David Baltusavich

I crack tough tech problems and develop new tools for the web.

[David Baltusavich @synatree]

@jimcraddock @supermills @StephanieKelton Population growth alone, plus entire new industries coming online since the 1970s, implies the necessity of the growth of the money supply. It doesn't really matter what the absolute value of $1 was in 1776 vs today, there is no question we are wealthier in real terms.

[David Baltusavich @synatree]

@jimcraddock @supermills @StephanieKelton Nearly everyone in the jurisdiction of the United States has some amount of $ that they must surrender to the gov't annually (income tax, sales tax, fees, etc). This creates a permanent demand for $. If no taxes were levied by gov't, THEN the value of the $ could fall to zero.

[David Baltusavich @synatree]

@jimcraddock @supermills @StephanieKelton For example, if gov't offered to buy all "apples" for $10/lb, then the price of apples will suddenly by $10/lb or greater, nationwide. By deciding what gov't will pay for goods AND by setting tax level, the overall value of the currency is established.

[David Baltusavich @synatree]

@northernmnkey @Tsunehme @StephanieKelton @wbmosler It sounds like the UK is pursuing a policy of forcing people into smaller homes or just shifting wealth to the top. It is a choice they are making, and in a democratic context it's up to the voters to get educated about this stuff and change it.

[David Baltusavich @synatree]

@Economics21st @tonywestonuk The state is creating IOUs, but what they owe to the taxpayer is just a credit on their tax bill. It's written right on the bill - legal tender for all debts *public* and private - the debt owed to you is to credit you a dollar on your tax bill and nothing else.

[David Baltusavich @synatree]

@FraserJ53 @StephenF55 @StephanieKelton Income in dollars. In dollar denominated accounts. At commercial banks regulated by the Fed. Deposits never leave the Fed system.

[David Baltusavich @synatree]

@wikiDerek @Curiouser103108 @K_Hawk1219 @ProfSteveKeen @nntaleb @bankofengland No, it's a description of how sovereign currency works, going back thousands of years.

[David Baltusavich @synatree]

@tonywestonuk @AynRand_is_Dead @ProfHall1955 And obviously poor policymaking plays a huge role. If your gov't decides not to hire out-of-work teachers because they want to give high interest payments to people who already have money in proportion to how much they have, that's just a dumb policy.

[David Baltusavich @synatree]

@tonywestonuk @AynRand_is_Dead @ProfHall1955 I think MMT people would say that unemployment occurs when taxes are too high AND/OR spending is too low. Unemployment occurs when there is insufficient currency to hire all the available labor. While that could come from excessive tax, it could also come from low spending.

[David Baltusavich @synatree]

@sdgrumbine @tomfoster66 @StephanieKelton @rjeskow @jasonhickel @ColleenFights @NJHagens Agree that some in the movement are sadly misinformed about MMT's implications for the human predicament in a democratic society. I think if @NJHagens really dove into it and spoke with Stephanie, maybe there could be a meeting of the minds.

[David Baltusavich @synatree]

@rohangrey If ppl think good a gov't is one that improves their standard of living in material terms, we are going to be in trouble when "better and better" is no longer possible. Will democracy work without political promises of more/better/faster?

[David Baltusavich @synatree]

@redeagletrader @NathanDallon @aeberman12 @DoombergT If nuclear waste requires an advanced civilization to monitor and manage waste that poses a risk to life, then it's not a good solution. You can't take for granted that nothing will change in the future, that the status quo will just continue for centuries or millenia.

[David Baltusavich @synatree]

@RogSparksKB @wbmosler @BevansAdvocate ZIRP would not mean banning interest, it just means the Fed no longer offers interest on tsy securities. Legislature decides what money is used for by setting tax rates and spending priorities. We cannot run out of $ but we can misallocate resources.

[Warren B. Mosler @wbmosler]

@KobeissiLetter Nice mention here!
https://t.co/51aaqMV1zn

[David Baltusavich @synatree]

@aeberman12 Thank you @aeberman12... breadcrumb here for anyone else who wants to understand why: https://t.co/7EQz7RKmlh I guess I didn't understand just how slowly heat moves through rock.

[David Baltusavich @synatree]

@qwevino_0 @aeberman12 @cjenscook Would it be fair to say that primary energy calculated using the substitution method amounts to "thermalizing" more organized forms of energy for the sake of making them equivalent to fossil energy, which makes them seem really inefficient?

[David Baltusavich @synatree]

@aeberman12 Ah, so the injection well has no way to actually convey the water through the rock to the production well. That does seem like a problem.

[David Baltusavich @synatree]

@qwevino_0 @kali0x2a @aeberman12 @cjenscook I thought Art was making a point about how all new energy coming into the system was serving only to grow the total energy consumption and not actually replacing any FF sources; would his graph show something different if it used final energy instead of primary?

[David Baltusavich @synatree]

@kali0x2a Why not learn a language with very few native speakers left? I am learning an indigenous language spoken by about 100 people natively.