Australian Politics Forum - Modern Monetary Theory (MMT)

thegreatdivide

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Re: Modern Monetary Theory (MMT)
Reply #735 - Feb 12^th, 2024 at 12:29pm

Grappler Truth Teller Feller wrote on Feb 12^th, 2024 at 9:46am:

That's the way - stick to something out there in Blue Sky Territory that you can ruminate about all day and nobody cares... you can make out you know it all there... since nobody wants to bother.

Er....quite a few people are "warning" (based on ignorance) about "unsustainable govt. debt".

Quote:

Just like John Smith - contribute about what you know ... stick to that... he's OK with industrial relations and a little bit about housing

Interestingly, yesterday Alan Kohler said Oz's housing policies during the last 4 decades have been our biggest economic mistake; affordability is now half what it was 4 decades ago.

Quote:

- but that's about it.... you're good at mumbling darkly about changing the way we view money as if the world will do that, and how that will solve all the problems ... the rest is just abuse of the ears and eyes... especially when you discuss the UN - about which you know nothing....

I know your world view is responsible for crippling the UN - eg, with the UNSC veto, in particular.

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Frank

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Re: Modern Monetary Theory (MMT)
Reply #736 - Feb 12^th, 2024 at 3:59pm

thegreatdivide wrote on Feb 8^th, 2024 at 1:26pm:

The World Bank, another useless hangover from the US- brokered Bretton Woods Conference (1944).

Yesterday they reported poverty in Pakistan has reached 50%, with millions of people still forced to live in the open after the devastating floods two years ago.

Practical fixes?

They don't have a clue.

You are famous, parrot

https://twitter.com/Motabhai012/status/1756884834201571695

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thegreatdivide

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Re: Modern Monetary Theory (MMT)
Reply #737 - Feb 13^th, 2024 at 11:13am

Frank wrote on Feb 12^th, 2024 at 3:59pm:

thegreatdivide wrote on Feb 8^th, 2024 at 1:26pm:

The World Bank, another useless hangover from the US- brokered Bretton Woods Conference (1944).

Yesterday they reported poverty in Pakistan has reached 50%, with millions of people still forced to live in the open after the devastating floods two years ago.

Practical fixes?

They don't have a clue.

You are famous, parrot

https://twitter.com/Motabhai012/status/1756884834201571695

Thanks, but can you offer the pathetic World Bank executives any clues?

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thegreatdivide

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Re: Modern Monetary Theory (MMT)
Reply #738 - Feb 16^th, 2024 at 1:14pm

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-12/tax-reform-unavoidable-income-tax-workers...

'It's not just unfair but immoral': Why experts say Australia's tax system is broken and what can be done to fix it

..........

Lots of ideas from "experts" on how to raise taxes "equitably".

Pity the "experts" don't know the currency-issuing government doesn't need 'taxpayer money', it needs to be able to purchase the needed resources, in the currency of issue.

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thegreatdivide

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Re: Modern Monetary Theory (MMT)
Reply #739 - Feb 17^th, 2024 at 9:25am

Tweet from Steven Hail:

"Japan has an unemployment rate of 2.4%, inflation rate of 2.6%, zero (slightly negative) official interest rate, good public services and a long life expectancy.

It really doesn't matter if their GDP falls a bit."

Followed by another tweet from Phil Waller:

"Exactly and what is gdp?

Gdp is cigarette manufacturing juxtaposed with cancer care".

..pointing to the idiocy of gdp (including unhealthy consumption) as a measure of national well-being.

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« Last Edit: Feb 17^th, 2024 at 10:01am by thegreatdivide »

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thegreatdivide

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Re: Modern Monetary Theory (MMT)
Reply #740 - Feb 18^th, 2024 at 10:04am

Tweet from Stephanie Kelton (author of 'The Deficit Myth'):

The (currency-issuing) government doesn't need to tax or borrow in order to spend. Real resources (inflation) and distribution (inequality) matter.

Examined here by economist Richard Murphy:

https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/02/16/the-reality-of-fiscal-headroom-is...

The reality of fiscal headroom is that the UK has large amounts of it available – but only if the government is willing to spend more
Posted on February 16 2024

I had discussions with other economists yesterday, in which issues like fiscal headroom were on the table for debate. I wrote about this issue very recently.

Unsurprisingly, given my choice of company, those I was talking to had little time for this idea as put forward by the likes of Jeremy Hunt, HM Treasury, the Office for Budget Responsibility, the Financial Times and others. The reason for that is quite straightforward. All of them treat money as the singular constraint on action within our economy. That is their fundamental error.

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« Last Edit: Feb 18^th, 2024 at 5:06pm by thegreatdivide »

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thegreatdivide Gold Member Offline Australian Politics<br /> Posts: 12936 Gender:	Re: Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) Reply #741 - Feb 18^th, 2024 at 5:02pm Another country crippled by government debt, courtesy of the current money-creating privileges granted to private financiers alone. https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/other/desperate-egypt-sells-off-historic-hotels-a... Desperate Egypt sells off historic hotels as it dives deeper into debt
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thegreatdivide

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Re: Modern Monetary Theory (MMT)
Reply #742 - Feb 19^th, 2024 at 10:14am

https://www.msn.com/en-au/money/other/the-first-step-to-our-economic-liberation-...

The first step to our economic liberation is to tear up these crippling fiscal rules

......

Well.....yeh, but Will Hutton claims most people WANT to pay more tax for better government services.

What planet is he living on?

The Right only have to shout " the Left want higher taxes"....and the Left fall into line quick smart.

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« Last Edit: Feb 19^th, 2024 at 10:51am by thegreatdivide »

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Frank

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Re: Modern Monetary Theory (MMT)
Reply #743 - Feb 19^th, 2024 at 10:25am

thegreatdivide wrote on Feb 13^th, 2024 at 11:13am:

Frank wrote on Feb 12^th, 2024 at 3:59pm:

thegreatdivide wrote on Feb 8^th, 2024 at 1:26pm:

The World Bank, another useless hangover from the US- brokered Bretton Woods Conference (1944).

Yesterday they reported poverty in Pakistan has reached 50%, with millions of people still forced to live in the open after the devastating floods two years ago.

Practical fixes?

They don't have a clue.

You are famous, parrot

https://twitter.com/Motabhai012/status/1756884834201571695

Thanks, but can you offer the pathetic World Bank executives any clues?

Er... to pluck you, parrot...??

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thegreatdivide

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Re: Modern Monetary Theory (MMT)
Reply #744 - Feb 19^th, 2024 at 10:50am

Frank wrote on Feb 19^th, 2024 at 10:25am:

thegreatdivide wrote on Feb 13^th, 2024 at 11:13am:

Frank wrote on Feb 12^th, 2024 at 3:59pm:

thegreatdivide wrote on Feb 8^th, 2024 at 1:26pm:

The World Bank, another useless hangover from the US- brokered Bretton Woods Conference (1944).

Yesterday they reported poverty in Pakistan has reached 50%, with millions of people still forced to live in the open after the devastating floods two years ago.

Practical fixes?

They don't have a clue.

You are famous, parrot

https://twitter.com/Motabhai012/status/1756884834201571695

Thanks, but can you offer the pathetic World Bank executives any clues?

Er... to pluck you, parrot...??

Aren't you disgracing yourself, on this educational thread read by tens sometimes hundreds of people daily?

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it_is_the_light Gold Member Offline Christ Light Posts: 41434 The Pyramid of LIGHT Gender:	Re: Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) Reply #745 - Feb 21^st, 2024 at 8:58am The Modern Fiat Monetary system is a Dead currency walking You are watching it die as we go back to precious metals
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thegreatdivide

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Re: Modern Monetary Theory (MMT)
Reply #746 - Feb 21^st, 2024 at 9:54am

it_is_the_light wrote on Feb 21^st, 2024 at 8:58am:

The Modern Fiat Monetary system is a Dead currency walking

You are watching it die as we go back to precious metals

(google)

"In conclusion, the gold standard has its advantages and disadvantages. While it provides stability, transparency, and discipline, it also limits the money supply, flexibility of monetary policy, and requires sufficient gold reserves. Whether it is still a viable economic system in the modern world is up for debate." 16 May 2023

[Nixon took the US off the gold standard in 1971 because the US didn't have enough gold to cover US global trade transactions:

https://insights.som.yale.edu/insights/how-the-nixon-shock-remade-the-world-econ...

How the ‘Nixon Shock’ Remade the World Economy
In a new book, Yale SOM Dean Emeritus Jeffrey Garten explores a moment when the U.S. realized it needed to take a different role on the global stage in response to trade and economic challenges. Richard Nixon’s decision to delink the dollar from gold, announced without warning in August 1971, remade the global monetary system in an instant. We talked with Garten about the three days of drama leading up to the announcement and how it reverberates today.

In any case, it's time to learn governments don't need to tax or borrow in order to spend; currency-issuing governments, limited only by inflation, need to oversee productive mobilization - in both the public and private sectors - of available resources for the benefit of the community, as opposed to achieving particular government deficit or debt numbers.

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thegreatdivide

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Re: Modern Monetary Theory (MMT)
Reply #747 - Feb 22^nd, 2024 at 11:12am

Breaking News from Sky News....

"Keating 'still has his marbles' following taxation comments: Terry McCrann
Story by Sky News Australia • 14h

[.....Maybe, but McCrann's own 'marbles' are suspect]:

Former Australian prime minister Paul Keating has “still got his marbles” after describing the current tax rate as ‘confiscatory’, says business columnist Terry McCrann.

"They are not only punitive for the taxpayer, but it means less tax revenues actually flow to the government,” Mr McCrann told Sky News host Sharri Markson.

“One of the great lessons we should have learnt in the second half of the 20th century is that lowering the tax rate actually increases the tax harvest.
You get more production, you get more income, you get more taxes".

“The brackets won’t be indexed, so we get inflation going up, we’ll get wages going up – we get that tax hike going up.”

......

1. Both are not addressing the need to collect taxes from wealthy individuals and companies who avoid paying their fair share. (Garnaut and Sims have addressed this point recently, calling for taxes on fossil-fuel companies).

2. McCrann ignores the egregious effects of privatization (as governments try to save money) eg, the run down of public housing.

3. Bracket creep doesn't cause inflation, it reduces purchasing power (marginally).

4. But if AGW is real, governments will have to mobilize the resources required to transition to 100% renewables, without borrowing or collecting taxes.....(the subject of this MMT thread...). The private sector won't do the transition quickly enough.

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« Last Edit: Feb 22^nd, 2024 at 6:24pm by thegreatdivide »

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thegreatdivide Gold Member Offline Australian Politics<br /> Posts: 12936 Gender:	Re: Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) Reply #748 - Feb 23^rd, 2024 at 10:15am Dr. Steven Hail tweeted: Rogoff wrote this, more than 20 yrs ago. 'Little of what appears in today's professional economics journals will seem obvious. However, that is only because it takes constant training and retooling to be able to follow the assumptions.' Just read it again. Still makes me laugh. Indeed.
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thegreatdivide

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Re: Modern Monetary Theory (MMT)
Reply #749 - Feb 24^th, 2024 at 10:46am

An article on MMT from NZ financial editor Gareth Vaughan, posted today (Feb 24th):

https://www.interest.co.nz/public-policy/126524/us-modern-monetary-theory-advoca...

As US Modern Monetary Theory advocates make their case in Australia, Gareth Vaughan explains the world through their lens and how it might go down in New Zealand

"This coming week a film*** arguing government deficits are good rather than bad, and the American economist who’s its key protagonist, embark on a tour of Australia".

*** "entitled 'Finding the Money', produced by Maren Poitras; Oz tour begins in Adelaide March 7th.

.......

(Comments to follow in subsequent posts).

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« Last Edit: Feb 24^th, 2024 at 12:25pm by thegreatdivide »

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