Fundraising wound up about $200 short, but I’ll probably write the final article on reasons to hope anyway, as it was so close and the past few years have been hard for so many. My very sincere thanks to everyone who gave.
Feel free to use this thread to discuss topics unrelated to recent posts.
Climate change is slowing down the conveyor belt of ocean currents that brings warm water from the tropics up to the North Atlantic. read now...When the limit is reached, it forces Congress to reaffirm its willingness to spend what it is already legally obligated to spend.
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.
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:
Hovertext:
Go forth and ruin a nice thing, friends.
