It's Wednesday and there are a few topics that caught my attention this week as…
Monday, April 26: Where is bill?
Today’s blog is being posted earlier than usual. I am travelling today and so time is short.
I am off to the US for some work commitments including the Fiscal Sustainability Teach-In and Counter-Conference will be staged in Washington D.C. next Wednesday, April 28, 2010.
The Teach-In Counter-Conference will be held at the George Washington University Marvin Center, Room 310 (the Elliott Room) from 8:00 to 16:00. You can see a map of the location via Google Maps.
The Teach-In Counter Conference Program assembles many of the major Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) developers in the same place and all interested parties are welcome.
This is the first grass roots effort to promote MMT. The day has been chosen to rival the sham Peter G. Peterson Foundation conference exploring the same topic.
If you are near to Washington DC and have the means it would be great to meet you next week.
You will also note that I have included a fund raising widget on my right side-bar at present. Any help for the organisers will be very appreciated. Just click the image and open your bank accounts! Apparently this will only accept funds if you are in the US. The alternative strategy is to use the contact page that the organisers have set up and pursue your enquiry that way.
At present they really need some financial support. It is a shoe-string, community-driven event being organised by committed volunteers who are motivated by the fact that they care and realise something is wrong with the dominance of conservative, free-market think tanks like the PGPF in the public debate.
Here is how I am getting there:
I am staying at the Red Roof Inn-Washington DC, 500 H Street Northwest Washington, DC 20001-2620, (202) 289-5959. I will be there from Monday night (local time) and if anyone is in DC and interested in a chat feel free to contact me via E-mail, the blog contact page or my mobile phone is +61-419 422 410.
Most of all come down to the Teach-In and Counter Conference.
Normal blog transmission will resume on Tuesday.
Comments
In some cases I moderate comments which is a manual operation. I can do this via mobile phone or computer but while actually flying I cannot. So if you have made a comment that my algorithms deem to warrant moderation then please be patient – it will be dealt with within the next 20 hours or so.
“…committed volunteers who are motivated by the fact that they care and realise something is wrong with the dominance of conservative, free-market think tanks like the PGPF in the public debate.”
and am very very grateful for the efforts you and the others have made to educate all of us.
thank you.
Oh, how I wish this event was being held in Sydney.
Enjoy the plane trip, hope you don’t get too jet lagged.
P.s. Will the presentations be available online at some point?
http://www.clms.neu.edu/publication/documents/Labor_Underutilization_Problems_of_U.pdf
any of these punters at your conference?
mdm
The organizers are putting together videos of all presentations so in order to have an MMT presence on Youtube.
best,
Scott
Good luck at the conference, Professor Mitchell. I look forward to seeing some video footage of some of the events at a later date.
Bill,
After reading tons of lines about the Greek Drama I was pondering how MMT might fit with an EMU without some “radical” new approach like dissolving the EMU. Thus I’ve a question: Let’s assume the EMU drops the SGP 3% and 60% limitations. Which essentially is happening since years. And the ECB is solely committed to fight inflation. It’s original purpose. But is required to give credit to any EMU country of any amount of currency (with interest attached?) as long as this request does not infringe it’s inflation target. And EMU governments stop issuing debt to the private sector but turn to the ECB. Such an arrangement should work without fiscal flows between nations? Every government can pursue it’s policies with the sole respect to overall inflation. Most probable this thinking is why I will never hit the 5/5 target in your weekly quiz.
Stephan,
A federal government would have to be set up as in the US. Its spending throughout the EMU, though, would have to be a apportioned between the member countries in a way that is deemed equitable.
Apparently, European “leaders” are only capable of procrastinating or allegedly making shady deals such as asking Greece to buy French/German submarines in exchange for the loans, while openly blaming their government for its over sized armed forces. Maybe they need the sky to fall on their heads to see how it feels like, after all.
I gave you a small contribution. Hope people will listen to you guys.
Dear Earl at 2.10am
Thanks very much for the contribution.
best wishes
bill