Tang Were Before Wikipedia July 30th, 2012 My favorite band growing up was Tang, not to be confused with the fruit-flavored drink of the same name, or Powderfinger. Tang released their penultimate album in 1877, ten years before the introduction of the gramophone. I wouldn’t google this. It was before Wikipedia. Read the rest of this entry » Posted in Humor | 26 Comments » The Dire Need for a Reverse Finals System! July 12th, 2012 I’ve been watching lots of football. My well-behaved, subjective preference is for Australian Rules Football but that is immaterial, because my gripe is with any football competition involving a Finals System, whether it be Soccer, American Football, either of the Rugby codes, Gaelic football – perhaps even Table Football if I understood its complexities – or any other game that might exist out there in the “real world” supposedly located beyond the perimeter of the CBD. Read the rest of this entry » Posted in Humor | 19 Comments » Brief Blog Update July 5th, 2012 I have added some pages, listed at the top of the right-hand sidebar, to aid in navigating the blog. Newcomers, especially if unfamiliar with Modern Monetary Theory (MMT), may find it helpful to begin with Posts to Read First. In addition to that page, which has existed for a while, I have now added All Posts By Category and All Posts By Date for easier access to all posts. Posted in Economics | 3 Comments » Randall Wray on Tax Driven Money May 25th, 2012 The always insightful Tom Hickey at Mike Norman Economics has linked to an excellent presentation and Q&A session featuring Randall Wray and Bob Jessop. The video goes for about an hour-and-a-half, but there turns out to be four minutes or so that are particularly helpful for our obscure – and, whenever possible, slightly off topic – purposes here at heteconomist. Read the rest of this entry » Posted in Economics | 42 Comments » Let’s Go May 14th, 2012 Come on, what’s going on? This should have happened already! Love not war. Cooperation not competition. Liberty, equality, fraternity. Too easy! What’s the hold up? Let’s go!   Posted in Future Society | 14 Comments » Hierarchy of Orthodox Economists May 9th, 2012 I try not to notice what goes on in this redneck wonderland, but apparently the Federal Treasurer handed down his household budget last night. Suffice to say that if the Australian Labor Party is obliterated off the face of the arse end of the earth at the next election it will be too little too late. It would be good if they could take the bigoted morons of the Liberal and National Parties with them, but there is no chance of that. Bigotry and idiocy poll well down under, along of course with neo-liberalism. Read the rest of this entry » Posted in Humor | 26 Comments » Economic Orthodoxy = Intellectual Dishonesty April 24th, 2012 In a recent post, Tom Hickey (courtesy of Clonal Antibody) drew attention to a talk from a few years ago by Bernard Lietaer. It sheds light on the uphill battle involved in taking on the orthodoxy when it comes to money. It seems very clear that the orthodoxy do not believe their own nonsense. It is pure careerism, or worse, that motivates the likes of Krugman, for example, in his recent embarrassing (for him) joust with Steve Keen. Read the rest of this entry » Posted in Economics | 33 Comments » Reform or Revolution, MMT or Marx April 22nd, 2012 Marxists often point out that whereas Keynesian economists of all persuasions tend to advocate reformist policies to stabilize and manage capitalism, Marxists call for an end to the capitalist system itself. Reflecting on this specifically in relation to modern monetary theory (MMT), it occurs to me that taking a position on reform versus revolution is actually a separate question from that of accepting the MMT understanding of currency sovereignty, its possibilities and implications. For this reason, I think there is an analytical compatibility between MMT and Marxism (or for that matter between MMT and Post Keynesianism or Sraffianism) that is separate from the political position a person adopts. Read the rest of this entry » Posted in Economics | 20 Comments » Fuck Austerity, Time for a JIG April 20th, 2012 Whenever somebody on the street asks me for spare change, which seems to be happening a lot lately, it reminds me of the song Coin Laundry by Lisa Mitchell. Your mileage may vary, but I think it is beautiful.     Update: If the above link is blocked (i.e. “no dollar, no listen”), here is an alternative link. If that is also blocked, we can make our own music! Posted in Polemics | 9 Comments » Post Game Analysis April 3rd, 2012 Football season is under way in my part of the world. I usually like to follow some of the post game analysis, especially after a win. Philip Pilkington delivers the goods in a post at Naked Capitalism. I will add links to further analyses if and when they appear. Read the rest of this entry » Posted in Economics | 26 Comments » « Older Entries