Why advocate public banking? The way we allocate resources, rewards
and punishments is with money. Money often trumps public process,
political power and even laws as written. Banks, not votes, or even
political influence, often decide public policy, plans, and particularly what
actually gets built. (Caveat: those other things have influence, and may encourage / prevent actual improvements, but banks have a veto.)
If we're to have an enriched, sustainable public realm, the public needs to take charge of at least part of the money currently controlled by private banking, and one way to do that is with public banks. Currently, private profit directs public policy. If the public is to be in charge and empowered, public purpose needs to balance private profit.
By my lights, what’s posted below is critical path information. To keep the information in manageable hunks, here are the topics covered:
1. Money Technology
2. Public Banking
3. A Non-Issue: Inflation
4. The Real Enemy: Austerity
One final note. Most of this is based on the work of some heterodox economists often called Modern Money Theorists. Their advice is not necessarily partisan. Warren Mosler advised Bush 43, and Michael Hudson advised Dennis Kucinich. Unlike the orthodox economists--from “lefty” Krugman to “righty” Mankiw--these heterodox economists predicted the Great Recession. One of them--Steve Keen--won the Revere prize in economics for that prediction. The economics “Nobel” that Krugman got is issued by (private) Swedish banks, not the Nobel committee that issues the Peace prize. Why did orthodox economics miss one of the biggest bank crises in history? Answer: Because orthodox economics omits analysis of lending and banks. That means conventional economics cannot detect bank crises like the subprime/derivatives meltdown in 2007-8.
If we're to have an enriched, sustainable public realm, the public needs to take charge of at least part of the money currently controlled by private banking, and one way to do that is with public banks. Currently, private profit directs public policy. If the public is to be in charge and empowered, public purpose needs to balance private profit.
By my lights, what’s posted below is critical path information. To keep the information in manageable hunks, here are the topics covered:
1. Money Technology
2. Public Banking
3. A Non-Issue: Inflation
4. The Real Enemy: Austerity
One final note. Most of this is based on the work of some heterodox economists often called Modern Money Theorists. Their advice is not necessarily partisan. Warren Mosler advised Bush 43, and Michael Hudson advised Dennis Kucinich. Unlike the orthodox economists--from “lefty” Krugman to “righty” Mankiw--these heterodox economists predicted the Great Recession. One of them--Steve Keen--won the Revere prize in economics for that prediction. The economics “Nobel” that Krugman got is issued by (private) Swedish banks, not the Nobel committee that issues the Peace prize. Why did orthodox economics miss one of the biggest bank crises in history? Answer: Because orthodox economics omits analysis of lending and banks. That means conventional economics cannot detect bank crises like the subprime/derivatives meltdown in 2007-8.
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