Bill Mitchell


Joseph M. Firestone's picture

Alan Grayson's Right; But He Misses the Larger Point

Alan Grayson's e-mail on Moody's warning that it might reduce the US's AAA rating, suggested that Moody's was either threatening a downgrade because it wants to get the Bush tax cuts for the rich extended, or, alternatively, that “Moody's is living in what Aristophanes called "Cloud Cuckoo Land."” He says this because Moody's is upset about the possibility that the US may go over the so-called more »

More »»


Joseph M. Firestone's picture

No, Barack, It Just Ain't Gonna Happen!

Who else thinks the President's speech didn't include any plans to create more »

More »»


Joseph M. Firestone's picture

The Fiscal Summit Counter-Narrative: Pt 8, Narrative and Counter-Narrative

(Author's Note: This is the concluding post in an eight part series on the counter-narrative to the austerian/deficit hawk/long-term deficit reduction approach to fiscal policy that is dominant in Washington, DC today. At the end of this post I list and link the seven earlier posts in the series. more »

More »»


Joseph M. Firestone's picture

The Fiscal Summit Counter-Narrative: Pt 7 Fiscal Sustainability Polices Q&A

My last post covered the Session 5 presentations of Professors L. more »

More »»


Joseph M. Firestone's picture

The Fiscal Summit Counter-Narrative: Pt 6, Policy Proposals

The way we designed the program of the Fiscal Sustainability Teach-In Counter-Conference, was to introduce the fundamental ideas of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) in the f more »

More »»


Joseph M. Firestone's picture

The Fiscal Summit Counter-Narrative: Pt. 5, Inflation and Hyperinflation

One of the raps on deficit spending in neoliberal circles is that it will trigger substantial inflation or hyper-inflation. Even when mainstream economists grant the MMT point about the impossibility of the US becoming involuntarily insolvent, they will still insist that sustained deficit spending is a bad idea because it will inevitably lead to unmanageable inflation. more »

More »»


Joseph M. Firestone's picture

The Fiscal Summit Counter-Narrative: Part Four, The Deficit, the Debt, etc.

(Author's Note: The full title of this peace is: "The Fiscal Summit Counter-Narrative: Part Four, The Deficit, the Debt, the Debt-To-GDP Ratio, the Grandchildren, and Government Economic Policy")
more »

More »»


Joseph M. Firestone's picture

The Fiscal Summit Counter-Narrative: Pt 3, Are There Spending Constraints?

An issue at the core of all the fuss about fiscal sustainability is Government solvency. The deficit hawks and doves believe that Governments sovereign in their own currency can run out of money if they keep deficit spending, and keep borrowing to do it. more »

More »»


Joseph M. Firestone's picture

The Fiscal Summit Counter-Narrative: Pt. 2, Defining Fiscal Sustainability

One of the most irritating things about the deficit hawk/austerity literature, is that it uses the ideas of “fiscal sustainability” and “fiscal responsibility” in an ideological way, without ever really analyzing or explaining these labels. more »

More »»


Joseph M. Firestone's picture

The WaPo MMT Post Explosion: Matthew Yglesias's MMT

Matthew Yglesias posting in Slate, also gave us a few words on Dylan Matthews's post about Modern Mone more »

More »»