/124/ Three Articles: Money & Power
Added 2020-05-26 09:13:00 +0000 UTCIn this latests Three Articles we discuss power, money and the power of money - in a post-Covid world.
Readings:
- The Death of the Central Bank Myth, Adam Tooze, Foreign Policy
- Why the Neoliberals Won’t Let This Crisis Go to Waste, Philip Mirowski, Jacobin
- Plan A for the coronavirus, Curtis Yarvin, Medium
Comments
Corpus Christi is normally marked by the Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, and a procession with it carried in a monstrance, sometimes out in the streets. IIRC, Wellington made a point of telling his soldiers in Portugal and Spain to be respectful when they saw such superstitions in action. I really enjoyed Prof. Cunliffe's demolition of Yarvin. I know a few libertarian-minded coders who found Yarvin both bizarre and stimulating.
Paul Brewer
2020-11-05 04:58:06 +0000 UTCInteresting discussion, some thoughts: The Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) initiatives could give the Central Banks even more power, further centralisation of the banking system and another step on the way to abolish cash. Always good to be very clear on what monetary policy is...the policy that constrains (or not) banks (organisations with a Banking Licence) ability to extend credit. Under neoliberal monetary policy (credit & competition 1971 in the UK), banks were given freedom both quantitively and qualitatively, to give loans. Prior to that point Banks were guided by the Central Bank as to the amount they could loan and to which sector of the economy they were allowed to give loans. I would be careful about thinking that just putting Central Banks under central government control is the answer, that is still centralized control of the money supply. We need to reduce the centralization of the monetary system (central bank and commercial banks). I would suggest the role of banks is to drive the productive sectors of the economy, that is small and medium sized enterprises. This is not being done by large centralized banks and further centralization will not help in this and neither will the stock market. Large banks are lazy and just give credit for unproductive purposes such as mortgages, which just creates asset bubbles and instability. We need small banks that make loans for productive purposes, they understand the communities in which they are located and can have local democratic accountability, which would reinvigorate/overhaul councils. (local democratically accountable banks that lend for productive purposes) I think one issue with the 'left' is that they hate money. Anecdote: Some leftoid gave my kid a badge with 'money' crossed out on it this Christmas, which drive me nuts. This dislike of money means they associate it with 'bad' things and fail to understand/ don’t care about the role of money in society and most importantly its power, the power that comes from the ability to create money (i.e. extend loans). Recently bumped into an article by Geoffrey Ingham on 'Class Inequality and the social production of money', he looks to have an interesting take on these issues and writes from a left perspective. I am more wary of MMT now, as it does seem to drift into the centralized state creation of money.
paul hamed
2020-05-27 09:30:22 +0000 UTC
