intend to bring
about. But we do contend that it is highly desirable for a central bank to be
able to commit itself in advance to a course of action that is desirable
because of the benefits that flow from its being anticipated, and then to
work to make that commitment credible to the private sector.
In the context of a simple optimizing model of the monetary transmission
mechanism, we have shown that a purely forward-looking approach
to policy—which allows for no possibility of committing future policy to
respond to past conditions—can lead to quite bad outcomes in the event
of a temporary decline in the natural rate of interest, regardless of the kind
of policy pursued at the time of the disturbance. We have also characterized
optimal policy, under the assumption that credible commitment is
possible, and shown that it involves a commitment to eventually bring the
general price level back up to a level even higher than would have prevailed
had the disturbance never occurred. Finally, we have described a
type of history-dependent price-level targeting mle with the following
properties: that a commitment to base interest rate policy on this mle
determines the optimal equilibrium, and that the same foim of targeting
mle continues to describe optimal policy regardless of which of a large
number of types of disturbances may affect the economy.
Given the role of private sector anticipation of history-dependent policy
in realizing a desirable outcome, it is important for central banks to
develop effective methods of signaling their policy commitments to the
private sector. An essential precondition for this, certainly, is for the central
bank itself to clearly understand the kind of history-dependent behavior
to which it should be seen to be committed. It can then communicate
its thinking on the matter and act consistently with the principles that it
wishes the private sector to understand. Simply conducting policy in
accordance with a mle may not suffice to bring about an optimal, or
nearly optimal, equilibrium, but it is the place to start.
207
APPENDIX A
The Numerical Solution Method
HERE WE ILLUSTRATE
solution discussed in the first section of the text. This same method can
a solution method for the optimal commitment208
john taylor
experiences from the 1970s raise serious doubts about the political and operational feasibility of discretionary fiscal policy.
In a simple Keynesian model, all the government has to do to combat a recession is quickly increase government purchases,
but the difficulty with doing so in practice is one of the classic arguments against discretionary fiscal policy.
" Small or unreliable multipliers, the legacy of increased debt, the unpredictability and temporariness of such policies are some of the other arguments. Using dynamic models with expectations and incentives, I have found very small multipliers (around .5)
For these reasons I argued in the November 2008 article which Krugman cites that a better fiscal policy would be to rely on the automatic stabilizers and enact more permanent reductions in tax rates (or at least pledge not to increase tax rates in a recession).
In a simple Keynesian model, all the government has to do to combat a recession is quickly increase government purchases,
but the difficulty with doing so in practice is one of the classic arguments against discretionary fiscal policy.
" Small or unreliable multipliers, the legacy of increased debt, the unpredictability and temporariness of such policies are some of the other arguments. Using dynamic models with expectations and incentives, I have found very small multipliers (around .5)
For these reasons I argued in the November 2008 article which Krugman cites that a better fiscal policy would be to rely on the automatic stabilizers and enact more permanent reductions in tax rates (or at least pledge not to increase tax rates in a recession).
Dexter white on stag jams
(a) Let the Government spend the minimum necessary to keep men alive and to prevent social disturbance; orHarry Dexter White, 2/26/35
(b) Let the Government spend on such a large scale as to provide a positive powerful stimulus to recovery.
This second alternative is often formally embraced by those who in practice support the first position. That is, the actual scale of expenditures that they propose, while sufficient to bring about a serious derangement of the budget, is not sufficient to exert an adequate stimulus to recovery. In consequence, depression conditions tend to be frozen over a considerable period.
cannon on party building trot style
“We were utterly isolated, forced in upon ourselves. Our recruitment dropped to almost nothing ... Then, as is always the case with new political movements, we began to recruit from forces none too healthy ... Freaks always looking for the most extreme expression of radicalism, misfits, windbags, chronic oppositionists who had been thrown out of half a dozen organizations-such people began to come to us in our isolation, shouting, ‘Hello Comrades.’ I was always against admitting such people,. but the tide was too strong.”
chit chat on the zone drones
Killing the Euro, by Paul Krugman, Commentary, NY Times: Can the euro be saved? Not long ago we were told that the worst possible outcome was a Greek default. Now a much wider disaster seems all too likely..., even optimists now see Europe as headed for recession, while pessimists warn that the euro may become the epicenter of another global financial crisis.
How did things go so wrong? The answer you hear all the time is that the euro crisis was caused by fiscal irresponsibility. Turn on your TV and you’re very likely to find some pundit declaring that if America doesn’t slash spending we’ll end up like Greece. Greeeeeece!
But the truth is nearly the opposite. Although Europe’s leaders continue to insist that the problem is too much spending in debtor nations, the real problem is too little spending in Europe as a whole. And their efforts to fix matters by demanding ever harsher austerity have played a major role in making the situation worse. ...
Warnings that this would deepen the slump were waved away. “The idea that austerity measures could trigger stagnation is incorrect,” declared Jean-Claude Trichet, then the president of the European Central Bank. Why? Because “confidence-inspiring policies will foster and not hamper economic recovery.”
But the confidence fairy was a no-show. ...
At this point, markets have lost faith in the euro as a whole, driving up interest rates even for countries like Austria and Finland, hardly known for profligacy. And it’s not hard to see why. The combination of austerity-for-all and a central bank morbidly obsessed with inflation makes it essentially impossible for indebted countries to escape from their debt trap and is, therefore, a recipe for widespread debt defaults, bank runs, and general financial collapse.
I hope, for our sake as well as theirs, that the Europeans will change course before it’s too late. But, to be honest, I don’t believe they will. In fact, what’s much more likely is that we will follow them down the path to ruin.
For in America, as in Europe, the economy is being dragged down by troubled debtors — in our case, mainly homeowners. And here, too, we desperately need expansionary fiscal and monetary policies to support the economy as these debtors struggle back to financial health. Yet, as in Europe, public discourse is dominated by deficit scolds and inflation obsessives.
So the next time you hear someone claiming that if we don’t slash spending we’ll turn into Greece, your answer should be that if we do slash spending while the economy is still in a depression, we’ll turn into Europe. In fact, we’re well on our way.
Posted by Mark Thoma on Friday, December 2, 2011 at 12:33 AM in Economics, International Finance
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Krugman does not have a long-term framework (for example, he has only recently become interested in the long-term evolution of private debt, though it is a key to understanding the current crisis), so he just stretches the definition of “short-term” and keeps making the same Keynesian argument – and that’s very disappointing.
And while you're at it, explain where the confidence fairies have been since the first time "inflation is coming" has been mentioned. Include the amount of time in months people have been screaming "inflation!" and what the figures are for that entire period, and what the market is telling us it is likely to be in the future.
Austerity. What splurging needs cut.
The cutting frenzie is used as anti New Deal agitprop, just a continuation of the post WW II anti New Dealers. That is why the Greece false analogy comes up in US austerity screed.
Compared to the Eurozone the US spends three times share of its GDP occupying military sink holes around the world.
US austerity must start at closing down the corporatists' military machine.
That's the only way forward that makes any sense. The other way, austerity (a misnomer, liquidation is more accurate), offers only destitution for a majority of citizens.
Employment is the only metric to consider right now. Everything else, including deficits and debt, are useless distractions.
It's truly incredible that so many important public officials, like Trichet, have talked themselves into this kind of superstitious voodoo - and have actually bet on it as the main tool of policy in a major recession.
Imagine that all of the developed world's public health officials, faced with a major epidemic, had suddenly concluded the thing to do is to order up truckloads of leeches and subject their countries to a regime of massive bleeding. Some of these officials believe that bleeding is medically effective. Others only believe that since some folks believe bleeding is materially effective, we can count on the placebo effect alone to end the epidemic.
And all the while cases full of effective medicines sit unopened on pallets in the government warehouses.
Both the true believers in bleeding and the true believers in the omnipotence of the placebo effect should be flogged.
Look at the way John F. Kennedy linked up with Norman Cousins and SANE to turn around public opinion on the atmospheric nuclear test ban treaty. Its a matter of genuine commitment to a cause.
And what does Germany and France (and other countries in Europe) spending have to do with PIIGS spending? I doubt that more spending with 7+% yields on government debt would be positively received. Printing money may temporarily lower interest rates but that really doesn't seem to be the PIIGS problem does it? They didn't get a mountain of debt because of Germany, France, etc.
December 2, 2011
Profligate Zombies
By Paul Krugman
Dean Baker has a series of posts * about bad reporting on the euro crisis; he is evidently, and with good reason, upset at the way just about every report states as a fact that excessive borrowing caused the crisis.
This is another one of those zombie ideas that permeate our discourse; it’s part of the narrative, and no amount of evidence can kill it or even stop reporters/editors from stating it as a fact.
So, one more time, here are some data (from the IMF World Economic Outlook database). Debt as a % of GDP for Spain and Italy:
[Gross debt as percent of GDP for Italy and Spain, 199-2011]
Before the crisis Spain had low and declining debt. Italy had high debt inherited from the past, but it was steadily working that debt down relative to GDP. Neither country was being profligate — that’s just not what happened. Since the crisis debt has been rising relative to GDP, but that’s what happens when you have an economic crisis.
Yes, Greece. But Greece is now a tiny part of this story. As I said in today’s column, Greece (GDP of about $300 billion) is roughly Greater Miami ($270 billion). Italy and Spain are the big stories, and they were not, repeat not, fiscally profligate.
* http://www.cepr.net/index.php/beat-the-press/
I can't disagree with the gist, getting back to robust growth. But growth for debtors to get back to financial health or austerity to pay off debts is still the same.
I'm afraid that we are going into a global lost decade with a yoke of ever increasing debt because we are more concerned that bankers get paid than creating jobs and real growth.
It is just one funding mechanism after another, do we need more loans and debt or less? What is it actually paying for? Not jobs and growth in meaning full sectors of the economy.
It's time for a debt jubilee. It's been more than 50 years.
Where is that tax holiday?
Repatriation Tax Holiday to Be Proposed by Hagan, McCain
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-10-05/repatriation-tax-holiday-to-be-proposed-by-hagan-mccain.html