NP - St. Ralph Continues To Advance the Most Important Cause in American Politics, His Ego

[ish mailian]

Just raise wages. Sure, a good plan, Mark.  Normally, the market drives
wages higher as unemployment and slack are taken up during recovery, but,
again, this is not a normal recovery, so the textbook model is useless. So,
thinking out of the text, we need to raise wages anyway because wages will
not go up even if the Fed keeps rates at zero for another 2 years and the
unemployment rates is drive below the NAIRU, say to 2.5%. Wages won't
budge. Why not? Because workers have no bargaining leverage in the new
economy. It's that simple. While some minimum wage bargaining is having a
small impact, the vast majority of workers have no leverage and can't
collectively bargain for anything.  The public sectors are under assault
from without and within. And they are being dragged to the Supreme Court,
again:


http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/30/us-usa-court-unions-idUSKCN0PA1PD20150630

On Tue, Nov 3, 2015 at 4:52 PM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:

> "pay to dig holes and fill them up" if necessary---Keynes, paraphrase.
> Late capitalism is SO RICH
> that maybe guaranteed money---guaranteed annual incomes---is the best
> way to counterbalance
> the movement of money to the biggest companies....a lot of which is
> happening with low interest rates.
> Somewhere the homeless or unemployed are being paid (I think 11.50 hr)
> to pick up stuff in communities...
> they're doing it. Just do it as you can and get a little 11.50
> self-respect again.
>
>
> On Tue, Nov 3, 2015 at 4:43 PM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
> > I meant to say: Print out free money and distribute it liberally, and the
> > consumer demand will instantly reappear.
> >
> > On Tue, Nov 3, 2015 at 3:18 PM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>
> >> You haven't provided any rationale for your claim that raising interest
> >> rates will increase demand.
> >>
> >> You are also wrong that "People who agreed with that textbook view have
> >> been wrong about just about everything economic and financial since
> 2009."
> >> The textbook view was never given more than a weak try because of
> Republican
> >> opposition. But the US economy has improved the most in the World since
> the
> >> Recession because we at least shrugged off Austerity and tried a weak
> >> Stimulus for a while (but for only a very short while).  Print out free
> >> money and distribute it literally, and the consumer demand will
> instantly
> >> reappear.
> >>
> >> David Morris
> >>
> >> On Tue, Nov 3, 2015 at 2:50 PM, ish mailian <ishmailian at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> David, you would be right if we could open an economic textbook and
> make
> >>> sense of the great contraction and QE, the broken Phillips Curve and
> etc.,
> >>> but we can't. People who agreed with that texbookt view have been wrong
> >>> about just about everything economic and financial since 2009. Low and
> >>> negative rates and QE were supposed cause inflation, hyper-inflation
> even.
> >>> It was supposed to send gold flying and commodities up up and away and
> the
> >>> dollar down to the bottomless pit.
> >>>
> >>> In short, sir, with all do respect to you and your textbook view, you
> are
> >>> dead wrong, Hope you didn't lose your ass.
> >>>
> >>> The Fed can't deliver a robust economy.  A robust economy must be
> driven
> >>> by the consumer. But consumer, with the exception of the recent
> appetite for
> >>> new automobiles, is not consuming. Even after the great de-leveraging,
> and
> >>> zero rates, animal spirits are dead in the water. Raising interest
> rates
> >>> will get the consumer consuming, otherwise we will need to get used to
> what
> >>> Wall Street and the Gangsters have been peddling, the new normal or
> secular
> >>> stagnation, where the risks they are now prevented from taking are
> foisted
> >>> on us, as we have no other choice but to take on bubbled assets. QE
> has gone
> >>> on too long and has caused new kind of thrift paradox wherein
> disinflation
> >>> and deflation, compounded events such as the reshoring of jobs to
> >>> automation, the bust of the commodities super cycle, the collapse of
> OPEC
> >>> and oil...technological innovations....etc...keeps wages down with
> >>> productivity and keeps consumers waiting for inflation that is never
> and
> >>> never will be produced by low rates.
> >>>
> >>> Raising rates will help banks in some respects and hurt the banks in
> >>> others, same goes for the wealthy who live off interest income and
> stock
> >>> dividends. But it will help the workers most because it will get that
> robust
> >>> economy, 3-4% on track.
> >>>
> >>> On Tue, Nov 3, 2015 at 3:07 PM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>> Key point:  " As Jordan Weissmann at Slate points out, the entire
> >>>> argument doesn’t make a lot of sense, as “relatively few households
> actually
> >>>> survive on interest income.” Most ordinary people would benefit a lot
> more
> >>>> from a robust economy than a higher interest rate on their savings
> account,
> >>>> but Nader seems to assume a nation of people living on investments
> rather
> >>>> than on paychecks, which really undermines his
> >>>> spokesman-for-the-working-class schtick."
> >>>>
> >>>> Raising interest rates will only help the Banks and the rich.  What we
> >>>> really need is a massive increase of Federal spending to boost the
> economy,
> >>>> and/or a big boost in the minimum wage, to increase demand.  But,
> failing
> >>>> that, at least keep money cheap.  Increasing interest rates is insane
> when
> >>>> the economy is sluggish and inflation is zero.  A really simple
> point.  All
> >>>> the rest is shuck and jive.
> >>>>
> >>>> David Morris
> >>>>
> >>>> On Tue, Nov 3, 2015 at 12:38 PM, ish mailian <ishmailian at gmail.com>
> >>>> wrote:
> >>>>>
> >>>>> I don't know much about RN's relationships with female academics or
> >>>>> their husbands but he may still claim to be supporting both a rate
> hike by
> >>>>> the Fed and working people, the poor, and the retired, most of whom
> are not
> >>>>> rich but nevertheless, live on investments, the great portion of
> which is in
> >>>>> fixed income securities.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> One need only give Nader the benefit of the broken Phillip's Curve.
> >>>>> There are a growing number of economists who now contend that the
> >>>>> continuance of the zero bound policy is hurting the economy and
> working
> >>>>> people because, while unemployment has been driven down to near
> NAIRU by Fed
> >>>>> policy, it will nothing to lift wages and will cost, not only those
> retired
> >>>>> to live on less, but those close to retirement to work longer because
> >>>>> investment in safe retirement assets is discouraged while bubbles
> are made
> >>>>> an popped, and, while those indebted must pay off loans with
> non-inflated
> >>>>> wages.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> The Fed has a triple mandate, though the press and the Fed and
> Congress
> >>>>> confuse things by calling it a duel mandate. The third part is
> rates. The
> >>>>> Fed is charged with keeping rates in a range that promotes growth.
> It's no
> >>>>> doing that now. It is fixated on the Phillips curve model and it's
> not
> >>>>> working now. JY did well to focus on the unemployed and the
> participation
> >>>>> rate and the quit rate etc..., in other words, employment and wages,
> and
> >>>>> ignore inflation. She should continue with that plan. The Fed can't
> fight
> >>>>> the world. At this point, RN is on to something....lift rates to
> help the
> >>>>> working people.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>> On Tue, Nov 3, 2015 at 9:18 AM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com>
> >>>>> wrote:
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> Ralph Nader, epic mansplainer, tells Janet Yellen to listen to her
> >>>>>> husband.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> http://www.salon.com/2015/11/02/ralph_nader_epic_mansplainer_tells_janet_yellen_to_listen_to_her_husband/
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> Apparently, Ralph Nader is still talking, though in a way that
> >>>>>> certainly inspires a deep desire to go to Tumblr to find as many
> “shut up”
> >>>>>> gifs as one can find. Over the weekend, Nader published a
> nonsensical piece
> >>>>>> at the Huffington Post complaining that “humble savers” are getting
> screwed
> >>>>>> by the Federal Reserve’s unwillingness to raise the interest rate,
> which
> >>>>>> Nader seems to think is an elaborate plot to help the rich banks at
> the
> >>>>>> expense of working people.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> As Jordan Weissmann at Slate points out, the entire argument doesn’t
> >>>>>> make a lot of sense, as “relatively few households actually survive
> on
> >>>>>> interest income.” Most ordinary people would benefit a lot more
> from a
> >>>>>> robust economy than a higher interest rate on their savings
> account, but
> >>>>>> Nader seems to assume a nation of people living on investments
> rather than
> >>>>>> on paychecks, which really undermines his
> spokesman-for-the-working-class
> >>>>>> schtick.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>
> >>>
> >>
> >
>
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