It's Wednesday and there are a few topics that caught my attention this week as…
Event news and podcast
I am moving from well north of the Arctic Circle today to eventually get to Vienna for an event that I am talking at tonight as part of a new lecture series “Talk Europe #offenegesellschaft”. So no time to write a detailed blog post today. But I have information about the event tonight and the media for a podcast I did last week in Helsinki that should be sufficient for today. Normal transmission resumes tomorrow.
Event – Vienna, March 12, 2019
Tonight, I will be the guest speaker at an event to be held at the – Impact Hub Vienna – which is located at Lindengasse 56, 1070 Vienna.
This is the first event as part of the „Talk Europe #offenegesellschaft” lecture series organised by the Der Bildungsverein – Offene Gesellschaft, and organisation aims at promoting cultural and civic education in matters of social importance.
In the series (in their own words) “9 führende internationale Intellektuelle ihre jeweilige Vision von Europa” (nine leading international intellectuals will present their respective vision of Europe).
The discussions will range from economics to environmental to education policy.
I am very honoured to be their first speaker in what will be a really engaging series designed to question the foundations of modern European politics.
Following the panel discussion, Café Depot (Hofmobiliendepot, Andreasgasse 7, 1070 Vienna) will hold a stimulating get-together with food and drinks, and I will be available with Johannes Voggenhuber and Robert Pfaller for questions and discussions.
I hope to see some of you in Vienna on Tuesday.
Podcast on MMT – Helsinki, Thursday, March 7, 2019
Here is a podcast I did last Thursday in Helsinki with Timo Harjuniemi and Lauri Holappa from the Poliittinen talous Podcast.
We talked about the foundations and history of MMT and addresses the criticisms hurled at it by mainstream economists. Moreover, we discuss how the crisis of the neoliberal era and mainstream economic thought relates to the rise of MMT.
I was also asked about the future of MMT.
That is enough for today!
(c) Copyright 2019 William Mitchell. All Rights Reserved.
Enjoy the north pole.
When I was there I had the most spectacular northern light show. Strongest solar activity in 50 years!!
A magnificent podcast Bill – thank you.
Thought you might appreciate this essay. One in a series apparently.
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2019/03/bill-black-mmt-takes-center-stage-orthodox-economists-freak.html
Very informative podcast, Bill.
I hope it is alright to post it to another site to spread the word.
At the end of the podcast I was thinking about the Green New Deal and how we can no longer delay its implementation, the next ten years really are make or break for the global biosphere. China is already implementing their ‘Green New Deal’ with renewable energy, nuclear power and New Energy Vehicles production for example being invested in to the max, in parallel with rapid economic development that still incorporates a lot of new fossil fuel infrastructure unfortunately simply due to capacity constraints, so their emissions are still increasing but will hopefully start declining in a few years. Some countries especially in Europe are making reasonable progress with meeting the needed emission reduction targets but developed countries must cut emissions faster than the global average as they are much larger per capita emitters. Global emissions are still increasing .
According to a recent report from the IPCC, in order to limit global warming to 1.5C with “no or limited overshoot”, net global CO2 emissions need to fall by about 45% from 2010 levels by 2030 and reach “net zero” by around 2050. From this you can see the next ten years are critically important and much time has been squandered.
Don’t anyone think that the 1.5C limit is too ambitious as even if we stay just under it, 90% of the world’s existing reef building corals and most of their associated complex ecosystems will die. Kelp forests in our coastal waters are also shrinking rapidly now.
https://www.carbonbrief.org/in-depth-qa-ipccs-special-report-on-climate-change-at-one-point-five-c
If MMT is used to provide the financial insights needed to bring a Green New Deal to fruition in the US and elsewhere and to nullify all the bullshit arguments used to stall progress such as ‘how are you going to pay for it?’, ‘what about the debt burden on future generations?’, ‘you can’t use overt monetary financing as it will devalue the currency and cause hyperinflation’ and so on; then we must be looking at a time frame of only a FEW years before MMT insights guide government policy in this important area.
I would call that the breakthrough moment for MMT.
To any of Bill’s American readers, another clear conclusion is Donald Trump or any other climate change denying fossil cannot win the next US Presidential elections in late 2020. As I see it only Bernie Sanders offers a realistic chance of acting effectively on global warming in the time frame demanded as well as offering the best overall policy platform. The lives of our descendents and of the health of the earth’s biosphere are being determined now.
Andreas Bimba, I would give you 1000 thumbs up for that, if I could.
Thanks Steve. Do you think Bernie will win the Democratic Party nomination?
I have no idea. Me and the electorate have not agreed on much beginning with Reagan.
I did vote for Clinton and Obama, but they both turned out to be sell-out Dems.
So, far I plan for Progressives has not been followed as far as I can see from the other side of the world. My plan is for Progressives to go out into the street at least once a month. Stand there with signs. Organize and advertise on the internet. Gather strength by meeting each other. Be out in public to show your numbers are growing.
. . . As far as I’m concerned this is as important as a war for survival of the nation because of ACC or AGW it is just that; if not for civilization or even humanity. We don’t have 4 years to wait until 2014. We really need to get going in 2020.
. . . Progressives need to become the biggest party in 2020. Either by taking over the Greens or the Dems. To do this we need to get at least 50% of the non-voters to join us.