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2401 [lbo-talk] Money -- rank: 1000

On Aug 6, 2011, at 7:07 PM, SA wrote: > Okay, but we're talking about two different things here. See below: >> Spend that much on a jobs program, though, and that means creating new kinds of jobs and not just Walmart associates, right? So you spend this $500-600 billion of Fed money - and what then? These jobs will not be replaced by any broader labor market recovery they stimulate. You'd want to keep spending on this - and then you'd have to raise taxes to fund it over the longer term. ...

Document Size:	6344
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sat Aug 6 17:50:03 PDT 2011

2402 [lbo-talk] Money -- rank: 1000

On Aug 6, 2011, at 4:33 PM, SA wrote: > I this Steve's question is a good one and the answer isn't totally obvious. Let's imagine a dialogue between an MMT'er and some sane mainstream type ("MS") like Larry Summers or Ben Bernanke. > > --- > > MMT: If the govt wants to spend money it doesn't have, and the economy is at less than full employment, why not just spend the money? Why go through this circuitous process of pretending like you "need" to issue bonds to ...

Document Size:	6286
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sat Aug 6 14:08:36 PDT 2011

2403 [lbo-talk] Money -- rank: 1000

QE = qualitative easing, which basically means the Fed buys long bonds. On Aug 6, 2011, at 2:24 PM, christian bayes wrote: > QE1: Fed buys mortgage backed securities, bank debt and Treasury Notes. $2.1 > trillion by 2010. > > QE2: Fed buys $600 billion in Treasury Notes between Nov. 2010 and June > 2011. > > > On Sat, Aug 6, 2011 at 1:50 PM, Carrol Cox <cbcox at ilstu.edu> wrote: > >> What does QEn refer to? >> >> Carrol >> >> ______ ...

Document Size:	5556
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sat Aug 6 11:40:05 PDT 2011

2404 [lbo-talk] Money -- rank: 1000

On Aug 6, 2011, at 1:53 PM, Steve Bruns wrote: > I guess a larger question then is why is such an artificial fiscal constraint tolerated or even seen as useful? Is it to provide the investor class a risk-free parking spot for excess cash? A way of funneling tax dollars to the overclass? Because over the long term you just can't create money out of thin air and have it be effective. You need to shift real resources - out of Jaguars and third houses and into child care and high-speed rail. Mo ...

Document Size:	4902
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sat Aug 6 11:39:40 PDT 2011

2405 [lbo-talk] Money -- rank: 1000

On Aug 6, 2011, at 11:50 AM, Steve Bruns wrote: > I'm having trouble parsing the fundamental difference between Brad Delong's $500B platinum coin, Bernanke's "computer keystroke" funding of QE 1, 2 and soon to be 3 and the Chartalist/MMT concept of money = points. Doesn't this put to rest the notion that Treasury needs to borrow funds to deficit spend - other than the statutory requirement, of couse? Could someone point me to a clarification? QEn hasn't done much, really, has it?

Document Size:	4828
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sat Aug 6 10:12:26 PDT 2011

2406 [lbo-talk] S&P downgrades U.S. debt -- rank: 1000

On Aug 6, 2011, at 10:49 AM, Max Sawicky wrote: > It's worth noting unless somebody already said this that Japan was rated > lower than the U.S. but could also sell debt at lower interest rates. So > 'the market' doesn't really give a crap about these ratings. They have some > impact on institutions with fixed rules about what they can own (e.g., > pension funds), and of course there is the political fall-out. I think there are exceptions to the rules on ownership for sovereigns ...

Document Size:	5098
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Sat Aug 6 10:09:33 PDT 2011

2407 [lbo-talk] Left-neoliberalism: a bold strategy for the year 1999 -- rank: 1000

On Aug 4, 2011, at 9:52 PM, Bhaskar Sunkara wrote: > I prefer general secretary. > > Yglesias' referencing of Lula's successes in Brazil struck me > as characteristically glib... I guess when you're as prolific as him and all > you're trying to produce is a couple of paragraphs, one little graph is > enough to make a sweeping pronouncement without any consideration of how > different the contexts between the two countries are. MattYg: "I keep coming across odd columns u ...

Document Size:	5483
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Aug 4 18:56:52 PDT 2011

2408 [lbo-talk] me on CBC, Sunday morning -- rank: 1000

http://lbo-news.com/2011/08/04/me-on-the-cbc-sunday/ Me on the CBC, Sunday I m scheduled to be on Sunday Edition on CBC Radio One this Sunday, discussing the debt melodrama with Jack Mintz of the C.D. Howe Institute, a right-wing think tank. Recorded it this afternoon. Canadian right-wingers just don t seem as rabid as ours do.

Document Size:	4974
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Aug 4 18:47:56 PDT 2011

2409 [lbo-talk] stupid and disgusting -- rank: 1000

http://pewresearch.org/pubs/2078/debt-ceiling-limits-budget-deficit-tea-party-republicans-obama-democrats-republicans-ridiculous or http://liten.be//XZSss Public Sees Budget Negotiations as Ridiculous , Disgusting , Stupid" Leaders Images Tarnished August 1, 2011 There is broad public consensus that the budget negotiations of recent weeks can be summed up in words such as ridiculous, disgusting, stupid, and frustrating. Nationwide, 72% describe the recent negotiations in negative terms ...

Document Size:	5412
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Aug 4 12:30:18 PDT 2011

2410 [lbo-talk] questions about the working families party -- rank: 1000

On Aug 4, 2011, at 8:26 AM, Michael Pollak wrote: > On Thu, 4 Aug 2011, Carrol Cox wrote: > >> Time, money, & intelligence spent on electing "left" people to Congress must rank with watching the pretty bubbles in the sink for uselessness. > > Um, Carrol? These are local elections. Not Congress. But you could say something similar about the City Council. NYC is run by the FIRE elite and the elected personnel doing their bidding may change but it's the same agenda ...

Document Size:	5343
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Aug 4 08:43:05 PDT 2011

2411 [lbo-talk] Administrivia ... -- rank: 1000

On Aug 3, 2011, at 8:05 PM, Mike Beggs wrote: > See with this one maybe we just need the Aaron Swartz solution - isn't > he the guy that made the blog of Doug's posts to the list a few years > ago, so people could just read Doug and not have to bother with the > rest of us losers? He did. I did not approve. Which does not mean we shouldn't support him in his legal struggle! Doug

Document Size:	4871
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed Aug 3 17:14:27 PDT 2011

2412 [lbo-talk] Cui malo? -- rank: 1000

On Aug 3, 2011, at 3:33 PM, michael perelman wrote: > Are defense cuts based on current spending or projected spending? Projected. That's the way these things are always scored - relative to baseline.

Document Size:	4576
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed Aug 3 12:55:13 PDT 2011

2413 [lbo-talk] Cui malo? -- rank: 1000

On Aug 3, 2011, at 3:23 PM, SA wrote: > On 8/3/2011 3:07 PM, Doug Henwood wrote: > >> It's one thing to make a deal like this - it's another to translate it into ten real annual budgets. > > You said this before, but what are you really suggesting? That they're going to ignore the caps entirely and keep d/d spending growing at the inflation rate or more? Who knows? There will be five elections between now and 2021. Add SS and Medicare cuts to the discretionary caps and who know ...

Document Size:	5182
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed Aug 3 12:54:39 PDT 2011

2414 [lbo-talk] Cui malo? -- rank: 1000

On Aug 3, 2011, at 2:36 PM, Andy wrote: > On Wed, Aug 3, 2011 at 2:13 PM, SA <s11131978 at gmail.com> wrote: > >> I think what Andy's looking for is a detailed breakdown of specific programs >> that get the axe. This fact sheet doesn't give that, because it has to be >> decided each year through the Congressional committee process. All the deal >> does is set overall caps, which, as the fact sheet brags (and assuming >> they're stuck to) "Reduces Do ...

Document Size:	5493
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed Aug 3 12:07:06 PDT 2011

2415 [lbo-talk] Cui malo? -- rank: 1000

On Aug 3, 2011, at 2:13 PM, SA wrote: > Also, I've read that the fact sheet's claims about defense cuts are questionable: it conflates actual Pentagon spending with overall "security" spending, so it's not clear whether it will all come out of the Pentagon's hide. Yes - that was Boehner's idea. Cuts to veterans' benefits would qualify as Pentagon cuts. Ditto homeland security.

Document Size:	4766
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Wed Aug 3 11:18:21 PDT 2011