Paul Krugman, well-known for his opposition to the austerity concerns of the deficit terrorists and his advocacy of additional Government stimulus to lower unemployment and end the recession, just ignited a paradigm conflict which promises to clarify for many, the issues dividing “deficit doves” like Paul, from economists who take a Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) […]
Paul Debates Jamie and MMT
July 20th, 2010 · Comments Off on Paul Debates Jamie and MMT
Tags: Politics
The Procrustean Democracy of AmericaSpeaks: Part Four
July 7th, 2010 · Comments Off on The Procrustean Democracy of AmericaSpeaks: Part Four
In my previous three posts analyzing the June 26th AmericaSpeaks Community Conversation event I attended in Falls Church, VA, I presented the steps in the decision process used for the event, and discussed the pre-conference phase and the first four steps. These reflect a strong and consistent bias toward socializing participants into the idea that […]
Tags: Politics
The Procrustean Democracy of AmericaSpeaks: Part Two
July 1st, 2010 · Comments Off on The Procrustean Democracy of AmericaSpeaks: Part Two
In my first post analyzing the June 26th AmericaSpeaks Community Conversation event I attended in Falls Church, VA, I presented the steps in the decision process used for the event and then began a discussion of the steps. I broke off my account in the middle of my narrative of Step Two. Primary Facilitator states […]
Tags: Politics
The Procrustean Democracy of AmericaSpeaks: Part One
July 1st, 2010 · Comments Off on The Procrustean Democracy of AmericaSpeaks: Part One
On June 26th, AmericaSpeaks, an organization claiming unbiased neutrality on deficit issues, but funded by the Peter G. Peterson and other Foundations who share the Peterson view that US deficits and the National Debt are something to worry about, convened some 19 Town Meetings, and more than 40 smaller “community conversations,” all tied together through […]
Tags: Politics
The Mythological Narrative of AmericaSpeaks: Part Two
June 26th, 2010 · Comments Off on The Mythological Narrative of AmericaSpeaks: Part Two
In Part One, I addressed the question of whether the AmericaSpeaks argument showing that increasing deficits, debts, and public debt-to-GDP ratios is a real problem America needs to solve make sense. I concluded that their reasoning doesn’t show there’s a real problem because they assume that interest rate levels for Government debt instruments are determined […]
Tags: Politics
The Mythological Narrative of AmericaSpeaks: Part One
June 25th, 2010 · Comments Off on The Mythological Narrative of AmericaSpeaks: Part One
The deficit terrorists ask us to believe that the US has a deficit/national debt problem, to believe in their projections about the future, and to make certain hard choices involving spending cuts and tax increases because we believe in the likelihood of their projections coming true if we don’t act to prevent them. Tomorrow, AmericaSpeaks, […]
Tags: Politics
The Right Message
May 25th, 2010 · Comments Off on The Right Message
The progressive counter-attack against the President’s emerging “austerity” political strategy and program is beginning to emerge. In the last few days, we’ve seen posts by Nancy Altman and Eric Kingson of Social Security Works, Jane Hamsher, Robert Kuttner, and Dean Baker writing against the thrust by the Administration, the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and […]
Tags: Politics
Opposing the American Death Panel
May 23rd, 2010 · Comments Off on Opposing the American Death Panel
Nancy Altman and Eric Kingson Co-Directors of Social Security Works have written an article called “Has Obama created a Social Security ‘death panel’? In the article they raise questions about the composition, process, and intentions of the President’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform and say: ”We write to raise questions and encourage press […]
Tags: Politics
Talking to Grandma About Fiscal Sustainability
April 21st, 2010 · Comments Off on Talking to Grandma About Fiscal Sustainability
[Give BDBlue some comment love at OL! –lambert] My friend Ralph writes about the fiscal sustainability issue: Real. Simple (but accurate). Language. Why should people be scared about the Peterson agenda? What are they trying to distract the public’s attention from? What do the American people deserve from their government’s economic policy? Why is this […]
Tags: Politics
Fiscal Sustainability Teach-In Counter-conference: A Funding Proposal
April 17th, 2010 · 2 Comments
Background Fiscal sustainability is very much in the News these days because of the activities of the President’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, The Peterson Foundation’s very vigorous efforts to present a point of view on fiscal sustainability that reinforces and expands the outlook of the National Commission’s statement of purpose, The Washington […]
Tags: Politics