A Universal Basic Income is not a Solution to Ameliorating Poverty
I had a conversation the other day with respect to a universal basic income. I disagreed with the concept of a basic income, universal or otherwise. However, despite some framing and language differences I think we were more or less of the same opinion that work is intrinsic to our identities and it was capable…
Gutless superannuation (retirement) reform
The ALP has come out with a policy that taxes superannuation accounts with $3million or more at 0.30c in the dollar instead of the 0.15c dollar. My first reaction was, ‘So what?’, they’ve marginally reduced the wealthy propensity to save. They can still maintain a very high material level of wealth and they’ve done nothing…
An Orthodox Economic Lens Means Poor Policy
I’ve neglected this blog for a while. I guess life took hold and I’ve concentrated on work and maintaining my sanity. I work within the labour movement and the further you delve into the power structures the more you realise those that ‘run the show’ are captured in earning rentier (unearned) income for themselves and…
Christmas Eve
It is Christmas Eve and I’ve been playing around with the website design. I lost my old theme playing with WordPress settings and it no longer seems to be available. I am not entirely happy with the layout (particularly for viewing all blog posts) but I’ll improve it in time. I’ve always said I’d commit…
The ALP are not friends of the working class
I’ve been working on a project with UnionsNT strongertogethernt.com.au The last week has been foucsed on breaking down economic jargon and giving a decent analysis on the governments ‘budget’. Anyone that has had some introduction to economics knows government budgets are not like households. MMT states the difference between a currency issuer and a currency…
The NT Government lost in neoliberal spin
I’ve been active writing the stronger together campaign blog. The positions our elected representatives take are increasingly more and more to the advantage of capital. When you are so close to elected representatives (as I am here by virtue of my work and a small population in the NT) you can see the sitting members…
And that’s a wrap!
Well it has been a busy few weeks and I have managed to launch an MMT informed campaign for a union peak body and commence work on a workers journal. I’ve developed some decent graphic design and website building skills. Canva is unbelievable. I can take ideas and turn them into simple pictures. I’m most…
It’s time to develop decent working class material
In an earlier post We need to organise and attack current fiscal policy I wrote about a project I was working on to take a different perspective on what the economy is and our view of government deficits. That framework would then take place for acting on climate change, alleviating poverty and creating a better…
Productivity Commission ties itself in knots
I seldom follow the mainstream news. Most of the time it is discussion around a pressing issue and the analysis tends to amount to what we should be doing about it. The conclusion is usually ‘we (the Australian nation) have no money?’ So we need to rely on the charity of private investment. That plays…
Work is Intrinsic to our Identity
As people start to grasp the power of a currency issuer thoughts lead to the idea of a universal basic income. Rejections against it are based on ‘not wanting to give money to millionaires’. Then there are those that advocate for a basic income. An income for people that choose not to work. The first…
We Need to Organise and Attack Current Fiscal Policy
I’ve been busy working on a project that tries to bring progressive organisations together and critique Governments fiscal policy from an MMT perspective. It focuses on two key points. The first is the Australian Government issues currency. It spends with an appropriation bill and the RBA uses a computer to mark up the size of…
Union Advocates for Real Wages Cuts!
I’ve been enjoying a period of annual leave but today I got word the Queensland Teachers Union (QTU) was advocating for real wages cuts! (source) Wage increases in Australia are determined by varying methods. Award wages determine the minimum wage and increases are made on an annual basis by the Fair Work Commission after considering…
We Treat the Unemployed with Disdain
It’s Thursday and I have decided I will write three posts a week. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Today’s post continues on from yesterdays Unemployment is a Political Choice which described when, why, and how we started counting the unemployed. How it began in an era of Full Employment where the Australian Government aimed for spending…
Unemployment is a Political Choice
I read this article on SBS news today. It is to do with our pernicious system of ‘mutual obligations’ needed to be performed in order to receive the below poverty line unemployment benefit of $46 a day. The ALP is ‘wiping’ the demerits accrued under the previous government and ‘tweaking’ the points based system. The…
Economists are as Trustworthy as Astrologists
Every economists and his dog has written something on inflation and wages. Opinion on what *should* happen is as colourful and as mixed as a fruit and nut mixture and tends to reflect an ideological preference for either workers or capitalists. I’ve documented my understanding of inflation as a conflict between labour and capital over…
The Flawed ‘Logic’ of Capital
My last two posts, Capital Rule: Interest Rates, Inflation and The RBA ,and Inflation is a Conflict looked at how inflation is a conflict over national income (GDP) and the tools used to ameloriate the conflict (monetary policy) between labour and capital benefit capitalist. The labouring class over the neoliberal era are almost powerless to…
Inflation is a Conflict
I’ve seen texts written by progressive economist on the sources of inflation being driven by supply side issues and not because of demand-pull (wages). They’d be correct! Their articles detail how rises in rates won’t assist with prices rising from supply side issues. However, one ended by stating the RBA needs to be clear why…
Capital Rule: Interest Rates, Inflation and The RBA
I’ve been absent from my blog for a while. Sometimes your intentions don’t get realised and life gets in the way! I’ve decided to recommence posting as I learn more about macroeconomics and political economy (a lot of self study) and throw my thoughts out into the public. I find it infuriating that the media…
What is the purpose of fiscal policy?
In my understanding of what Modern Monetary Theory is and observing the public discourse as journalist attempt to explain MMT, I am encountering the narratives and metaphors I had to break in order to appreciate how MMT helps transform the political debate. This article by Ross Gittins is a good example. The article starts out…
Budgets Should Target Socioeconomic Well-Being.
It is custom in Australia to make an event around the various state/territory and federal budgets. In the past achieving some fiscal ratio has been seen as ‘responsible’ In 2016 Economics professor Ross Garnaut stated (source) “These measures should be backed by moderate and gradual cuts in spending, and moderate and gradual tax increases to…
Why Universal Free Childcare is Possible
This is a thing that has dropped off radar. How quickly the public discourse moves. On Thursday 2 April, 2021 The Australian Government announced (temporary) free childcare for the covid pandemic. It is no secret the spending of governments lifted by hundreds of billions of dollars and yet no extra taxes were raised and our…
Word War II and Post War Reconstruction
As part of a project into the history and development of Australian currency I have written a little more of the events that took place over WWII that led to Australia’s post war reconstruction. The events start at the end of the thirties and go through to just before the Commonwealth Bank was created and…
The Mainstream are Trying to Stay Relevant
A critique of mainstream economics and history repeating itself – detailing the 1924 ‘independent’ Note Issuance Department and its role in The Depression.
Advocating A Right to Work
I discussed in this post a history of the right to work and an advocate of ensuring a legislated right to work of UK member of Parliament from the Independent Labour Party, Keir Hardie. There were similar attempts at employing idle labour in 1848 in Paris via a politician Louis Blanc. Blanc established Ateliers Nationaux…
Let’s have a rational debate on government spending.
Twitter is full of comments around MMT being something you do – rather than something that is, We have articles like ‘Don’t let the Reserve Bank just give the Government money’ and articles that the leader of the opposition tells shadow cabinet to find cuts and spending offsets ahead of campaign. The foundations of MMT…
Jobless still out number Job Vacancies
Below is an article I wrote in attempts to get published in various media outlets. Obviously that has been unsuccessful. Most journalist look at the incorrect indicators in assessing ‘economic’ performance. Things like the underlying inflation rate (which harps back to fight inflation first over unemployment), the decreasing or less than expected government spending (as…
E is for Effort
Alan Kohler wrote his first piece for The New Daily. It’s a rather optimistic piece where he says thankfully we haven’t entered a long depression as many feared. Irrespective of labels and what you define 2020 as, it has demonstrated that currency issuing governments always have financial capacity to deal with a collapse in spending.…
History of Australian Currency – More Detail
The below is some more writing on how Australian monetary system came to form. There is a rather dry boring post here that deals with legislative instruments and various changes. I deal with some background on how private banks issued notes prior to 1910 and why The Australian government chose to issue notes. There are…
The Provision of Providing for an Ageing Population is Not About Saving.
There have been arguments in the media around the current rate of the superannuation guarantee on whether we should or shouldn’t lift it from the current rate of 9.5 per cent to 12 per cent. The argument to lift it goes something like ‘the current rate would be insufficient to provide for individuals in retirement’…
A History of Australian Coinage and Note Issuance- Part 1
This is a project I’ve been working on tracing the legislation that has created Australian currency. There is information a colleague and I are uncovering on a 1893 Queensland Notes bill, that was the model used on The Australian Notes act. The early days of federation money was defined as British or Australian coins -…
Modern Monetary Theory and The Job Guarantee
I recently wrote an oped piece for challenge magazine It is difficult to condense what I had hoped to say into 750 odd words, so here is the ‘extended’ edition. Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) is an incredibly complex body of work that studies macroeconomics. At its most elemental level it says a currency is a…
Understanding Value
I’ve been neglectful of this blogging project as my mind has been pre-occupied with other projects. I finally have one space to get back into writing. A little while ago I did an interview with US based podcast macro ‘n cheese on a general chat about MMT and an understanding on how we understand and…
Sectoral Balances
One of the most important concepts to understand within macroeconomics is the concept of sectoral balances. Macro can be divided into three distinct sections Government and Non-Government with the latter being divided into domestic and foreign. These divisions come from the system of national accounts (an international standard) and the way GDP is calculated. GDP…
Currency Issuing Governments Finance Themselves
There have been a lot of stories in the media around the debt and the ‘cost’ future generations will bear as a result of the spending required during the covid-19 crisis. Each and everyone of these sports the same neoliberal garbage that taxes need to rise and suggest tax changes that work in favour of…
The Mythology of Printing Money Part II
This is a follow up from yesterday’s post and aims to dispel the myth of the term ‘printing money’ and the orthodox understanding of inflation. The end looks at what happened in Venezuela and Zimbabwe and identifies the cause of hyperinflation as minimal productive capacity and minimal capacity to purchase imported products. They are supply…
The Mythology of Printing Money
Since the beginning of the corona virus Governments around the world have began to spend huge sums without a call from anyone on ‘How are you going to pay for it?’ In a recent 730 interview the reporter asked the question on how a sovereign currency issuing government would ‘pay for’ its spending down the…
Job Guarantees aren’t all the same
There’s been a number of articles I’ve read over the last few days on what we should do and what has been done in regards to people’s employment and well-being. This article on giving rooms to the homeless reported by the BBC has shown the power governments hold and that it is not a lack…
How loans create deposits and why we should have public banking…
I thought this post should explain in further detail, the nature of how financial institutions extend credit (by creating it) why I think it should be a public good and how it is possible to create affordable housing and ensure housing for all seeing how I called for 0 per cent home mortgages and the…
Economics and Language
With all the talk of ‘the economy’, spending collapse and an oncoming recession with the Prime Minister stating “We cannot prevent all the many hardships, many sacrifices that we will face in the months ahead” I thought it worth noting that yes it is possible to avoid any financial hardships and a recession. The analogies…
The Story of Money
It’s been a while since my last post. Writing a blog is much more intensive than I had anticipated. I have a new appreciation for anyone that can put out content on a regular basis, while maintaining a full time job and other commitments. I am endeavouring to post more frequently. I recently had an…
On achieving a public purpose.
Below is something I wrote in 2018 for my own reference as I grappled to apply modern monetary theory into my broader thinking and apply it as a lens rather than think of it within an abstract theoretical framework. I hope this might help those that are trying to to the same. A public purpose…
Solving inequality requires getting macro right!
The ACTU last year in April released this report into inequality in Australia. It starts with the statement “Extreme inequality – which is what we are now experiencing in Australia – slows economic growth, creates social havoc and undermines faith in our political institutions.” Which I wholeheartedly agree with. In this post I aim to…
Thinking About A Green New Deal
This post follows on from the post ‘(Not) A Green New Deal being Proposed in Australia’. In that post I outlined the origins of the original New Deal, gave a brief overview of what the original New Deal was and followed on with a summary of what a Green New Deal is in the USA,…
(Not) A Green New Deal being proposed in Australia.
A new Greens Party leader in Australia was elected, and the party has run with the theme being used in the USA that we need a Green New Deal (GND). This is the new leaders article in the Guardian on a GND. As well as an education in what the GND actually is, the economic…
The Right to Work
I’ve finally finished the site design and colour scheme. It took me much longer than expected as it proved more difficult than expected. Alas, I have a final design. Today’s topic is a continuation from my post Full Employment Demise and is a history of ‘The Right to Work’ The right to work movement has…
No jobs and no plan…
I spent a bit of time after work playing with the layout of the site. It can get frustrating with different themes because one theme will have a feature you want but not another so it is trying to find the best one that suits. Annoyingly the footer at the bottom of the page won’t…
Full Employment Demise
I’ve recently been reading a number of different sources on unemployment, its causes and its use as tool of social domination. Article 23 on the UN declaration of Human rights (1) Everyone has the right to work to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment. Throughout…
Northern Territory Fracking
Recently I’ve been involved in some protests opposing the NT Governments decision to approve fracking in the Betaloo Basin. The current frack site is near a community called Marlinja. The video below shows what happened. It seems rather clear it is companies like Origin energy and Santos that run government policy. This article from April…
Money is a creature of the State
I’ve had a number of friends that have been encouraging me to write a blog for at least a few years now. This is my attempt at a blog. For the last five years I’ve been informally studying Modern Monetary Theory. I became captivated by the elegance and internal consistency of the body of work.…
blog jengis 