Administrative announcements
I am Wellington (NZ) today and in addition to various meetings and other engagements I am giving a presentation which I am calling “Thinking in a Modern Monetary Theory Way”. I hope to post audio or video with slides etc on Monday when I have some more time to process the information. But you can watch the presentation live (I am told) and the details are available by Clicking “Read the rest of this entry” …
I am travelling for most of today to New Zealand (Wellington) to honour some engagements promoting a new political movement that is keen to use Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) as a basis for a progressive political agenda in a nation that has been in the throes of a neo-liberal infestation for several decades now. In fact, New Zealand was one of the first to sink into neo-liberal oblivion. I wrote about the devastating consequences of this policy shift in this blog – The comeback of conservative ideology. It was a very sorry tale indeed. The sociopaths took over. You can see a rich portrayal of how the neo-liberals set about wrecking the social fabric of this wonderful nation by watching the documentary film – In a Land of Plenty – which runs for 1 hour and 44 minutes. It is compelling and worth the investment of your time. You will get angry. But maybe getting angry is the first step towards getting active and joining collective movements to do something about this nonsense. Indeed, that is what I am up to over the next few days – helping a new political movement develop narratives to counter the insidious dominance of the neo-liberals. Building a true oppositional Left is the imperative now for all activists.
Today is a public holiday (ANZAC Day) where we remember the efforts of our past generations who fought in wars. I am not very enamoured by the hype that surrounds these days – commercialisation reigns and the black/white nature of the narrative (we were good they were evil) obscures the reality of war and the political machinations that typically accompany it. In Australia’s case our involvement in several wars has been the product of unnecessary colonial master-servant type arrangements (us being the servant) and/or ridiculous alliances with the war mongering US. But the soldiers certainly did it tough and I have sympathy with that – and personal association with my parents. But for me, I am travelling a lot today and am taking the work time to continue working on the completion of our Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) textbook, which is now in its final stages (2 weeks away). I expect it to be published later this year now through Macmillan. I will post specific information when it is available. While I am working today, I am listening to this …
I am travelling a lot today – from London to Brussels and then onto Maastricht. I have had some meetings in London and then tonight (Europe time) I will present the Third Joan Muysken Lecture at the University of Maastricht, which honours their foundation professor in macroeconomics (and one of my co-authors). The talk will outline why the Eurozone should be dissolved forthwith. I don’t expect a sympathetic crowd. Tomorrow, I am giving a talk at the University on why mainstream economics has contributed nothing to the advancement of societal well-being. Rather, it has been a blight on progress. I expect a even less than sympathetic audience. Should be fun! I will try to post audio (at least) of these events. But for now … here is some music.
I am travelling for a fair part of today and also taking a day off writing (well blogs at least). I have been pushing forward on the final manuscript for our next version of the Modern Monetary Theory textbook, which will come out in 2017 sometime. Anyway, until tomorrow I will leave you with some music that I have been listening to this morning before taking off for the day. Back on to the hard stuff tomorrow.
I am travelling all day today on my way back to Australia. So we have a nice music compilation to listen to. Regular transmission will resume on Wednesday whereupon, with my flame suit securely fastened, we will consider the ‘robot’ case for basic incomes. Or should I say the ‘non-case’.
I am travelling all day today to the US. I am giving three presentations in Kansas City in the coming week – one at the university on teaching pedagogy in macroeconomics and then a Keynote presentation and an additional paper at the International Post Keynesian Conference – which will be held at the University of Missouri – Kansas City between September 15-18, 2016. I am unsure whether the Keynote speech will be available for streaming but I will report in Wednesday’s blog (when I get there) about that if I find anything relevant out. The keynote presentation is scheduled for Saturday, September 17 at 15:00. The topic of my keynote presentation will ‘What is new about MMT?’ and will challenge several critics from both the neo-liberal mainstream and from within the Post Keynesian family that, indeed, there is nothing new about MMT. Apparently a lot of macroeconomists are now claiming they knew it all along, which is interesting given they usually write down what they know to get it published! I contest that when they say this they are lying and doing so to cover up the inadequacies of their own failed analytical frameworks whether they be mainstream or Post Keynesian. So until tomorrow I have some music ideas for you to enjoy.
I am travelling for most of today on my way to Spain to help launch the Spanish language edition of my current book – Eurozone Dystopia: Groupthink and Denial on a Grand Scale (see details below). I will also be meeting various people at a very interesting period for Spain, the build-up to the June national election that will attempt to resolve the impasse that arose from the election. I will report when I can on what is going on while I am away
Its my Friday Lay Day blog and, today, I am travelling for most of it on my way to the US. I will be giving a talk on Monday morning in San Francisco on employment guarantees at the ASSA meetings. Later next week (Wednesday and Thursday), I will be in Los Angeles. I have some free time each of the next several days if anyone out there would like to catch up. I will be back into blogging action on Monday (and the quiz will be available tomorrow). Note also that I won’t be attending to moderating comments for an extended period today. That means that those with external links might sit in the queue for some time and I will get around to dealing with them when I have a connection again. For the next several hours I will be immersed in a novel about post-Colonial Jamaica, the CIA, gangs, and that sort of stuff. I am currently reading – A Brief History of Seven Killings – which is a very long and detailed book written by the US-based, Jamaican author Marlon James. Here are a few more snippets.