The question about whether debt is sustainable requires, first of all, the question to be asked, ‘Is the government in debt?’ The answer is it is not.
Just insane.
The question about whether debt is sustainable requires, first of all, the question to be asked, ‘Is the government in debt?’ The answer is it is not.
Just insane.
I suppose you could argue the government isn’t in debt, we are.
Which reminds me, I’ve heard quite a few economists and commentators pointing out that we shouldn’t just be looking at public debt when assessing a country’s economic situation but also private debt and when you do that France looks almost as bad as Italy.
France looks almost as bad as Italy
But they’re rich in Diversity.
This certainly sounds like if he actually got any power, he would repudiate the bonds.
And then wonder why suddenly everything’s not working.
perhaps some explanation here given repeated bouts of Covid and Long Covid?
participants who recovered from covid symptoms had a cognitive deficit equivalent to three IQ points compared with those who were never infected, while participants suffering from unresolved covid symptoms lasting 12 weeks or more experienced a loss equivalent to six IQ points.
A government need never be in debt.
It can just print money to pay it off.
wibble
BF: I think I’m safe enough to have at least six IQ points spare that I can afford to lose, but I’m seriously concerned about poor Spud. Maybe we should send him a basket.
BraveFart,
Luckily for Spud there’s a new cure for Long Covid:
https://babylonbee.com/news/doctor-cures-long-covid-by-telling-patients-to-quit-faking-it
BraveFart, BiND: The Bee nailed it again with that one. (I had to check the date to make sure it wasn’t actually referring to this story. But no, it’s simply the gift of prophecy again.)
Health experts say ‘long COVID’ doesn’t exist, term ‘can cause unnecessary fear’
,,,participants who recovered from covid symptoms had a cognitive deficit equivalent to three IQ points compared with those who were never infected, while participants suffering from unresolved covid symptoms lasting 12 weeks or more experienced a loss equivalent to six IQ points.
You can’t lose what ya don’t got…
Sam,
More about it in this thread:
“ “No such thing as ‘long Covid’”
The so-called long Covid is just a rebranding of “post-viral syndrome”, well-known from other viral infections for decades.
We said this in 2020, but the experts™ said we are Covid-deniers. Now they admit we were right, 4 years too late…”
https://x.com/drelidavid/status/1768716427366727990?s=61&t=VX5cJ0-osgn_JSz7j-uowQ
BraveF @ 12.47, “perhaps some explanation here given repeated bouts of Covid and Long Covid”?
Evidence coming from OZ is that many suffering from ‘Long Covid’ (known to medical science for decades as ‘Post Viral Syndrome’), did not, in fact, ever contract covid. But they did get jabbed……..
Do we know what Spuds IQ was before he was a ‘serial covid sufferer’ (and despite getting jabbed)?
Was he so smart that dropping a few IQ points would make no difference to his massive
intellectego?I’m enjoying the slating of MMT and pointing out that it is utter rubbish and directly responsible for the economic predicament we find ourselves in.
If it results in the removal of advocates from academic positions then that is all to the good.
It’s very important that Murphy and those like him are exposed at every opportunity – these are positive developments and his intemperate reaction shows they are close to the mark.
You do get some quality commentary in the comments in Spud’s world however,
All Dead in the Long Run says:
March 16 2024 at 10:29 am
So here we go then – the unofficial war against MMT – the other front in the battle to support what Tim Snyder called the world of ‘no ideas’ (or TINA) he sets out in his book ‘The Road to Unfreedom’ (2018).
You know what. I’m going put forward this idea OK? Because it’s the only way I can deal with it.
Our government – this means the Treasury, the BoE and Chancery – all of it – has – because of political funding and behind the scenes machinations – been handed over – and repurposed – for a wealthy elite.
Our government is now owned by the wealthy elite, especially since the rules around party political funding have been rather too quietly relaxed. Although it looks the same, sounds the same – the government in OUR name has gone, OK?
It’s GONE. It’s owned by THEM. Accept it.
So this means that MMT only exists if you believe that government is really democratic and is there for us all. Which now, I contend, it is not.
I contend that this is not the case, and that this fact makes MMT deniable – even though in a government with a traditional and genuine remit of serving all I totally accept MMT is how it works. Please note that.
If you want evidence for my POV, then I suggest you look at the CBRA. Why an earth would you as government set aside a reserve account of that size for casino banks to stop them collapsing and then have the temerity to make it look as though it was private banking money and interest being given and levied on your government?
The only answer for this is to either to create an accounting lie making government look as though it has borrowed from private banks (there is no such thing as ‘government money’ etc.,) or/and that is simply how – since you are now in charge – you wish to work – and of course keep the funding coming in for your political party by ensuring huge profits are being made by your funders?
Add in increasing retrenchment in public services, creating more opportunity for exploitation and we have the makings of a Shangri-La for wealth. A utopia in their name. Not ours.
The state’s coffers are now in the hands of the rich to be re-purposed for the rich. Their very own hole in the wall. At scale.
There can be no other possible explanation in my view as to why MMT is being denied. It’s because the new owners of your democracy have said it must be so. And they will pay people like Blanchard and Goodhart and others who may be needy like Stiglitz with fealty and money to deny truth or at least what else is possible. It’s competition – and the people we are dealing with are natural monopolists.
Extreme? Well, no one believed just how badly the Nazis hated Jews until we all saw the death camps with our own eyes; no one knew just how repressive Islam can be until we saw the Taliban; no one really knew what the Zionists were prepared to do until we saw what goes on in Palestine.
What ‘s going on here is more subtle and cunning but no less extreme.
Even if you think that my thesis is sketchy – I invite you to dip your toe in it because accepting it – that our democracy has actually now GONE – even a little – might help us think about the steps needed to get it back.
But I tell you – this dystopian future we’ve all been worried about? It’s here – NOW.
I like how he gets from “someone criticized MMT” to death camps in 12 disjointed paragraphs. He’s learned something from the master.
participants who recovered from covid symptoms had a cognitive deficit equivalent to three IQ points compared with those who were never infected, while participants suffering from unresolved covid symptoms lasting 12 weeks or more experienced a loss equivalent to six IQ points.
Such an effect would take Spud close to negative territory.
I note that spuds commentators continually bang on about needing a progressive government and progressive ideas. It seems blatantly obvious that despite the overwhelming evidence that the last few govts have bought into the progressive mantra that things have gotten a lot worse. The more progressive the govt the shittier the country becomes.
Candidly, you’re wrong. Real progressive government has never been tried.
We said this in 2020, but the experts™ said we are Covid-deniers.
There was a US study early on in the pandemic which found that a good proportion of ‘long COVID’ sufferers had no evidence of suffering COVID in the first place.
France looks almost as bad as Italy
But they’re rich in Diversity.
It would be useful to have a ‘diversity index’ so we could track how this beneficial factor correlates with other indicators.
Oh… A government may very well never be in debt.
The country which it is
running into the ground“managing”…. Quite another matter..The government is most certainly in debt. I know because I own a small part of it. Unless he’s being absurdly pedantic and distinguishing between the government and the state.