All Life Is Problem Solving

Joe Firestone’s Blog on Knowledge and Knowledge Management

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Paul Debates Jamie and MMT

July 20th, 2010 · Comments Off on Paul Debates Jamie and MMT

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) […]

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Tags: Politics

How Can You Get ‘Em Fired Up Once They’ve Seen Perfidy?

July 17th, 2010 · 1 Comment

These days the chattering classes often converse about how the Democrats can get their base charged up and working for the fall elections. For example, Greg Sargent at the Plum Line blog says: ”As you know, over the weekend Robert Gibbs dropped a political bomb, saying that Republicans just may take back the House. His […]

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The Deficit Crisis Is a Fantasy

June 27th, 2010 · Comments Off on The Deficit Crisis Is a Fantasy

After going to one of the AmericaSpeaks community conversations yesterday, I’m even more confident that the deficit crisis being promoted by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, AmericaSpeaks, the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, and the Obama Administration, as well of much the world’s global elite is a fantasy. There is no truth to […]

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Getting Us Out of This Fix In 90 Days

June 9th, 2010 · Comments Off on Getting Us Out of This Fix In 90 Days

In a heartfelt piece lamenting the jobs crisis and Washington’s Hooverite response to it, Bob Herbert of the New York Times said: There is no plan that I can see to get us out of this fix. Drastic cuts in government spending would only compound the crisis. State and local governments, for example, are shedding […]

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Tags: Politics

Money and Coercion

June 2nd, 2010 · 2 Comments

At the very end of the Seminal/FireDogLake discussion of my last post, “How Are You Going To Pay For It”, two commenters, ironymeter and konst, offered some comments about the idea in Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) that fiat currency is, to a great extent, accepted, because the Government mandates its status as sole legal tender […]

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‘How Are You Gonna Pay For It?’

May 27th, 2010 · Comments Off on ‘How Are You Gonna Pay For It?’

This is the third and last in a series of posts based on youtubes from a speech in Milford CT by Warren Mosler. Warren is running for the Senate in CT in the Independent Party primary. Unlike both the Democratic and Republican candidates Warren really understands economics and his forté is explaining it to people. […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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Tags: Politics

Progress on The Fiscal Sustainability Teach-In and Counter-Conference

April 16th, 2010 · Comments Off on Progress on The Fiscal Sustainability Teach-In and Counter-Conference

A little more than a week ago, I proposed a Fiscal Sustainability Teach-In and Counter-Conference to be held in Washington, DC as a response to the First Meeting of the Administration’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, sardonically called by some the “steal our retirements commission,” on April 27th. The Counter-conference would also be […]

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Tags: Politics