September 2011 - P2P-Foundation - lists.ourproject.org

Regarding MMT being a cult
by ideasinc＠ee.net 26 Oct '11

26 Oct '11

From Stephanie Kelton at the UMKC economics department Date: Mon, 26 Sep 2011 16:15:13 -0400 Have these folks look at our Twitter following. Journalists, progressive groups, reporters (Reuters and such, not crackpots), MPs (two of them, actually, one a Labor MP from Wales and one from Netherlands (socialist party). Randy and I are now recognized as "contributors" at Truthdig. Anything we write for them (as our New New Deal piece of 2 weeks ago) will be picked up by scores of other progressive sites (Counterpunch ran our latest after it appeared in Truthdig), as well as less progressive places like Global Economic Intersection (which also ran it). Roughly half of MMT blogs are run by traders -- not economists (Pragmatic Capitalism, Center of the Universe, Naked Capitalism, CreditWritedowns (and Ed Harris was an Austrian before he discovered, and then wrestled with, MMT). We are becoming the mainstream in economics, and history will not be kind to the holdouts. We have been right about every major economic event (both forecasting it and then explaining why the policy response would fail to bring about the desired results). Krugman didn't say that QE wouldn't work. We did. Dean Baker is moving toward OUR position. His latest piece on SocSec is a clear indication. In it, he says that there is no reason that SocSec can't be funded out of general revenue FOREVER. That IS MMT. Affordability is not the issue. Why do you think he said that? We know Dean. We like him as a person. But he is NOT a macro economist, and he does not understand the monetary system/government finance. Same goes for Krugman. Not a macro person. Ellen Brown has gotten much better. Why? Because behind the scenes, she is sending e-mails like crazy, seeking input from Randy, Marshall and other MMTers!!! It's nuts. They love these guys, and they are getting their material from us. snip Stephanie

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Agriculturalism - Ancient P2P - China
by robin 17 Oct '11

17 Oct '11

This is an article recently added on Wikipedia, and I think it is a very interesting read. Highly relevant to many of the current movements if you ask me. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriculturalism To the Agriculturalists, the ideal society is communal, agrarian, and egalitarian. The Agriculturalist believed that the ideal government is led by a benevolent king, one who works alongside the people in tilling the fields. The Agriculturalist king is not paid by the government through its treasuries; his livelihood is derived from the profits he earns working in the fields and cooking his own meals, not his leadership. The ruler of Teng is an upright and worthy ruler. However, he has yet to hear the Way. A wise ruler tills the land together with his people to make his living. He governs while cooking his own meals. Now, that Teng has granaries and treasuries means that [the ruler] inflicts hardship on the people to fatten himself. How can he be a worthy ruler? —Xu Xing[6]

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important advance in network theory approaches
by Michel Bauwens 17 Oct '11

17 Oct '11

Dear TOmas, This is quite important in my opinion with network theory finally including human volition and abandoning reductionism, I really hope you can look into this for discussion at our blog, see http://gfbertini.wordpress.com/2011/09/03/wisdom-about-crowds/ ; http://www.economist.com/node/18584096?story_id=18584096&fsrc=rss Existing models of crowd behaviour do just that. They treat moving masses of humanity as though they were fluids. This works, up to a point. But it often fails to predict the changes that happen as a crowd’s density increases and its movement becomes chaotic. That is why Mehdi Moussaid of Paul Sabatier University, in Toulouse, and his colleagues have made a radical innovation. Instead of treating the individual human beings in a crowd as if they were molecules, they have treated them as if they were human beings. They have, in other words, given them volition. Of course, the objective of someone in a moving crowd is usually fairly simple—to get somewhere and then stay there. But it is an objective, nevertheless. -- P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss: http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens; http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens

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copy/pasting issue / reflection on individualist and colllectivist societies
by Michel Bauwens 17 Oct '11

17 Oct '11

http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/staff/academic/proto/poldev/gri… hi franco, I can't copy/paste from the above document, any solution? Michel -- P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss: http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens; http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens

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Michael Hudson KPFA interview
by ideasinc＠ee.net 30 Sep '11

30 Sep '11

This is a link to a interview with Michael Hudson on the KPFA program "Guns and Butter." This a very global and broad discussion. You may have to listen twice. Hudson is a Georgist and MMT economist. http://www.kpfa.org/archive/id/73344

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Three Key Problems with MMT.......................
by robert searle 30 Sep '11

30 Sep '11

The following could be listed in connection with MMT. 1. Mainstream economists would regard the idea that new non-repayable money could be created by governments (ie MMT)thereby replacing tax would be seen as being "too inflationary." 2. The concept from the US point of view that goverments should create their own money sans taxation (except for controlling inflationary pressures where, and when necessary) would be seen as giving elected representatives "too much power!" 3. The most obvious obstacle to MMT is ofcourse the Global Bond Market which would resist any attempt to reduce, or irradicate its power.

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apple working conditions for p2p blog
by Michel Bauwens 30 Sep '11

30 Sep '11

http://www.theage.com.au/technology/technology-news/the-dark-side-of-apple-… Dear Orsan, could you do something with this for the p2p blog, have you also seen the similar story about Amazon, this could be some kind of series? Michel -- P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss: http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens; http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens

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Fwd: Nef : "Where does money come from"
by Michel Bauwens 30 Sep '11

30 Sep '11

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Dante-Gabryell Monson <dante.monson(a)gmail.com> Date: Fri, Sep 30, 2011 at 1:31 AM Subject: Nef : "Where does money come from" To: econowmix(a)googlegroups.com, gtmonnaie(a)gtmonnaie.be New Economics Foundation is opening up and replying to a question some of us may have explored : http://www.neweconomics.org/press-releases/bank-reform-will-fail-without-ac… http://www.neweconomics.org/publications/where-does-money-come-from *http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7L3ZtCSKKs* *Download the Foreword and Overview for free*<http://www.neweconomics.org/sites/neweconomics.org/files/Where_does_money_c…> http://www.neweconomics.org/sites/neweconomics.org/files/Where_does_money_c… /// There is widespread misunderstanding of how new money is created. This book examines the workings of the UK monetary system and concludes that the most useful description is that new money is created by commercial banks when they extend or create credit, either through making loans or buying existing assets. In creating credit, banks simultaneously create deposits in our bank accounts, which, to all intents and purposes, is money. Many people would be surprised to learn that even among bankers, economists, and policymakers, there is no common understanding of how new money is created. This is a problem for two main reasons. First, in the absence of this understanding, attempts at banking reform are more likely to fail. Second, the creation of new money and the allocation of purchasing power are a vital economic function and highly profitable. This is therefore a matter of significant public interest and not an obscure technocratic debate. Greater clarity and transparency about this could improve both the democratic legitimacy of the banking system and our economic prospects. Defining money is surprisingly difficult. We cut through the tangled historical and theoretical debate to identify that anything widely accepted as payment, particularly by the government as payment of tax, is, to all intents and purpose, money. This includes bank credit because although an IOU from a friend is not acceptable at the tax office or in the local shop, an IOU from a bank most definitely is. We identify that the UK’s national currency exists in three main forms, the second two of which exist in electronic form: 1. Cash – banknotes and coins. 2. Central bank reserves – reserves held by commercial banks at the Bank of England. 3. Commercial bank money – bank deposits created either when commercial banks lend money, thereby crediting credit borrowers’ deposit accounts, make payments on behalf of customers using their overdraft facilities, or when they purchase assets from the private sector and make payments on their own account (such as salary or bonus payments). Only the Bank of England or the government can create the first two forms of money, which is referred to in this book as ‘central bank money’. Since central bank reserves do not actually circulate in the economy, we can further narrow down the money supply that is actually circulating as consisting of cash and commercial bank money. Physical cash accounts for less than 3 per cent of the total stock of money in the economy. Commercial bank money – credit and coexistent deposits – makes up the remaining 97 per cent of the money supply. There are several conflicting ways of describing what banks do. The simplest version is that banks take in money from savers, and lend this money out to borrowers. This is not at all how the process works. Banks do not need to wait for a customer to deposit money before they can make a new loan to someone else. In fact, it is exactly the opposite; the making of a loan creates a new deposit in the customer’s account. More sophisticated versions bring in the concept of ‘fractional reserve banking’. This description recognises that banks can lend out many times more than the amount of cash and reserves they hold at the Bank of England. This is a more accurate picture, but is still incomplete and misleading. It implies a strong link between the amount of money that banks create and the amount that they hold at the central bank. It is also commonly assumed by this approach that the central bank has significant control over the amount of reserves banks hold with it. We find that the most accurate description is that banks create new money whenever they extend credit, buy existing assets or make payments on their own account, which mostly involves expanding their assets, and that their ability to do this is only very weakly linked to the amount of reserves they hold at the central bank. At the time of the financial crisis, for example, banks held just £1.25 in reserves for every £100 issued as credit. Banks operate within an electronic clearing system that nets out multilateral payments at the end of each day, requiring them to hold only a tiny proportion of central bank money to meet their payment requirements. The power of commercial banks to create new money has many important implications for economic prosperity and financial stability. We highlight four that are relevant to the reforms of the banking system under discussion at the time of writing: 1. Although useful in other ways, capital adequacy requirements have not and do not constrain money creation, and therefore do not necessarily serve to restrict the expansion of banks’ balance sheets in aggregate. In other words, they are mainly ineffective in preventing credit booms and their associated asset price bubbles. 2. Credit is rationed by banks, and the primary determinant of how much they lend is not interest rates, but confidence that the loan will be repaid and confidence in the liquidity and solvency of other banks and the system as a whole. 3. Banks decide where to allocate credit in the economy. The incentives that they face often lead them to favour lending against collateral, or assets, rather than lending for investment in production. As a result, new money is often more likely to be channelled into property and financial speculation than to small businesses and manufacturing, with profound economic consequences for society. 4. Fiscal policy does not in itself result in an expansion of the money supply. Indeed, the government has in practice no direct involvement in the money creation and allocation process. This is little known, but has an important impact on the effectiveness of fiscal policy and the role of the government in the economy. The basic analysis of this book is neither radical nor new. In fact, central banks around the world support the same description of where new money comes from. And yet many naturally resist the notion that private banks can really create money by simply making an entry in a ledger. Economist J. K. Galbraith suggested why this might be: *The process by which banks create money is so simple that the mind is repelled. When something so important is involved, a deeper mystery seems only decent.* This book aims to firmly establish a common understanding that commercial banks create new money. There is no deeper mystery, and we must not allow our mind to be repelled. Only then can we properly address the much more significant question: Of all the possible alternative ways in which we could create new money and allocate purchasing power, is this really the best? *Download the Foreword and Overview for free*<http://www.neweconomics.org/sites/neweconomics.org/files/Where_does_money_c…> -- P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss: http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens; http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens

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What is a Crank?
by robert searle 30 Sep '11

30 Sep '11

A CRANK IS A DEVICE WHICH CAUSES REVOLUTIONS... Quote from Schumacher, author of the classic book .....Small Is Beautiful..

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Fwd: Help put in print - Kickstarter - "Occupy Wall Street Media"
by Michel Bauwens 30 Sep '11

30 Sep '11

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Dante-Gabryell Monson <dante.monson(a)gmail.com> Date: Fri, Sep 30, 2011 at 1:48 AM Subject: Help put in print - Kickstarter - "Occupy Wall Street Media" To: econowmix(a)googlegroups.com http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/610964639/occupy-wall-street-media http://yeslab.org/index.php ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: The Yes Lab <mailing(a)yeslab.org> Date: Thu, Sep 29, 2011 at 8:22 PM Subject: Help put it in print! Dear Friend, Normally we'll only use your email to send you updates about actions and projects that you can get involved in, or that have just succeeded. But today, we wanted to send you a quick bulletin about two really important projects <http://www.kickstarter.com/pages/yeslab> that badly need funding: 1. *The Occupy Wall Street Journal.*<http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/610964639/occupy-wall-street-media>The title speaks for itself. This newspaper will be printed in 50,000 copies and will spread all over New York City the news of what's happening right now <https://occupywallst.org/> in the heart of the world's financial capital. Help the movement grow!<http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/610964639/occupy-wall-street-media>And if you're anywhere near New York and haven't been to Liberty Plaza<http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=zuccotti+park&fb=1&gl=us&…>, the experience is highly recommended as a treatment for most personal and societal ills. 2. Beautiful Trouble<http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/151304769/beautiful-trouble?ref=live>will be a collectively-written book and website that makes the best of creative activism available to all. It's already largely written, but needs a boost to finish and to develop the website. Read more here<http://www.kickstarter.com/blog/guest-post-the-yes-men-love-beautiful-troub…>about what we think of this project, and click here<http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/151304769/beautiful-trouble?ref=live>to support it. Also, as a matter of form, we'll tell you about a funny thing that happened accidentally yesterday: "Twitter was abuzz<http://news.google.com/news/more?ds=n&pq=rastani+yes+men&hl=en&cp=15&gs_id=…>" with "evidence" that we'd created a fake evil trader. Not.<http://news.google.com/news/more?q=rastani+yes+men&hl=en&prmd=imvnsu&bav=on…>He's not fake, doesn't even look like us, and—at least by comparison with the real deal<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/24/AR201004240…>—is hardly evil at all. Here's what we wrote<http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/sep/29/alessio-rastani-no-prank>about the whole surreal episode. And finally, if you're in New York, stop by tonight <http://yeslab.org/cat>to hear two members of Otpor describe how they brought down Milosevic, and to offer suggestions on bringing down <https://occupywallst.org/> other forms of tyranny. More soon, we hope! Your friends at The Yes Lab <http://www.yeslab.org/> -- P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss: http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens; http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens

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