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How They Paid for the War — Sam Levy

http://mikenormaneconomics.blogspot.com/2023/01/how-they-paid-for-war-sam-levy…
Created
Tue, 31/01/2023 - 09:38
I am certainly not the first person to point to wartime mobilization as a model for our response to climate change. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made headlines3 for it within politics, but academics such as JW Mason, Andrew Bossie, and Isabella Weber have also worked to extract lessons from World War II for today.4 In my research I zero in on the Treasury, a key nexus of macroeconomic policymaking, and compare and contrast their view specifically with that of MMT.

The method is historical: I dug through various sources, primary and secondary, to piece together the worldview held by Treasury officials. The result is a surprisingly long list of direct quotations that you could easily mistake for having come from an MMT economist.…
Of course, the MMT economists noticed this too.

Good article based on MMT principles but which is framed to appeal to the progressives looking at a Green New Deal rather than as a tract promoting MMT.

Strange Matters
How They Paid for the War

Russia and Iran launch payment system as an alternative to Swift — Middle East Eye

http://mikenormaneconomics.blogspot.com/2023/01/russia-and-iran-launch-payment-…
Created
Tue, 31/01/2023 - 09:08
Iran and Russia have linked their banking systems, a senior Iranian official said on Monday, a move that will allow the two heavily sanctioned countries with deepening economic ties to trade and conduct business outside the US financial system.

The two connected their interbank communication and transfer systems. Since the 2018 reimposition of sanctions, Iran has been disconnected from the western-based Swift financial messaging system, while many Russian banks were kicked off the platform following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

"Iranian banks no longer need to use SWIFT ... with Russian banks, which can be for the opening of Letters of Credit and transfers or warranties," deputy governor of Iran's Central Bank, Mohsen Karimi, told the semi-official Fars news agency.…

The "National Debt" is No One's Fault — Stephanie Kelton

http://mikenormaneconomics.blogspot.com/2023/01/the-national-debt-is-no-ones-fa…
Created
Tue, 31/01/2023 - 08:49
Let's stop the finger-pointing and have an honest conversation. Neither side is responsible for our debt crisis, because there isn't one....

 Substantial post.

The Lens
The "National Debt" is No One's Fault
Stephanie Kelton | Professor of Public Policy and Economics at Stony Brook University, formerly Democrats' chief economist on the staff of the U.S. Senate Budget Committee, and an economic adviser to the 2016 presidential campaign of Senator Bernie Sanders

every small city has that one dictator chic house

https://mcmansionhell.com/post/707909502449614849
Created
Tue, 31/01/2023 - 08:45

I don’t know why, but every city, no matter how big, has some insanely stacked dictator-looking McMansion somewhere outside the city limits. If you sort your Zillow results as Price: High - Low, this house will pop up first. It costs something like $5,000,000. It is 10,000 square feet. There are usually frescos and tawdry gildedness of some variety. The realtor’s text brags of marble and uses the word “Manor.”

Today, our house, squarely in this category, is found in the suburbs of Milwaukee, WI, not really a place known for unhinged 21st century robber barons. In fact, I find Wisconsin to be one of the least McMansion-dense states in the country. Even the guy who invented Culvers or the Milwaukee Bucks probably has a much less insane house than the one I’m about to show you:

The Stormy case is back on the agenda?

https://digbysblog.net/2023/01/30/the-stormy-case-is-back-on-the-agenda/
Created
Tue, 31/01/2023 - 08:30
apparently … I confess that I find this a little bit hard to understand. Why have they decided that it’s worth pursuing now? But fine. He’s a crook, go after the crimes: The Manhattan district attorney’s office on Monday will begin presenting evidence to a grand jury about Donald J. Trump’s role in paying hush money to a porn star during his 2016 presidential campaign, laying the groundwork for potential criminal charges against the former president in the coming months, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The grand jury was recently impaneled, and witness testimony will soon begin, a clear signal that the district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, is nearing a decision about whether to charge Mr. Trump. On Monday, one of the witnesses was seen with his lawyer entering the building in Lower Manhattan where the grand jury is sitting. The witness, David Pecker, is the former publisher of The National Enquirer, the tabloid that helped broker the deal with the porn star, Stormy Daniels.

NUS Philosophy Apologizes for Rejection Email Mishap

https://dailynous.com/2023/01/30/nus-philosophy-apologizes-for-rejection-email-…
Created
Tue, 31/01/2023 - 07:54
To its credit, the Department of Philosophy at National University of Singapore, in a timely manner, emailed some applicants to its recently advertised open rank position to inform them that they were no longer being considered for the job. Unfortunately, the email addresses of all of the recipients of the rejection letter were visible in the “cc” section of the message. The result was that over 200 people were exposed as having applied to the position. For some, this is no big deal, for others, it is. It’s a kind of privacy violation, but as one reader of Daily Nous put it in an email, the error also puts some “scholars in precarious positions at risk, since many do not want their employers to know that they are applying elsewhere,” for fear of upsetting them, or giving them reason to not renew their contracts. Once notified of the error, the search committee member responsible for it wrote to the affected candidates to apologize.

REVIEW: Doctor Who: Cass – An Unexpectedly Fun Time War Romp

https://www.blogtorwho.com/review-doctor-who-cass-an-unexpectedly-fun-time-war-…
Created
Tue, 31/01/2023 - 07:00

The Doctor has an impossible reunion in three stories that showcase Paul McGann at his charismatic, freewheeling best Time is a funny thing, and nowhere is that more true than in the world of Big Finish. Their unique mandate to cover all of Doctor Who from An Unearthly Child to The Power of the Doctor […]

The post REVIEW: Doctor Who: Cass – An Unexpectedly Fun Time War Romp appeared first on Blogtor Who.

In case you were wondering if they learned their lesson

https://digbysblog.net/2023/01/30/in-case-you-were-wondering-if-they-learned-th…
Created
Tue, 31/01/2023 - 07:00
They did not The tiny red trickle last November was a coincidence, apparently. They’re all-in on the forced pregnancy thing. The Republican National Committee passed a resolution Monday urging party members at both the state and federal levels to pass the most aggressive anti-abortion legislation possible in the run-up to 2024.  It specifically points to heartbeat bills, which usually translate as six-week gestational bans — before most women know that they’re pregnant — and “fetal pain” legislation, premised on the anti-abortion myth that embryos and fetuses can feel pain far before they’ve developed the structures that would allow them to.  The resolution also blames Republicans’ historically weak midterms performance on candidates failing to push their anti-abortion bona fides hard enough. You read that right. They didn’t press their out of the mainstream, anti-abortion beliefs hard enough which evidently led to people voting for Democrats instead? Actually, they clearly believe they failed on turnout which is incorrect.

Eight logics of higher education funding in Australia

https://www.ppesydney.net/eight-logics-of-higher-education-funding-in-australia/
Created
Tue, 31/01/2023 - 06:00

In 2023, a panel appointed by the federal government will be conducting a much-needed review of Australia’s higher education system. The recommendations of the panel, led by Professor Mary O’Kane, will feed into the Australian Universities Accord that the federal government has committed to implementing.

It is timely, then, that Sydney University Press has just published a book titled Australian Universities: A Conversation About Public Good. The book is edited by Julia Horne and Matthew A.M. Thomas and features essays by over 20 authors reflecting on different aspects of the role of public universities in Australia’s economy and society. The book is full of ideas about how Australian universities can better advance the public good, and should be compulsory reading for Accord panel members.

Labour forces Holocaust survivor out of party with expulsion threat email

https://skwawkbox.org/2023/01/30/labour-forces-holocaust-survivor-out-of-party-…
Created
Tue, 31/01/2023 - 05:57
Stephen Kapos says he has a duty to teach others about his experience whether Starmer and co like it or not As Skwawkbox predicted last week, Holocaust survivor Stephen Kapos has been driven out of the Labour party in yet another demonstration of the antisemitism and arrogance of the Labour right. Kapos, who survived the […]

How Not to Fight Inflation

https://rooseveltinstitute.org/2023/01/30/how-not-to-fight-inflation/
Created
Tue, 31/01/2023 - 05:44

A careful look at US economic conditions supports the view that inflation was driven mainly by supply-side disruptions and shifts in the pattern of demand. Given this, further interest-rate hikes will have little to no effect – and will cause far-reaching problems of their own.

The post How Not to <span class="dewidow">Fight Inflation</span> appeared first on Roosevelt Institute.

Are there any emails?

https://digbysblog.net/2023/01/30/are-there-any-emails/
Created
Tue, 31/01/2023 - 05:30
If not, this is just fine. Carry on. Former President Donald J. Trump’s golf courses will host three tournaments this year for the breakaway league that Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund is underwriting, deepening the financial ties between a candidate for the White House and top officials in Riyadh. LIV Golf, which in the past year has cast men’s professional golf into turmoil as it lured players away from the PGA Tour, said on Monday that it would travel to Trump courses in Florida, New Jersey and Virginia during this year’s 14-stop season. Neither the league nor the Trump Organization announced the terms of their arrangement, but the schedule shows the Saudi-backed start-up will remain allied with, and beneficial to, one of its foremost defenders and political patrons as he seeks a return to power. This man, his half-wit spawn and all of his followers are trying to turn Hunter Biden’s old business dealings into a major corruption scandal and he’s doing this right in front of everyone’s eyes while he’s running for president.

The common currency for the Mercosur — Matias Vernengo

http://mikenormaneconomics.blogspot.com/2023/01/the-common-currency-for-mercosu…
Created
Tue, 31/01/2023 - 05:26
Lula's visit to Argentina, during the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) meeting, brought about a brief discussion of the possibility of a common currency. I have discussed here (as well as many guest bloggers) both currency unions, in particular the euro, and it's consequences. Note that the FT piece linked suggested that the common currency was the first step in a long process. I doubt it, in part because, if the end goal is a real currency union, it would be a terrible idea. The actual proposal by the current finance minister, Fernando Haddad, and one of his collaborators, Gabriel Galípolo, falls short of a common currency area. It is still a bad idea....

In my view, the point of this announcement was purely political, and to suggest that the integration between the two countries, one with a threatened economy [Argentina], the other with a threatened democracy [Brazil], is a priority. Both left of center presidents stand together.… There is no circumstance in which a movement in the direction of a common currency makes any sense. 

Russia’s gas union eyes Pakistan, India — M. K. Bhadrakumar

http://mikenormaneconomics.blogspot.com/2023/01/russias-gas-union-eyes-pakistan…
Created
Tue, 31/01/2023 - 05:14
The big growth in this century is expected to be in Asia, including Central Asia and Southeast Asia, and Africa — unless the West can either control the regions or disrupt their growth. Growth requires increased energy use and alternative energy other than nuclear is not there yet. And even with nuclear energy, much of the planet's uranium now comes from Kazakstan and Russia. Russia also constructs nuclear power plants. 

This article is mostly about natural gas along with the geopolitics and geo-economics involved.

India Punchline
Russia’s gas union eyes Pakistan, India
M. K. Bhadrakumar | retired diplomat with the Indian Foreign Service and former ambassador.