Politics of Choice

"Next time you hear that voting machines are reliable and safe "because they have been tested and certified," think of this important article, which reveals
proven corruption, payoffs and bid-rigging connected to Ciber, Inc., a firm that signed off on our voting machines. Ciber's okay was the foundation for federal
acceptance of voting machines all over the USA." Read below the fold...

Many MMT posts and other writings on fiscal responsibility, including my own, focus on the myths of neoliberalism, pointing out why they are myths and developing an alternative MMT perspective in some detail. Off hand, and I may have forgotten something, I couldn't think of a brief positive MMT narrative related to fiscal responsibility containing primarily the truths, rather than the myths. Read below the fold...

The next dog and pony is the Dem convention where the platitudes and non-specific proposals will fly fast and furiously across the tv, radio,net, and printed media.
And will change very few peoples perceptions.

And then, just to keep the commoners amused, that will be followed by what is called 'The Presidential Debates'. As someone who took a few course in argumentation, it truly pains me to have these scripted shows be called 'debates'.

AND, neither Dems nor Repubs will speak out about this:
OPEN DEBATES CALLS ON PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE COMMISSION TO MAKE SECRET CONTRACT PUBLIC Read below the fold...

The headline reads: "Study: Pop music becoming louder and less original" ; I knew that ! In fact it is easily discernible for any fan of rock and roll. And that study also reflects an overall affectation of U.S. culture.
There really isn't much in the way of current lyricists that paint pictures like the older songwriters did. Or music that complements such lyrics. Read below the fold...

Read this and the phrase 'Freudian slip' came to mind:
“I want to be clear that the United States is not in the business, in Egypt, of choosing winners and losers, even if we could, which, of course, we cannot,” Clinton said at the opening of the consulate."

"In Egypt" ? So the U.S. DOES choose winners and losers, just not in Egypt. Let's see, Haiti and Honduras come to mind easily. And like the withholding of aid or forgiveness of debt has nothing to do with whether the U.S. 'cannot'. Read below the fold...

Sometimes people object to the idea of the President ordering minting a $1 Trillion proof platinum coin on political grounds, even though they believe it's: legal to mint such a coin, won't be inflationary, and will allow the President to avoid the debt ceiling crisis. Robert Rice offered the following as part of a longer comment on a post of Beowulf's: Read below the fold...

A few days ago my friend Beowulf decided to exercise his wry sense of humor with this title of a post he offered for our consideration: “(MMT - JG) + Medicare for All = MMT.” Beo then goes on to talk about some details of a comment exchange with Jamie Galbraith at one of FiredogLak Read below the fold...

Since I provided some reaction to the SOTU, I thought I might also provide some analysis of Jill Stein's version of it. I won't dignify Mitch Daniels's reply to the President with an analysis, however, because it's simply not worth the electronic ink to comment on that nonsense.

By and large, I really liked Jill Stein's Green New Deal speech, and I think I'd be much happier if she were in the Presidency then I am right now. Dr, Stein, is really direct and straightforward, and she seems to genuinely care about the condition of working people and about protecting the constitution and its guarantees of liberty. Her sincerity shines through and she seems to lack the guile of the major party candidates. Her program seems to be a synthesis of the WW II New Deal and Green Agendas and I strongly support the idea that we need both right now. Here are some quotes and comments. Read below the fold...

In this post I'll list the primary components of the MMT Knowledge Claim Network (KCN) classified under the major categories: the Social/Value Gaps; the Knowledge Gaps (Problems); the Descriptive Components (including Solutions); the Policy Prescriptions; and the Narratives.

The Social/Value Gaps mentioned by MMT developers

-- Failure of Economics to contribute to the Public Purpose as defined by the failure to close the other social value gaps listed below;

-- the gap between actual output and projected “full” output;

-- High involuntary unemployment vs. full employment;

Read below the fold...

Warren Mosler kindly replied to my Part Two of this series which provided the basis for this dialogue, reproducing Part Two with comments by Warren and myself.

MMT and Public Purpose:The Normative Component Read below the fold...

Salon.com's news editor, Steve Kornacki, lamented yesterday that "Obama won’t face a credible primary challenge", going on about how the closest thing to a liberal challenge he has comes from Republican candidate Buddy Roemer. While it is true that many liberals aren't seeing any "viable" candidates materialize on the left, Kornacki isn't telling us why that is: the failure of supposedly liberal pundits to report on candidates who are actually running. Read below the fold...

In a comment posted in response to the Open Salon version of my previous entry, Barzin Pakandam posted the following:

Hi Michael, I completely agree with your assessment. My post goes one step further:

http://open.salon.com/blog/barzin/2011/1...

Read below the fold...

Ohio voters last night voted overwhelmingly against both Republican and Democrat corporate-favoring policies in a referendum. Senate Bill 5, passed by the Republican-dominated legislature and signed into law by Republican governor John Kasich, was shot down by sixty-one percent, too large a margin for the GOP to rig the vote count in its favor. Read below the fold...

Most of the unemployed no longer receive benefits (AP)

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The jobs crisis has left so many people out of work for so long that most of America's unemployed are no longer receiving unemployment benefits.

Early last year, 75 percent were receiving checks. The figure is now 48 percent - a shift that points to a growing crisis of long-term unemployment. Nearly one-third of America's 14 million unemployed have had no job for a year or more.
...

Read below the fold...