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TMBS - 87 - Bernie Crushes Fox News & Richard Wolff on Gramsci, UBI (Patreon)

Published:
2019-04-16 23:05:21
Imported:
2026-06
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Live a little after 7ET.

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TMBS - 87 - Bernie Crushes Fox News & Richard Wolff on Gramsci, UBI

Starting a little after 7 ET!

Comments

Bijou Smith

Wonderful episode. But I will continue to gripe at all my leftipol comrades.... in the opening you mention the misery of neoliberal austerity... yet Bernie walks right into conservative neolib claws when he conceded the myth that "taxes pay for things". I thought you folks at M.R. and TMBS were woke to monetary dynamics (also inappropriately called "MMT" - it is not a theory, it is description). Socialism has the most to gain by understanding fiat money dynamics, far more than capitalists. Use it!!!! Do not ever concede again ever to conservatives and neoclassical econs that taxes are needed to pay for things. Universal programs should be funded from the deficit. It is the only sustainable way. As long as there is low inflation the fiat currency government deficit can increase to an arbitrary large size with nothing bad happening. Modern computers can store a huge numbers of digits!!!! (And no one really needs to keep track of the number, it is just a number. Literally.) In fact, if there is unemployment we know the deficit is too low - government can raise the deficit to provide a job guarantee. If a trillion dollar deficit was bad, how come the USA economy is booming??? The reason it periodically crashes is not due to a big deficit, it is due to running a surplus and putting households into debt. Household debt drives recessions, not government deficit, and these tow re inverses: reduce the US deficit increases household debt - why? Because with a reduced deficit there is less money in circulation, so people have to take out credit to afford things.Can you see? This is not econ nerdery. It is the correct monetary economics of SOCIALISM. It is just acknowledging how money circulates. If the government takes back more, we get less. (And even less for us ordinary folk under capitalism since the rentiers keep theirs and hide it from taxation.)

Bijou Smith

Damn! Awesome Brooksy! Your analysis of the Third Way and neoliberal project 15min in makes a Kyle Kulinski analysis seem like a grade school essay. Clip that and share it.

Bijou Smith

Wow. This episode was full of gems, especially from Prof. Wolff. I love his framing that machine automation does not need to eliminate jobs, it can eliminate long work hours, with no cut in aggregate wages. It is a recalibration of the monetary value of human labour. Folks like Yang and Musk are AI singularity nutcases, and it shows in their politics. When we invent technology we are free to use it to make our lives better, the choice to make life worse for workers when automation tech advances is just that, a choice. The wrong choice.

Bijou Smith
>>21878221

And I much appreciated Wolff's story about Gramsci and counter hegeomony. (It was easier than reading one of Griscom's long excerpts! ;-)

Bijou Smith

Sorry to graffiti all over TMBS... but could I please, please, pretty please request a debunking with Ben segment on the myth that "taxes pay for things". Reason is: I hear Burgis and Sam and Michael and Bernie and even AOC, say, every opportunity, that they will "raise taxes to pay for free healthcare and free college". And that is driving me nuts!!! How can lovely and intelligent lefties be so stupid and ignorant? So it would do Ben some good to explore his own false beliefs and debunk them. If you all do not agree that "taxes pay for stuff" is a false myth, I will be happy to debate Ben and Michael on this (and I would suspect Wolff and Prof Michael Hudson would have my back on this!!!) . BTW, am not a believer in "MMT" --- I think that's a gross misnomer. What I have studied (and researched) is monetary circuit dynamics, which is not a theory, but a factual description of how fiat currency circulates. It is perhaps fringe in mainstream economics which is dominated by mystical nonsense neoclassical econ, which has been debunked in several books by Steve Keen, John Quiggen, Chris Harman, Lester Spence, and many other activists and heterodox economists.

Bijou Smith
>>21878579

Associated requests for debunking: (2) Neoclassical economics principles (rational expectations, equilibrium supply/demand, etc.), there could be a whole series of these - vital for leftipols to understand and be able to boil down to clear debunking arguments (for deployment in "elevator pitches" to any open minded conservative normie. (3) The myth that "government deficits are bad". (4) the myth that socialism implies zero competition and stagnation of new inventions. (5) the myth that socialism is based on materialism and does not care about spirituality and abstract virtues (I will debunk materialism and debate anyone on this).

Francisco Rodriguez Rascon

When has AOC said that taxes pay for things. She is probably the only member of congress that buys into MMT. She even has had an MMTer as a member of her campaign.