It's Wednesday, so a few topics. Tomorrow, I plan to address the issue that the…
My blog is flying across the world today …
I am travelling to Europe and the UK today so will not have the time necessary to write anything here. I will be at the UK MMT Conference – at Leeds on Tuesday and Wednesday for some of the time and I might see a few people there. I am only away a few days this time. The next post will be Wednesday. For now an announcement and some music.
Book launch – Melbourne, Australia
We will be launching the new book – Modern Monetary Theory: Bill and Warren’s Excellent Adventure – at the – UK MMT Conference – at Leeds University, on Wednesday, July 15, 2024 at 9:45.
The book is now being posted out to those who pre-ordered it.
You can also get one from any of the major publishers on-line or in person.
However, the Australian launch will occur at Readings Bookshop (Hawthorn shop) in Melbourne on Thursday, September 12, 2024 starting at 18:30.
ABC Finance presenter Alan Kohler will join me at the event and we are going to call it Bill and Alan’s Excellent Evening! (-:
It will be a packed event and I will let you all know the more specific details as soon as Readings release them this week sometime.
By then Melbourne will be a little warmer than it is right now.
The book is currently #13 on – Amazon Hot New Releases – which I guess is okay given that it has not been officially published yet (that will happen on Wednesday).
Music – Max Richter
This is what I have been listening to this morning.
It is from the post-minimalist pianist and composer – Max Richter – who I like, not only because of the quality of his music, but also because he writes what he calls ‘protest music’ to make us think about major events and travesties, such as the illegal invasion of Iraq by the US and the UK (and other lackey states like Australia).
The track – She Remembers – was on the soundtrack of a TV series – The Leftovers – and was published in 2014.
Perfect travelling music.
That is enough for today!
(c) Copyright 2024 William Mitchell. All Rights Reserved.
Dear Bill, I’m a keen reader of your blog and , while no pun was intended, was very sorry to hear that Steve Keen has been refused permission to attend your MMT Leeds conference; by Warren Mosler, no less. Steve was to present a paper, along with Stephanie Kelton, “Proving the fundamentals of MMT using Minsky”.
I guess this is typical of what one might call “academic rivalry”, but very surprising.
My concern is that if the heterodox community are unable to show that they speak with a single voice, what hope do you have of overthrowing the mainstream majority? The pettiness of WM is disappointing !
Regards, Mike Fox
Mike beat me to it. I was disappointed that Steve won’t be there.
I’m not sure why they have such a problem with the “import/export” issue.
Re the export/import issue:
For any one country to issue its own public money via the nation’s Treasury (to fund government, debt-free) , that country would need to be entirely self-sufficient, not needing to import – unless it could also export the equivalent value of things other nations want. (That was Prof. Mark Blyth’s objection to MMT).
And that requires a degree of international co-operation that doesn’t exist. Keynes had international cooperation in mind with his ICU and Bankor concepts, but the triumphant US rejected it in 1944 in favour of post-war US global hegemony.
It’s a bit like Doc Evatt’s idea for a UNSC without veto, to achieve an effective international rules -based system without war- also rejected because nations prefer to make war to settle disputes.
The human animal….
Dear Mike (at 2024/07/15 at 8:22 pm)
Thanks for your comment and readership.
First, you say that Keen was denied “permission to attend your MMT Leeds conference”. It is not my conference. I had nothing to do with the organisation of it, the call for papers, or the determination of speaking list. Having said that I am appreciative of the tireless work that the organisers put in, without payment, to promote MMT.
Second, you talk of the desirability of solidarity within the “heterodox community”, which I am in accord with. But just last year, I believe Keen published a video entitled “MMT is a lie”, presumably as clickbait to attract more patronage for his own work, which hardly resonates with the ‘solidarity’ aspiration.
Third, I spoke with the organisers yesterday and they had so many papers offered that they had to make a choice on the offers that would be culled. That is a standard process done by conference organisers the world over and it is not easy to satisfy everyone. One has to balance continuity, audience interest and other considerations. To suggest that the exclusion of one paper is somehow “academic rivalry” is to simplify what is always a complex decision.
I am not privy to how the organisers accomplished that invidious culling job but I don’t think the evidence warrants people concluding that Keen was victimised for his views.
best wishes
bill
Riuchard Murpy (“Funding the Future”) – commenting on Keen’s disinvitation to the Leeds conference, says he likes Stephanie Kelton and Steve Keen, but not Bill or WM especially on the global trade issue.
He also says “They (Bill and WM) also talk a great deal of nonsense, promulgating the belief that MMT says governments can spend without taxing, when in reality they cannot.”
But if resources are available for purchase by the currency-issuing government, then surely taxes aren’t required to fund purchasing those resources.
My head hurts….
Dear Neil Halliday (at 2024/07/21 at 10:46 pm)
Murphy has long been allocated to the category of random noise, to be ignored.
best wishes
bill