Lonergan is in favor of a universal basic income which is akin to a universal dividend. See Mish, you are unconsciously getting closer and closer to the Wisdomics/Gracenomics perspective all the time. All you and Lonergan need to do is realize that a general retail discount to consumers which is in turn rebated back to the merchants who give it to consumers is the perfect balancing policy economists have failed to realize will solve the deepest problem of modern economic systems. This by the way perfectly integrates Austrian deflationary policy into the economy. You and Keen’s unconscious orthodox mental filters are finally being penetrated by my ideas……and I will be able to show that because I’ve archived every one of my posts to both of your online outlets.

The purpose of “a modern debt jubilee” is forgiveness/expiation of debt. It is therefore reflective of the concept of Grace as in the free gift of salvation and the forgiveness of sin which separates one from God/Balance, Equilibrium and Flow. Now of course I’m NOT advocating for any particular religion here, I’m a thoroughgoing agnostic because it is the only truly open minded intellectual perspective, but simply that philosophically the idea of a debt jubilee is indeed reflective of the concept of Grace. If one studies the major threads of economic and monetary reform it becomes apparent that the underlying thrust/policy recommendation of each of them is also reflective of the concept of Grace or an aspect of consciousness itself, for instance the idea of Public Banking (omnipresence/the ever presence of a financial structure stripped of bias and operating only in the interests of the general public or Sovereign Money (benevolent and ethical hierarchy as in the concept of “your sovereign Grace”) or a universal dividend (directness and interpenetrativeness to the individual, abundance as opposed to austerity and generality as in the worthiness of everyone simply because they are human/self aware). There are many other examples. The concept of Grace is the basis for the new economic and monetary philosophy you have said is necessary.

Nice to see that you’ve recognized that the truly significant problem is the ratio between the rise in debt (and its costs) and the simultaneous flow of individual income. It’s the gap between total costs and hence total prices (because all costs must go into price) and total individual incomes that is systemically problematic. As interest associated with increased credit is a cost it is part of the problem but not the truly operant aspect of it. What’s being missed is the increasing flow of costs associated with depreciation as modern economies become more technologically advanced and capital intensive combined with the increasingly erosive effects of artificial intelligence on aggregate individual incomes. The flow of the scarcity ratio between total individual income and total costs/prices is the deepest problem we face….and it is not being perceived by economists.

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A debt jubilee is a good one-off idea because of the present huge debt hang over in the private sector. A universal dividend which is not financed by re-distributive taxation, but simply granted as a gift and paired with a general discount to retail prices are the book end policies that will finally resolve modern economy’s chronic problems of scarcity of demand and inflation. wisdomicsblog.com

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The purpose and effect of “a modern debt jubilee” is forgiveness/expiation of debt. It is therefore reflective of the concept of Grace as in the free gift of salvation and the forgiveness of sin which separates one from God/Balance, Equilibrium and Flow. Now of course I’m NOT advocating for any particular religion here, I’m a thoroughgoing agnostic because it is the only truly open minded intellectual perspective, but simply that philosophically the idea of a debt jubilee is indeed reflective of the concept of Grace. If one studies the major threads of economic and monetary reform it becomes apparent that the underlying thrust/policy recommendation of each of them is also reflective of the concept of Grace or an aspect of consciousness itself, for instance the idea of Public Banking (omnipresence/the ever presence of a financial structure stripped of bias and operating only in the interests of the general public or Sovereign Money (benevolent and ethical hierarchy as in the concept of “your sovereign Grace”) or a universal dividend (directness and interpenetrativeness to the individual, abundance as opposed to austerity and generality as in the worthiness of everyone simply because they are human/self aware). There are many other examples. The concept of Grace is the basis for the new economic and monetary philosophy you have said is necessary.

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How does the velocity/turn over of money resolve an inherent and continuous scarcity ratio between total individual incomes and total costs/prices when money that turns over in the actual economy becomes business revenue that is necessarily expensed and hence reduced before such reduced amount becomes anyone’s actual individual income?

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I have always liked Henry George who was ahead of his time, but even his prescriptions still do not fix the modern economy’s inherent and primary problem (an inherent rate of flow of more costs than individual incomes with which to liquidate those costs). An inherent condition means it exists at every moment and even under the most efficient operation of the system and so a condition that produces insufficient individual incomes in ratio to costs requires a direct and costless GIFT of money TO THE INDIVIDUAL. Neither does it fix the near monopoly on credit creation by private Banks which results in their dominance of every other business model and every individual save the very wealthy. Finally it does not break up their monopoly paradigm of Debt and Loan ONLY with the new paradigm of monetary Grace as in the free gift. Having said this I think if we have to have a tax, one that encourages production as opposed to the static vice ridden idiocy of runaway financial vehicles like we still have is far, far preferable, so I certainly would not object to that.

Why must the choice be only between vices like greed and envy….when personally and economically integrative virtues like Grace are not only available aspects of being human….but a better experience to cultivate, not to mention the the concept that will directly address the actual and deepest problem that plagues the system???

Me:  Nice critque Mish. Only problem is nobody on the right has any real answers either. There’s actually nothing but reactionary orthodoxy on both sides presently. Only Wisdom integrates truths, every other mindset can only react and defend some particle of truth and untruth. To have economic wisdom you’d have to have a Wisdomics, and for actual economic freedom in a system that is INHERENTLY unbalanced and cost inflationary you’d have to have an economic philosophy and policies that conscientiously adhered to a concept that is entirely about freedom as in the FREE GIFT….like the concept of Grace, a Gracenomics if you will.

And for all of you reactionary modernists or orthodox transcendental religionists out there, no, I’m not talking about religion here, but rather economic philosophy and spirituality. There’s a difference there you know.

wisdomicsblog.com

Stuki Moi:  The only way to keep the Progressive Delusion afloat, is via pervasive indoctrination. Which is why Progressivism only became a force with the advent of technology that enabled one-to-many, centrally disseminated media. This enabled propaganda to reach far and wide unchecked, unquestioned and unopposed.

Me:  You’re quite right. But only an economics based on freedom and the actual solution to an inherently cost inflationary system, namely the free gift, is up to the task of saving profit making systems. This leaves out any economic theory that adheres to general equilibrium. That is false orthodoxy just as much as re-distributive taxation and heavy handed intrusion into pricing policy are non-solutions on the left-progressive side.

Peterblogdanovitch:  When Paul Krugman dissed Steve Keen by terminating further debate by saying: Thats like no economics I understand. I knew we were screwed. Krugman meant it. He couldn’t understand what Keen was saying or the new fangled differential equations Keen was using so debate was over.
I don’t mind when politicians don’t play fair. Public policy debate is always nutty and politicians always use every trick in the book to push their cause forward. But it’s Paul Krugman’s friggin job to engage in honest debate with Steve Keen. Our system has worked for centuries because our politicians reliably took a break from mouthing off for the cameras and held hearings to listen to experts for serious rational advice. Experts who had actually proven their competence by performing in the real world took center stage. In the Great Depression Mariner Eccles played that role. Read about Eccles life. He was quite a guy. And Eccles listened to many expert voices, reached his own conclusions, and told the politicians to clean house in banking and finance. Today we get Janet Yellen, Paul Krugman, Larry Summers and no debate, no hearings, nothing. So yes, we are well and truly screwed.

Me:  Also quite correct. What you are describing is the process of integration which is the process of Wisdom itself. The only problem was it was not a sufficient integration and hence left open the possibility of the system morphing into neo-liberal economics which is a Finance dominated tool of global proportions. To finish the job of integration-Wisdom we require a Wisdomics/Gracenomics. Only its concept of Grace as in the free economic gift is sufficient to balance Finance Capitalism’s paradigm of Loan and Debt ONLY. You only overcome one idea with another idea, one paradigm with another even broader and more relevant paradigm.

Keen, who is undoubtedly the most astute economist on the planet, still has not fully cognited on this idea and policies fully aligned with it yet.

Jon Sellers:  “For globalism, or international liberal democracy, a strong belief in free markets, free trade, and openness towards the sorts of human migrations that such systems inevitably produce.”

How did “liberal democracy” become just another word for being pro-big business?

Me:  It became that way because the paradigms of Debt and Loan ONLY were never questioned and balanced by a concept that was economically valid and powerful enough to actually do that job. And that is why the business model of Finance is so overweeningly powerful….and arrogantly entrenched.

Describes the basic and elemental nature of Life, Living and the physical-temporal universe, i.e. it is a TOE (Theory of Everything)

The thing about the Cosmic Code is it is the total and inclusive look. It appears to be the same as the Hegelian Dialectic except it is not fragmented or linear, but rather includes not only Duality, but Trinity-Unity as well. It recognizes that in order to have an integration you have to have opposing ideas/conditions to integrate and that a sufficient integration of the truths of opposing ideas/conditions enables/creates a thirdness that is actually a more unified wholeness of truthfulness. Every aspect of the Cosmic Code is an integral part of it. It’s entirely analogous to holography and continuously repetitive like a fractal. 

The Cosmic Code is utterly integrative including the utter simultaneous integration of both process/change and truth as opposed to a rigid, static and ego involved orthodoxy. Science? It’s mentally fragmented and riven with orthodoxy. Good science is always open to new and even orthodoxy destroying evidence. Religion? The same.  Good religion is always graciously open to other perspectives and their truths.

Non-religious, non-sectarian, non-mindset (scientific-religious) biased, integrative in every respect including of moral and ethical thinking  (Morals are basically right and wrong considerations, ethics is the rational consideration of morals)

Universality of application

Universality of resolution

Universality of improvement, elevation of ethical condition both inwardly and outwardly, of progress, wholeness and unity of thought and action

And Economic Policy, if it is to be fully conscious and effective, must reflect and effect Grace as in a CONTINUOUS graceful flow. The Classical Goals of Economic Theory are synonymous with the three major aspects of the concept of Grace. Balance, equilibrium and Flow.  A modern technologically advanced economy is halting because it increasingly and inherently creates a greater flow of costs and thus prices than it does individual incomes with which to liquidate those prices. This is caused by the increasing costs of capital depreciation as the economy becomes more capital intensive and the costs of increased mortgaging of debt while innovation and artificial intelligence disruptively destroy aggregate individual income. Ending the monopoly on the creation of credit by  the Banking system as well as the monopoly on the vehicle for which credit is distributed, namely as debt and loan only is absolutely necessary, and direct monetary Gifting to the individual and reciprocal monetary gifting to both the individual and enterprise at the point of retail sale is the only valid and effective answer to this problem.

Old Timer:   Hmmm.

Government revenue is up. Productivity is down.

Do the math.

We continue to race in the direction of the brick wall.

Me:  The system INHERENTLY creates a greater flow of costs than it simultaneously creates in individual income.

Do the calculus.

We continue to think only in orthodox ways.

Liam:  I favor a much simpler approach to applying the discount.  Simply give a sales rebate to the consumer directly.  Leave the business out of it entirely.  He sets his price and he gets paid.  The consumer gets a “rebate” after the fact.  Two simple ways to implement.

Me:  Either way the economic effect is the same, and its implementation is indeed not complicated in any way especially with cybernetics advanced as far as it is.

IMO the discount needs to be a high percentage. The higher the better. That way the big mega stores and discounters like Walmart, Kohl’s etc. won’t be able to opt out of it with their phony inflation of prices and then 30-40% discounts which after their “discounts” are only 5 or maybe 10% less than every place else. You’ll have price differences of course, but competition will still apply, especially if you discount everything sufficiently. If its at or right after retail sale no economic agent consumer or business is harmed by it because business is guaranteed their best price despite the rebate and the economic process has transformed itself from production to consumption. And of course the real point is to increase consumer demand and eventually downsize any necessity for consumer finance….even for big ticket items. The discount is a powerful means of implementing Grace as in Gifting as a new paradigm integrated into the economy and so ending Finance’s domineering and manipulative hold on everyone and all businesses.

It’s a no-brainer.

Liam:  I must disagree with you John on a few points.  I highly doubt that the rich will buy more houses, shoes, suits, cars, food, etc. than they already have.  They already have more than enough and this will not change their buying habits one iota.  At the same time, I am quite sure the poor guy who gets a 20% refund on his groceries will be far more appreciative of the discount than the billionaire who gets the discount on his new yacht.  In terms of market impact, there are a hell of a lot more small-ticket items bought by the 99% than there are goods consumed by the 1% in terms of gross dollar amounts.  I believe this is a red herring and a non-issue.  Show me hard numbers to prove me wrong.  We have a $100 Trillion dollar world economy.  How much does the 1% spend on retail goods?

Me:  Yeah, who gives a damn whether the rich buy a yacht for $200k less? It’s basically a hold over of socialist envy to worry about it. The Social Credit/Wisdomics-Gracenomics paradigm of Grace is not reactionary in any way, it’s mentally and ethically integrative and evolutionary and so will tend to change and replace the core sentiments of capitalism (profit/acquisition) and socialism (anger and envy). Integrating philosophy-thinking and policy-action is powerful stuff.