Announcing – Foundation for Monetary Studies Inc.

It is Wednesday today and a blog-lite day. An announcement and a few videos only. But plenty to occupy your time if so inclined. I have an important announcement to make, a video of our Birmingham event (May 11, 2019) and some music from one of the best guitar players. Thomas Fazi and I also have an article coming out in The Tribune magazine soon in response to a rather unsavoury and silly attack on Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) by an ex-advisor to the British Labour Party. There will also be a longer version published here in the coming days – which contains more detail. But I have to finish the edits today! So with that said …

Announcing – Foundation for Monetary Studies Inc.

Today, I am formally announcing the – Foundation for Monetary Studies Inc. – aka The MMT Foundation.

Regular readers will know that this has been in the wind for some time. We have now completed all the legal steps to bring the MMT Foundation into operation.

We hope this will take our MMT-related projects forward and help more people understand our work and use that understanding to improve their nations down to their local communities.

The purpose

We have created the Foundation as a vehicle to raise funds and provide financial resources for educational projects as resources permit and the need arises.

It is only a funding body – to solicit funds and redirect them.

Its legal structure allows people can make donations without their identity being revealed publicly.

The first project it will support is – MMTed (aka MMT University) – which will provide formal courses to students in all nations to advance their understanding of Modern Monetary Theory.

At present this is the priority and we need some solid longer-term commitments to make this project possible and sustainable.

But any financial assistance will help.

You can nominate whether you want to be publicly known to have funded the MMTed project or not. But all funds we raise at present will go to that Project in the first instance.

The formal office bearers of the Foundation receive no payments for their services.

You will see the Advisory Board embraces all the core MMT group.

If you want to discuss sponsorship arrangements or other matters relating to the Foundation, then please contact:

1. E-mail: info@monetarystudies.com

2. E-mail: Bill.Mitchell@newcastle.edu.au

3. Phone: +61 419 422 410 (international) or 0419 422 410 (from within Australia).

Please help if you can.

At present, we can accept payments by Pay Pal (at the site).

We can also accept cheques and bank transfers but you need to contact us for details if that option suits.

The legals

The Foundation for Monetary Studies Inc was incorporated in the City of Wilmington, County of New Castle, in the State of Delaware on April 24, 2019 as a non-stock company.

It was incorporated with the purpose of making grants to other non-profits to conduct public education around monetary systems.

It is organised for purposes which are exclusively religious, charitable, scientific, literacy, and education within the meaning of section 501(c)(3) of the United States Internal Revenue Code of 1986 or the corresponding provision of any future United States Revenue law.

The Foundation for Monetary Studies, Inc. (“FMS”), is a non-profit corporation registered in the State of Delaware.

We are currently in the process of applying for federal tax-exemption under Section 501(c)(3) of the US Internal Revenue Code.

In order for FMS to solicit tax-exempt donations while this application is still pending, the Modern Money Network, Ltd. (“MMN”) has agreed to serve as a fiscal sponsor, and to receive funds on FMS’s behalf.

MMN is a non-profit corporation registered in the State of Delaware, and is a federal tax-exempt public charity under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

Donations made to MMN on behalf of FMS are not disclosed to the public.

Furthermore, all donations made to MMN on behalf of FMS will be used exclusively for FMS projects, and any unspent funds will be transferred to FMS at the conclusion of the fiscal sponsorship arrangement.

Full video from our Birmingham visit – May 11, 2019

Here is the full video of the three presentations and Q&A of the Birmingham leg of our recent speaking tour.

Joining Warren Mosler and I for this leg was Martin Watts, who co-authored the MMT textbook – Macroeconomics.

The event was organised by – The Gower Initiative for Modern Money Studies ((GIMMS) – and we thank Prue Plumridge, Sara Holland and Claire Jackson-Prior for their dedication to their project and their brilliant organisation.

Special thanks to Claire for her filming, editing and final production.

The order:

Warren Mosler – first up.

Myself – starts at 34 minutes approximately.

Martin Watts – starts at 1hr 22 minutes.

Discussion

Music I am listening to today

When I was young I used to trawl through the Record shops – not being able to buy much – but imagining who these players were. There was no Google in those days!

I would regularly get the shop person to put a record on to listen to it before purchase although I never purchased many until a bit later (income constraints – a household remember using the currency).

One of the players that amazed me in those formative years was Wes Montgomery. He seemed to me to be the exemplar of sophistication. Way beyond anything I could imagine.

And when in my teenage years I read somewhere (probably in Go Set) that he had died (June 15, 1968) I was devastated even though I knew nought about him really – but his sound and those octave runs were among my most lasting memories.

At the time I didn’t really know what hard bop was but I sure liked it.

I regularly listen to him and 50 odd years later he still sounds magical.

His technique was unparalleled – with that thumb playing derived apparently because he worked all day as a factory worker and so practised late into the night and didn’t want to disturb his next door neighbours. So he eschewed the pick (which is louder).

I took that into my own playing and regularly use my fingers.

And when I heard this album not long after it came out (I think I bought the import version in Melbourne in 1970) I was already hooked on Hammond organs and, especially, Jimmy Smith.

Here is Wes Montgomery playing the classic Jimmy Smith song – Mellow Mood.

It is off the 1968 album – Further Adventures of Jimmy and Wes (Verve and produced by CTIs Creed Taylor).

The magnificent Jimmy Smith is on Hammond, Grady Tate on drums and Ray Barretto on percussion.

Perfect for calming down after listening to the failed Shadow Treasurer this morning raving on about fiscal prudence. I just wanted to shout into the radio – you lot lost because of this nonsense – but I was driving and it might have been interpreted as road rage.

That is enough for today!

(c) Copyright 2019 William Mitchell. All Rights Reserved.