Jay Forrester, the father of System Dynamics, believed that in order to change a state's course on an issue, you have to change public perception first
To me, this is exactly what MMT community and fantastic ppl such as @StephanieKelton have been doing
"China’s state-backed industrial model has enabled it to capture around 30% of global manufacturing and secure dominant positions in sectors from chemicals and steel to batteries and electric vehicles."
"Europe needs to abandon neoliberal economic policy." Dirk Ehnts
"Most Belgians do not want the Federal Government to change the country's automatic wage indexation, increase VAT or cut defence spending to reduce the country's budget deficit. Instead, they want a wealth tax, according to the latest Grand Barometer survey."
The people have spoken.
https://t.co/pDkEUV0vLT
The return to the gold standard after the Civil War is often presented as a triumph of sound money. The reality was more complicated.
Yes, prices fell between the 1870s and 1890s. But falling prices do not automatically make people better off. Much of America was heavily indebted. Farmers, small businesses, and railroads had borrowed in nominal dollars. As prices and incomes fell, those debts became harder to repay because the dollars owed grew more valuable over time. This was not simply a refund to savers. It was also a transfer from debtors to creditors.
The period was marked by repeated financial crises, including the Panics of 1873, 1884, 1893, and 1896. Banks failed, unemployment surged, and economic activity contracted. Many contemporaries argued that tying money creation to gold constrained the financial system's ability to accommodate a rapidly industrializing economy.
Even economists who favor low inflation often acknowledge that persistent deflation can create problems. Falling prices increase the real burden of debt, discourage investment, and can trigger debt-deflation dynamics later analyzed by Irving Fisher.
The political movements for silver coinage and monetary expansion were not merely demands for perpetual inflation. They reflected a genuine conflict over who would bear the costs of restoring pre-war price levels. Creditors generally benefited from deflation. Debtors generally did not.
The lesson is not that inflation is good or that deflation is bad. The lesson is that monetary systems create winners and losers, and the gold standard was no exception.
If you can’t tax billionaires and trillionaire because “its unrealized gains until they cash out,” then stop letting them leverage that wealth for loans, as collateral, or as equity.
If it’s not real enough to tax, it shouldn’t be real enough to leverage.
This is why we say the system is rigged in favor of the super wealthy. Abolish billionaires, tax them out of existence, protect working people.
Why are our public services struggling?
"...while 99% of us are paying, in total, 40% to 50% tax on our incomes, billionaires are paying a rate equating to 25% at most. As for wealth, the situation is much worse."
https://t.co/Qy01cm7chk
The Pentagon, despite a $1 trillion budget, is full of waste, fraud and abuse. It is, in fact, the only federal agency that can’t pass an independent financial audit. And now Trump wants $500 billion more in military spending.
CONGRESS MUST JUST SAY NO.
Karl Marx was right when he said;
capitalists are their own gravėdiggers; that they repress wages yet seek to maximize profits, eventually workers can’t buy whats produced and the system starts coming to a halt.
THE PURPOSE OF TAXES
Why do we pay taxes?
It's not to "fund" government spending.
A sovereign government doesn't need our money.
Taxes serve three main purposes:
1. They create demand for the currency.
2. They allow the government to manage inflation by reducing private spending power.
3. They can be used to discourage undesirable activities (e.g., carbon tax) and redistribute wealth.
Thinking of taxes as a tool, not a funding source, is a revolutionary shift.
https://t.co/nGXXn7fuxL #MMT #ECON
Since 2008, "almost all of the increase in wealth in the United States has gone to the top ten per cent, and really to the top one per cent. That wealth consists in getting the rest of the economy into debt. The result is that the economy is overloaded with debt."
The case for Labour to introduce a wealth tax has never been stronger.
99% of us are paying, in total, 40% to 50% tax on our incomes, billionaires are paying 25% at most.
2% levy on fortunes above £100m could begin to reverse decades of rising inequality
https://t.co/mN9aNRfKCd
The post-Keynesian growth cycle doesn't begin with central banks distorting a mythical natural interest rate. It begins with the normal functioning of capitalism itself.
Businesses invest because they expect profits. Investment creates income, income creates demand, and demand encourages further investment. Growth feeds on itself.
As the expansion continues, unemployment falls and labor markets tighten. Workers gain bargaining power. Wages begin rising faster as firms compete for scarce labor.
Higher wages are not a distortion. They are a predictable consequence of successful growth. But rising wages can compress profit margins. As profits come under pressure, firms become more cautious. Investment slows.
At the same time, businesses and households often turn to debt to maintain growth. Banks are eager to lend because recent success makes risk appear low. Credit expands, asset prices rise, and optimism becomes self-reinforcing.
The longer stability persists, the more fragile the system becomes.
What began as productive investment gradually shifts toward speculation. Rising debt commitments require continued growth to remain sustainable. The economy becomes increasingly dependent on expectations that cannot all be fulfilled.
Then reality intervenes. A slowdown in profits, rising debt burdens, falling asset prices, or declining investment can trigger a wave of deleveraging. Spending falls. Layoffs begin. Income declines. The boom turns into a bust.
The crisis was not caused by an external distortion imposed on an otherwise stable system.
The boom itself created the conditions for the bust.
This was the insight of Richard Goodwin. It was the insight of Hyman Minsky and formalized by @ProfSteveKeen Cycles emerge from the interaction of wages, profits, investment, employment, and debt.
Capitalism does not require policy mistakes to become unstable.
Its internal dynamics are often enough.
Der Aufstieg des Faschismus in Deutschland folgte auf eine Wirtschaftskrise (Depression) mit einer Deflation - die Hyperinflation der 1920er Jahre war deutlich vorher. Ursächlich für den "Großen Crash von 1929" war die private Verschuldung der goldenen Zwanziger, nicht die "Staatsverschuldung". Wer Angst schürt vor Finanzkrisen sollte daher auf die private Verschuldung schauen. Diese stand sowohl 1929 wie auch 2008/09 im Zentrum des Geschehens.
https://t.co/k8tmGKOfPj