Diaries

Anti-Capitalist Meet-Up - Why you should still care about Modern Monetary Theory

iu_1_[1] "The biggest capital power in London is of course the Bank of England, but its position as a semi-state institution makes it impossible for it to assert its domination in so brutal a fashion. Nonetheless, it too is sufficiently capable of looking after itself... Inasmuch as the Bank issues notes that are not backed by the metal reserve in its vaults, it creates tokens of value that are not only means of circulation, but also forms additional - even if fictitious - capital for it, to the nominal value of these fiduciary notes, and this extra capital yields it an extra profit." Marx, Karl. Capital, volume 3. Penguin. pp. 674–675.

Someone who had the time and wherewithal will probably have a first-hand report on this past weekend’s recent 2nd annual Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) conference in NYC.

Until that happens it seemed important to remind ourselves how important MMT is to progressive politics and how a radical political economy approach requires the continuing research work in this area, albeit largely academic. For a MMT primer go to this link.

It is one of the few contemporary movements that from a double-coding or even a dual coding perspective has the advantage of implying socialist solutions without ever having to mention socialism or Marx.

Socialism[1]

This is not a trivial matter, considering the ignorance of the US populace.

MMT is not necessarily a socialist stalking horse, but its adoption by folks like Bernie Sanders, provides one of many tools for how the current idiocy can be brought under control.

Naval blockade would mean ‘war’: Moscow slams US idea of hampering Russian trade

Well this isn’t good.

Naval blockade would mean ‘war’: Moscow slams US idea of hampering Russian trade

Attempts to use the US Navy to block Russia’s trade would amount to a declaration of war, a high-ranking senator commented on the US internal secretary’s idea of impeding Russia’s energy trade through a blockade.

The Weekly Watch

A Swiss Watch

(conclusion)

I'm back home now...where crickets chirp and the forests drip with rain. In last week's essay I was in the North and West of Switzerland. This week we'll look South and East. I want to try to give my take on the local people rather than the tourists. The title of this essay describes much about the country...it runs like a Swiss watch...with precision. However there are strong regional differences...much like the US (despite it's smaller size). I'm no Rick Steves, but I'll also give you few of my travel tips. So if you would like, join in and take this last ride though Switzerland with me.

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Legitimate Government

I try to reduce complex problems to soluble models, and then extrapolate those trends to see if the models fit and therefore can predict real life. To do that I must identify a problem, model it as a system, define the sub systems, functions, and their boundaries, interfaces, and constraints.

The problem I see is our understanding of how our government works. Let's look at that.

No Cigar For Congress, But Credit Freeze Now Free

012-800x600 C99 Essay Credit Freeze.jpg

Seems like eons ago when we first learned of the Equifax security breach and all the fail that followed. You know, like, the mgmt sold their stock before reporting the breach?

Here, happy Saturday, have a laugh and refresh your memory about how screwed so many people were and still are .

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