07 Jun 2011

Murphy on FreedomWatch Tonight

Shameless Self-Promotion 19 Comments

It’s a pretty quick hit, talking about the government acting like a household. MMTers are sure to enjoy it.

19 Responses to “Murphy on FreedomWatch Tonight”

  1. MamMoTh says:

    Sounds good! Is Wesley Snipes locked in the basement?

    • Major_Freedom says:

      Is “Wesley Snipes” what we’re calling MMT now?

      • Joseph Fetz says:

        LOL, that was hilarious.

  2. AP Lerner says:

    Here’s a thought, and I mean this with all seriousness. There is an economist by the name of Mike Norman that occasionally holds his nose and goes on Fox Business to talk some sense into people. Of course he gets ridiculed because common sense and logic are not allowed at FBC. Anyhow, maybe you could speak w/ the Judge and see if the two of you guys could get on an episode at the same time? I know nothing would get settled but would be fun to watch.

    • sandre says:

      Mike Norman is a web stalker. He has issues. He is obsessed with Peter Schiff, and attacks him PERSONALLY often on his blog, and he had youtube channel named ‘mikeydoggy’ where he goes on his stalking binge.

      I assume his obsession started when one Peter Schiff FAN released a video of him making foolish predictions about home prices going up 10% in 2007 and ridiculing Peter Schiff back then. I remember Mike Norman touting GM stocks and financial stocks back in early 08 on Fox channel’s bulls & bears.

      Mike “Fool” Norman hasn’t received a tenth of the laughter he deserves actually.

      • Major_Freedom says:

        But he attacks Austrians, so his epic failures in life are what Lerner considers “common sense and logic.”

        • Dude Where's My Savings says:

          According to our genius Mike Norman (And AP Lerner), savings come from government.
          In a related story, Mike Norman also declared snowballs originate in hell, the earth is the center of the universe, etc.
          Mike Norman should be put in a glass cage and we should invite the general public to come in, pay a fee, point and laugh at him. We’ll donate the proceeds to the Mike Norman retirement fund because the schmuck probably went broke following his own idiotic recommendations.

      • Joseph Fetz says:

        Norman states that the US has no threat of default because it can print the currency of which its debt is denominated it. But, what he entirely disregards is the opinion of those that hold that debt. Obviously, if I leant a share of money to a debtor, I (as the creditor) would like to receive the principle (at the par of the loan) as well as interest upon that loan. If I as the creditor was somehow shorted out of the full value of the principle, and the interest did not cover the full value of the initial loan, then guess what? I am coming after your ass, and I will ensure that you make good on the principle as well as the interest.

        MMTers talk as if this is no big deal, as if this is not breaking a contract. What they seem to forget, or just ignore altogether, is that this is the exact dynamic that wars are made of. Sure, they will try to take the moral high-ground by stating that we were attacked for no reason, or that the other side was the aggressor. But, what they don’t say is that they tried to screw their creditor out of his wealth by devaluing his principle and interest. Sure, it seems harmless because it is so illusory to most people. But, the creditor knows the score.

        The MMT program not only discoordinates domestic production, changes the price structure from where it would have been otherwise, but it invites aggression from those nations that are stuck holding our debt. Sure, you may see the aggression on the US from other nations as unprovoked, but they sure don’t. And, I would be willing to bet that you also see the response (and all that that entails) as a boost to GDP.

        WTF is wrong with you people?

    • Robert says:

      AP Lerner,

      Unless you yourself are Mike Norman, your reference to him as a sound economist whom talks sense into people with common sense and logic is quite scary.

      That coupled with your deafening silence to Bob Roddis’ repeated basic questions about MMT has really painted your understanding of economics in a most negative light.

      Mike Norman? Really?

      • AP Lerner says:

        “Unless you yourself are Mike Norman, your reference to him as a sound economist whom talks sense into people with common sense and logic is quite scary.”

        Go back and read my post. I reference Mike because he is the only person who actually wastes his time on FBC that has the sense to take a completely opposite (and correct) view of monetary operations than Mr. Murphy. What goes on with him and Schiff is there problem, but my guess is I could pull some pretty childish and ignorant clips of Schiff as well. In fact, this one was easy to find (RIP Mr. Haines)

        http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ZcPYzS1LrRM

        I’m still waiting for the hyperinflation.

        “That coupled with your deafening silence to Bob Roddis’ repeated basic questions about MMT ”

        I’ve answered every one of the questions he has posted to me, several times, on another blog. Just because he does not understand my answers, does not mean I am ignoring him. He is like a broken record. All I hear from Bobby is ‘You don’t understand Austrian economics” (despite the fact I wasted 4 good years of my life studying the gibberish at University which I would really like back) and then he copies and pastes from XYZ Austrian blog and claims intellectual superiority. Sorry, but at this point debating Bob is a pointless exercise. At least Mr. Murphy is thoughtful and open minded in his responses. I disagree with much of what he says.

        Here’s the simply reality. You can argue ideologies and theories and rehash neo-liberal claims like crowding out and the money multiplier all you like but the fact is anyone observing reality recognizes they do not exist. And the more Austrian economists dig in to defend these claims, the more apparent it becomes how little they understand about monetary operations and the flow of credit in an economy such as the US. And failure to understand monetary operations is the greatest threat to the US economy and prosperity. Not some made up fears of crowding out and default.

        I have laid out very clearly on this blog, and others where I think rates and inflation are going, and I have been spot on. The day excess reserves turn into inflation, and the day the US declares a credit even and goes belly up, I will come on this blog, and admit I was wrong. Any one else willing to make that claim?

        What’s clear is the more Austrians (and Keynesians, for that matter) dig in to defend their ideologies despite the massive amounts of empirical evidence against them, it becomes apparent they are no longer economists, but spokespersons. The ideological battles have destroyed what was once a pretty respectable profession. It’s sad

        Stepping off soap box; feel free flame away starting…now

        🙂

  3. Bob Roddis says:

    When is AP Lerner going to explain where all of the stuff is going to come from to satisfy all of the unpayable government debt?

    When is AP Lerner going to explain why catallactics no longer matters because, according to him, as of 1971 we are no longer on the gold standard?

    Months and months ago, APLerner informed me that I needed to read something by ex-Trotskyite Abba Lerner (1903-1982), the Godfather of MMT/Functional Finance. I found something by David Colander, a co-author of a 1980 book with Lerner where Lerner (a year or so before he died) proposed these ghastly price controls:

    Initially he toyed with various administrative wage and price control policies, but he found those lacking and soon gave them up. He replaced them, first, with a tax based incomes policy and ultimately, a market based[!!!] incomes policy in which property rights in prices are set and individuals have to buy the right to change prices from others who change their price in the opposite direction. It was this idea that formed the basis of our market [!!!!!!] anti inflation (MAP) book. (Lerner and Colander 1980) Under MAP, rights in value added prices would be tradable so that any firm wanting to change its nominal price would have to make a trade with another firm that wanted to change its nominal price in the opposite direction. Thus, by law, the average price level would be constant but relative prices would be free to change [page 12]

    http://tinyurl.com/4rfk3jk

    When will AP Lerner explain the purpose of these price controls if taxes cure inflation?

    Why doesn’t AP Lerner ever answer these extremely basic concerns about MMT?

    • MamMoTh says:

      Your strawman argument has been answered time and time again Roddis.

      Isn’t being a Rothbardian hypocrite enough for you?

      • Bob Roddis says:

        As I recall, you claimed MMT was catallactic, but AP Lerner never said so.

        Also, some MMTers claimed that Abba Lerner didn’t matter, but AP Lerner is a big follower of Abba Lerner so what’s his answer?

        Finally, no one has answered the law of scarcity question which is the biggie.

      • Major_Freedom says:

        Your strawman argument has been answered time and time again Roddis.

        It’s no straw man, and time and time again, the answers have failed.

        • MamMoTh says:

          Sorry but you are still mixing your failure to understand the answers with the failure of the answers.

          • Joseph Fetz says:

            Oh yes, how could we forget that money somehow creates abundance? How stupid could we be?

            Just print some money, and then all of your dreams will come true, never mind the capital structure or the prices thereof. That seems to be the gist of MMT…

          • Major_Freedom says:

            Except the answers are in fact failures.

  4. Zack A says:

    what answers? why dont you refresh your memories