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The October Budget offers us a sparkly new “well-being” framework, which doesn't dent the gnarly old Treasury thinking of endless growth and environmental denialism. read now...Capitalizing the commons. Peter Dorman explains why this should not be done.
Basically, actual value lies real resources ("stuff"), not in nominal terms ("money"). For example, this is suggested by the distinction between nominal (market price) and real (inflation-adjusted price). The value of stuff is based on availability and utility. The most "valuable" real resources are are vital resources. On this scale, air and water are the most valuable, although owing to their availability, they are considered free goods.
Trade is settled either by barter, including using commodities, mostly precious metals historically, or a "safe currency" that countries are willing to hold. The USD, GBP, and EUR are considered safe currencies. Thus, an issue arises with "de-dollarization," which includes all currencies that Western powers control the use of. These currencies are considered "safe," that is, are not only default free but also relatively stable, but being subject to Western control, they put users at a disadvantage in that they can be "weaponized." So the question arises, how to settle trade without using currency or settlement systems of "unfriendly" states.
One solution is two-party trade settled either by exchange of commodities that the respective partners to the trade desire, or by using their own currencies. Both alternatives are coming to be used now.
This is why it’s not something you should want. We don’t know anything a out the Special Counsel in the Biden case except that Trump appointed him as US Attorney. And this is not reassuring: At the Justice Department, Hur worked with Rosenstein on Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, the former deputy attorney general told CNN. Hur “was my point person and he had biweekly meetings with Mueller’s team and then briefed me on the progress of the Russian special counsel investigation,” Rosenstein said. “So he has seen that firsthand and he knows that you need not to be influenced by politics and make decisions based on fact and the law and the Department of Justice policy, and I think we can count on Rob to do that.” Rosenstein added: “Rob, like a lot of people I worked with at DOJ, believes it is important to engage in public service and feels a sense of responsibility.
If you’ve been reading or watching the news, then you know that the US hit its self-imposed debt ceiling limit of $31.381 trillion on Thursday, January 19. It’s a pity it didn’t happen on February 2, because Groundhog Day is pretty much the perfect way to mark the occasion. Here we go again!
Earlier this week, Tucker Carlson cheered on the House Republicans’ decision to allow smoking in the Capitol again, as you can see above. I know he’s just trying to be cutesy transgressive and own the libs but it’s sick anyway. It appears that this is going to be a new crusade: That’s not just about “freedom” to kill yourself with cancer. He’s portraying it as good for you. Even the vaccine and mask deniers don’t suggest that getting COVID is fun. But hey, why not get everyone using meth or cocaine.? Of course they don’t give other people cancer which I guess Tucker thinks must be one of the “fun” aspects of it. Enjoy your cancer folks! Is it just me or is he sounding crazier and crazier? I honestly think that the number of people who want to re-introduce smoking cigarettes into our culture is pretty small. Only 12% of population smokes now. Way more people use cannabis. WTH is this??
This is an important post by a law professor. Hat tip to Adam Tooze for pointing me toward it. Here is a key excerpt. According to Professor Menand, the Fed's sole mandate is promoting full capacity utilization and not chiefly managing inflation or running a command economy based on monetary policy decisions. The Fed has only a contributory role. Presently, it is widely assumed that the Fed has a mandate to manage the economy using monetary policy either as a replacement to fiscal policy or as a counter to it using the central bank "reaction function."
Here is a key excerpt:
This piece in the NY Times discussing the abortion bans is depressingly predictable. Even where there are exceptions written into the law they won’t perform abortions: Last summer, a Mississippi woman sought an abortion after, she said, a friend had raped her. Her state prohibits most abortions but allows them for rape victims. Yet she could not find a doctor to provide one. In September, an Indiana woman learned that a fetal defect meant her baby would die shortly after birth, if not sooner. Her state’s abortion ban included an exception for such cases, but she was referred to Illinois or Michigan. An Ohio woman carrying triplets faced a high risk of dangerous complications, including delivering too early. When she tried to get an abortion in September through Ohio’s exception for patients with a medical need, she was turned away. The abortion bans enacted in about half the states since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June do not prohibit abortion entirely. Most make exceptions in certain circumstances, commonly to protect the health or life of the patient, or in the case of rape or incest.
Tell it like it is, António: ‘climate disaster, death sentence, insanity, inconsistent with human survival’. Thank goodness for chocolate and birds. Was any progress made at the last COP meeting in Egypt? Were there game-changing, climate-action breakthroughs or was it simply more talk culminating in yet another failure (Greta Thunberg’s ‘Blah, blah, blah’)? Tom Athanasiou, Continue reading »
Unlike the Ukraine war, the war I am referring to is not a military war; it’s our battle for planetary health, and we have no strategy adequate to the challenge. It is customary to send good wishes for a happy and prosperous New Year. At the end I offer a prayer in that direction. But Continue reading »
Jimmy Carter called the US ‘the most warlike nation in the history of the world,’ and said that ‘peaceful’ China is ‘ahead of us in almost every way’. Japan bashing, depicting atrocities committed by the Japanese empire, serves to further shift public opinion to support Australia’s military alliance with the US, preparing for war against Continue reading »
Ukrainians have become cannon fodder for the US geopolitical goals, just as the South Vietnamese were. In April 1965, U.S. President Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ) explained why he was escalating US involvement in Vietnam. With an Orwellian touch, he titled the speech “Peace without Conquest” as he announced the beginning of US air attacks on Continue reading »
Cardinal George Pell’s vision of a church beyond criticism, its edicts to be slavishly followed, and governed almost exclusively by elderly men sits very uncomfortably with Christ’s proclamation of the Kingdom of God and our contemporary world. The death of Cardinal George Pell has dominated the news cycle over several days. Understandably the focus has Continue reading »
With Western ‘unity’ enabled by Iran’s nuclear scheme and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, China must not oblige with ruinous cross-strait war. Now and then I wish I could ask the same piercing question raised by a fellow journalist to an audience. These two were apparently asked by a Financial Times commentator of a group of Continue reading »
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Today's News:
On The Graham Norton Show, Russell T. Davies reaffirmed a Doctor Who Christmas special this year and "reminded" the host of a past exchange.
Who’s at the Playhouse brings an impressive line-up of Doctor Who stars to Surrey in February Doctor Who convention Who’s at the Playhouse returns to the Epsom Playhouse next month. Boasting two Doctors, seven companions, and seven other actors from the world of Doctor Who the event on the 12th of February will arguably one […]
The post (Doctor) Who’s at the Playhouse in February appeared first on Blogtor Who.
A new book from Edward Elgar Publishing in association with GIMMS. The Gower Initiative for Modern Money Studies is pleased to announce that its book “Modern Monetary Theory: Key Insights, …
The post Modern Monetary Theory: Key Insights, Leading Thinkers appeared first on The Gower Initiative for Modern Money Studies.
Where private jet parking is a bitch Ken Klippenstein from his substack: No, Davos is not a secret plan to raise a stadium of babies in Matrix-style incubator pods, as some Twitter users supposed — prompting a fact check from Reuters. The real Davos conspiracy is hiding in plain sight and it’s pretty much the kind of pro-business agenda you’d expect from a bunch of billionaire Fortune 500 CEOs, heads of state and central bankers meeting at a ski resort in the Swiss Alps. A recent article on the World Economic Forum’s website about “the Davos Agenda” gives you the basic idea: “We desperately need to disrupt our approach to retirement saving.” People are living longer, you see, so they’ll “want to work past mandatory retirement age…while others will need to work longer to remain financially resilient in later life.” Uh-huh.
This was a year ago probably have even more now… Soon to be generating an additional $60B annual risk free munnie for doing nothing… 🤑
13 Firms Hoard $1 Trillion In Cash (We're Looking At You Big Tech) https://t.co/VaNgozrS61 via @IBDinvestors
— Patrick Morris (@patrickmorris) February 5, 2022
Trump: “DON’T CUT Social Security/Medicare”
New policy video from @realDonaldTrump: Cut foreign aid to countries that hate us, cut the billions in Green New Deal extremism, secure the border & stop illegals from using taxpayer funded services, but DON'T CUT Social Security/Medicare for our seniors.pic.twitter.com/1UT065yOZ1
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) January 20, 2023
Biden: “Put all of it on the table”
♫Oh, Mexico | It sounds so simple, I just got to go CNN: Elizabeth Holmes made an “attempt to flee the country” by booking a one-way ticket to Mexico departing in January 2022, shortly after the Theranos founder was convicted of fraud, prosecutors alleged in a new court filing Friday. Holmes was convicted last January of defrauding investors while running the failed blood testing startup Theranos. In November, she was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison. She has appealed her conviction and does not start her prison sentence until this spring, a waiting period that prosecutors described as “generous” and due to her being pregnant. Prosecutors argue that Holmes should start her prison term sooner than the scheduled April 27, 2023 because she remains a flight risk. Especially since she “has the means to act on that incentive.” Holmes’ attorneys claim she bought the ticket in advance of the conviction she thought she’d avoid. She had a wedding to attend in Mexico.
A man expected to testify in Genaro García Luna's federal trial has accused the ex-security chief of helping to reveal the informant's identity to a cartel.
The post Did Mexico’s Top Cop Play a Role in the Killing of a DEA Informant? appeared first on The Intercept.