government

About a year ago I wrote a post called "Out of control US deficit spending". The purpose of the post was to begin a series of posts presenting the modern monetary theory (MMT) framework from a deficit hawk's perspective, what I…

As promoters of MMT, we are all very keen on Abba Lerner, who was one of the first to articulate the foundations of the approach. Lerner believed that the government should maintain the level of aggregate spending in the economy (either by…

By Marc Chandler The time tested way to dampen popular unrest is to provide food and entertainment to the masses. The problem of course is that sometimes the funds are lacking. In Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, for example, this is not the case…

By Win Thin The situation remains unsettled in Egypt.  As of this writing, President Mubarak pledged to stay on until his term ends in September, but delegated some authority to VP Suleiman.  Because of his strong connections to…

Over the past several days, I have caught some very good commentary by a number of well-known financial industry experts. I wanted to share my own thoughts with you on their commentary, especially in light of my last posts on Eisenhower's…

While today is a national holiday in the United States, in remembrance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., it is also the 50th anniversary of former US President Dwight D. Eisenhower's famous farewell presidential address. Ike's speech warned…

Marc, you have been very quiet. What are you worrying about? Faber: Have you got an hour? You are all wrong. You say you would do this or that if you were policymakers, but nobody says "I wouldn't do a thing. I would let the market…

By Doug Hornig Today, the Federal Communications Commission acts on so-called “Net Neutrality,” and given the commissioners’ predicted 3-2 party line vote, it would be a shocker if they rejected it. What happens next is anyone’s guess,…

I wrote recently about the Bank of England sowing the seeds of their next banking crisis by deciding to reduce bank examinations. Spencer Bachus (R. Ala.), the incoming Chair of the House Financial Services Committee, told the Birmingham…

I wrote a post about six months ago called "Misunderstanding Modern Monetary Theory" on deficits and resource allocation that I was re-reading. I wanted to add some off-the-cuff comments that might be relevant to today's…