The Progressive

Recent episodes of this podcast have looked at the many ways in which the US attempts to maintain global hegemony through the deep state, the banking system, NATO, and the unholy trinity of the IMF, WTO, and World Bank.

This week, Steve talks with Daniel Conceição about the possibility of a supranational currency for Brazil and Argentina. Daniel points out some potential benefits, but it’s hard to avoid comparisons to the Eurozone and the crippling loss of monetary sovereignty. Nevertheless , if successful, such an agreement has far-reaching implications not only for these two nations but potentially throughout all of Latin America, helping promote greater economic integration while providing increased stability.

Steve and Daniel revisit the issue of the petrodollar. Traditional MMT wisdom would say it’s no big deal; it’s merely a numeraire. Daniel suggests there’s more to it, “because when we claim that taxes are the main driver of currency acceptability, what we really mean is that necessity is the main driver.” Just as taxes put us in need of the currency,

The episode considers the accuracy of books such as ‘’Confessions of an Economic Hitman.” Daniel points out that mainstream economics is a tool to preserve the interests of the ruling class both domestically and internationally. It’s a mistake to think the economic hitmen are working to secure American interests. Just as we’ve heard from Aaron Good, Michael Hudson, Clara Mattei, and other guests, it’s not a case of country against country, but of a ruling class working against the interests of everyone else.

Daniel Negreiros Conceição did his undergraduate studies in Economics at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil and his postgraduate studies at UMKC (under Professors Wray, Kelton, et al). He is a professor of macroeconomics and public finance at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. He helped create the Institute for Functional Finance and Development (iffdbrasil.org), where he currently serves as president, and he helps run the Brazilian Modern Money Network (https://mmtbrasil.com/) aimed at producing more easily accessible material for teaching MMT to the wider public.

@stopthelunacy on Twitter

In the 19th century, Great Britain found itself saddled with debt after funding the Napoleonic Wars in continental Europe. In this episode, Ben Studebaker and Dan revisit how austerity measures taken by the British government ultimately led to its decline as a world power, how falling into the trap of "sensible spending" often forgoes investments for the future, and how the United States could fall into the same trap.

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According to multi award-winning economist Professor James K. Galbraith, the new book, "Modern Monetary Theory: Key Insights, Leading Thinkers" is 'a landmark in the development of MMT, a boon for "useful" economists - and a profound challenge to all the others.'

Patricia and Christian talk to the architects of this collaboration of leading experts about how governments spend, why it matters, and why moving beyond our culture's deeply-held but incorrect assumptions about money and its purpose is now key to human survival.

Please help sustain this podcast!

Patrons get early access to all episodes and patron-only episodes: https://www.patreon.com/MMTpodcast

Order the Gower Initiative's "Modern Monetary Theory - Key Insights, Leading Thinkers" (2023) here: https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/modern-monetary-theory-9781802208085.html

For an intro to MMT:

Our first three episodes: https://www.patreon.com/posts/41742417

Episode 126 - Dirk Ehnts: How Banks Create Money: https://www.patreon.com/posts/62603318

All our episodes in chronological order: https://www.patreon.com/posts/43111643

All our episodes with Phil Armstrong: https://www.patreon.com/posts/42072846

Relevant to this episode:

The Gower Initiative For Modern Money Studies website: https://gimms.org.uk/

Our interview with Deborah Harrington (a founding member of GIMMS) Episode 96: The Fight For The NHS: https://www.patreon.com/posts/49819223

"Diagrams & Dollars" by JD Alt: https://neweconomicperspectives.org/2014/01/diagrams-dollars-modern-money-illustrated-part-1.html

Professor Stephanie Kelton's "Angry Birds" presentation: https://youtu.be/Q1SMjeuyF-Y

"Billy Blog" — Professor Bill Mitchell's blog: http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/

Our episodes featuring Bill Mitchell at UK Labour conference events in 2019: Episode 31(a): MMT And The Labour Party: https://www.patreon.com/posts/30204508

Episode 34: MMT And The Green New Deal: https://www.patreon.com/posts/30429854

"An Accounting Model of the UK Exchequer" by Neil Wilson, Andrew Berkley and Richard Tye: https://gimms.org.uk/2021/02/21/an-accounting-model-of-the-uk-exchequer/

Our interview with the authors of "An Accounting Model of the UK Exchequer":

Episode 84 (Part 1): https://www.patreon.com/posts/46352183

Episode 86 (Part 2): https://www.patreon.com/posts/46865929

Episode 155, where Phil Armstrong talks briefly about his chapter in "Modern Monetary Theory: Key Insights, Leading Thinkers": https://www.patreon.com/posts/77409078?pr=true

Professor John T. Harvey's lecture on MMT and exchange rates - Episode 145: What Determines Currency Prices?: https://www.patreon.com/posts/72283811?pr=true

Warren Mosler's "7 Deadly Innocent Frauds Of Economic Policy": http://moslereconomics.com/wp-content/powerpoints/7DIF.pdf

Quick MMT reads:

Warren's Mosler's MMT white paper: http://moslereconomics.com/mmt-white-paper/

Steven Hail's quick MMT explainer: https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-modern-monetary-theory-72095

On government debt: "Some Numbers Are Big. Let Me Help You Get Over It": https://christreilly.com/2020/02/17/some-numbers-are-big-let-me-help-you-get-over-it/

For a short, non-technical, free ebook explaining MMT, download MMT founder Warren Mosler's "7 Deadly Innocent Frauds Of Economic Policy" here: http://moslereconomics.com/wp-content/powerpoints/7DIF.pdf

Episodes on monetary operations:

Episode 20 - Warren Mosler: The MMT Money Story (part 1): https://www.patreon.com/posts/28004824

Episode 126 - Dirk Ehnts: How Banks Create Money: https://www.patreon.com/posts/62603318

Episode 13 - Steven Hail: Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Banking, But Were Afraid To Ask: https://www.patreon.com/posts/41790887

Episode 43 - Sam Levey: Understanding Endogenous Money: https://www.patreon.com/posts/35073683

Episode 84 - Andrew Berkeley, Richard Tye & Neil Wilson: An Accounting Model Of The UK Exchequer (Part 1): https://www.patreon.com/posts/46352183

Episode 86 - Andrew Berkeley, Richard Tye & Neil Wilson: An Accounting Model Of The UK Exchequer (Part 2): https://www.patreon.com/posts/46865929

Episodes on inflation:

Episode 7: Steven Hail: Inflation, Price Shocks and Other Misunderstandings: https://www.patreon.com/posts/41780508

Episode 65 - Phil Armstrong: Understanding Inflation: https://www.patreon.com/posts/40672678

Episode 104 - John T Harvey: Inflation, Stagflation & Healing The Nation: https://www.patreon.com/posts/52207835

Episode 123 - Warren Mosler: Understanding The Price Level And Inflation: https://www.patreon.com/posts/59856379

Episode 128 - L. Randall Wray & Yeva Nersisyan: What's Causing Accelerating Inflation? Pandemic Or Policy Response?: https://www.patreon.com/posts/63776558

More on government bonds (and "vigilantes"):

Episode 30 - Steven Hail: Understanding Government Bonds (Part 1):https://www.patreon.com/posts/29621245

Episode 31 - Steven Hail: Understanding Government Bonds (Part 2): https://www.patreon.com/posts/29829500

Episode 143 - Paul Sheard: What Is Quantitative Easing?: https://www.patreon.com/posts/71589989?pr=true

Episode 147 - Dirk Ehnts: Do Markets Control Our Politics?: https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-147-dirk-72906421

Episode 144 - Warren Mosler: The Natural Rate Of Interest Is Zero: https://www.patreon.com/posts/71966513

Episode 145 - John T Harvey: What Determines Currency Prices?: https://www.patreon.com/posts/72283811?pr=true

Job Guarantee episodes:

Episode 4 - Fadhel Kaboub: What is the Job Guarantee?: https://www.patreon.com/posts/41742701

Episode 47 - Pavlina Tcherneva: Building Resilience - The Case For A Job Guarantee: https://www.patreon.com/posts/36034543

Episode 148 - Pavlina Tcherneva: Why The Job Guarantee Is Core To Modern Monetary Theory: https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-148-why-73211346

Pavlina Tcherneva's Job Guarantee FAQ page: https://pavlina-tcherneva.net/job-guarantee-faq/

MMT Events And Courses In 2023

Apply for Professor Bill Mitchell's short, free online course in Modern Monetary Theory (February 15th - March 14th) here: https://www.edx.org/course/modern-monetary-theory-economics-for-the-21st-century

More information about Professor Mitchell's MMTed project (free public online courses in MMT) here: http://www.mmted.org/

Tickets to the very first Scotonomics festival (online or in-person, Dundee, Scotland 24th-26th March) are available here: https://scotonomics.scot/live-events/

Apply for Dr Dirk Ehnts' Modern Monetary Theory and European Macroeconomics course at Maastricht University (July 31st - August 4th) here: https://maastricht.dreamapply.com/courses/course/183-modern-monetary-theory-and-european-macroeconomics

Details of Modern Money Lab's online graduate and postgraduate courses in MMT are here: https://modernmoneylab.org.au/

Extensive list of MMT scholarship compiled by New Economic Perspectives: http://neweconomicperspectives.org/mmt-scholarship

MMT Academic Resources compiled by The Gower Initiative for Modern Money Studies: https://www.zotero.org/groups/2251544/mmt_academic_resources_-_compiled_by_the_gower_initiative_for_modern_money_studies

A list of MMT-informed campaigns and organisations worldwide: https://www.patreon.com/posts/47900757

We are working towards full transcripts, but in the meantime, closed captions for all episodes are available on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEp_nGVTuMfBun2wiG-c0Ew/videos

Show notes: https://www.patreon.com/posts/78408355?pr=true

In the wake of the Great Financial Crisis, the work of John Maynard Keynes experienced a revival, as people sought answers to the problem of sluggish growth. In this cycle, sluggish growth isn't the problem. If anything, you hear business leaders and central bankers talking about the labor market being "too hot," and the need for the unemployment rate to rise. So what explains the current dynamic? And how can we sustain a hot economy without the pain of inflation? Perhaps the work of the lesser-known Polish economist Michał Kalecki holds the answers. Like Keynes, he also viewed the free market as being inherently unstable, but he came to different conclusions about why. He also explored the political economy of full employment and why this condition frustrates business leaders. On this episode, we speak with Jan Toporowski, professor of Economics and Finance at SOAS University of London, about Kalecki's work and how it can help us understand today's economy.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this week’s Macrodose, James Meadway breaks down the economics behind the UK’s recording-breaking wave of strikes (0:42), how these compare to other strike movements around the world (4:43), and a new report from the BBC that finds issues with the “impartiality” of its economics reporting (12:32). 

Concerns about globalization and the rise of politicized religion have led to dramatic increases in political extremism in the United States and many other countries in recent years. But another huge factor has been the shrinking of what people feel like they can expect from their government.

For about the last 30 years or so, most countries with mature industrial economies have been ruled by left and right parties that espouse neoliberal views that governments can’t and shouldn’t do much to boost the economy, and that deregulation and privatization are preferred.

It was already apparent to many people, but the Covid 19 pandemic made it very clear that the invisible hand is a terrible manager for a national economy. The global supply chains that worked so well for many years broke down entirely, and that there have been shortages of everything from toilet paper to automobiles. The many problems that China has had in particular have also made it obvious that locating almost the entirety of the world’s electronics production to China and Taiwan was a disastrous idea no matter how cheap it may have been.

The rapid development in multiple countries of many different vaccines against the SARS-CoV2 virus has also demonstrated that governments can successfully drive rapid scientific and commercial innovation that would’ve taken the private sector alone many years to accomplish.

After ruling our politics for decades, neoliberalism appears to be on the way out. But what’s coming next? Joining in this episode to discuss is Nils Gilman. He is a senior vice president at the Berggruen Institute, and he’s the deputy editor of Noema, an online magazine about philosophy, governance, and technology. And just recently, he co-wrote an essay entitled “The Designer Economy,” which is a multifaceted look at what’s displacing neoliberalism and who’s doing it.

The lightly edited video of our conversation is below. The transcript of the edited audio follows. Please note that you must be an active Flux subscriber to access the entirety of this discussion.

This week, we speak with Joe Weisenthal (@TheStalwart) of the Bloomberg dot com Odd Lots podcast about minting the coin. But not just any coin: a strange loophole in a ’90s law designed to let the U.S. Mint produce collectors’ coins basically means that, if they wanted to, the director could order the Mint to issue a platinum coin of any denomination. Two dollars. Ten million dollars. One trillion dollars. But will the Democrats use this to completely undercut Republican debt ceiling brinkmanship? Probably not?

Check out Odd Lots here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/odd-lots/id1056200096

If you want access to our Patreon bonus episodes, early releases of free episodes, and powerful Discord server, sign up here: https://www.patreon.com/trashfuture

*LONDON LIVE SHOW ALERT* SSee Trashfuture live in London on February 20 featuring special guest Nish Kumar! Get tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/trashfuture-live-podcast-with-nish-kumar-tickets-528472574697

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Trashfuture are: Riley (@raaleh), Milo (@Milo_Edwards), Hussein (@HKesvani), Nate (@inthesedeserts), and Alice (@AliceAvizandum)