Bulletins and News Discussion from October 21st to October 27th, 2024 - Swimming Back To The Titanic - COTW: Moldova

@ChicagoCommunist@hexbear.net I just saw your response from the last megathread asking for videos or books to learn how currency and MMT works, especially with regards to the failings of euro.

Unfortunately there is no single video or book that will turn you into an “expert” overnight. Much of the knowledge has to come from years of study, and because economics and finance are often counter-intuitive to what are being taught in mainstream classes, it can take time before things start to “click”.

I can however recommend a few books that hopefully can guide you along your journey!

1. The Deficit Myth by Stephanie Kelton

This is an essential primer for MMT where the core principles are taught at the most basic level without any prerequisite understanding of economics or finance. For example, why government deficit (national/government debt) is needed for savings to accumulate in the private sector/households, and why budget surplus over time always ends in recession.

Disclaimer: this is also the only book on the list I have not read yet because it was published after I was already well familiar with MMT, but I’ve only heard good things about it from others who have read the book.

Difficulty: Easy (written for lay audience)

2. Debt: the First 5000 Years by David Graeber

David Graeber is the biggest popularizer of Michael Hudson’s otherwise dense academic research texts (more on Hudson below). A lot of people have trouble accepting MMT because they are still stuck with the barter myth popularized by Adam Smith (whose narrative works for gold standard in the previous eras). Through Hudson’s research, Graeber showed that money is just debt, and debt is just promise! A currency issued by a government (i.e. government debt) simply means a promise by the authority (the government). This is a fundamental shift in perspective that must be achieved before one can understand why governments can simply create money out of thin air so long they have the labor, resources and technology to achieve their economic goals (because money/debt is just a promise, it has no inherent value nor does it has to be tied to a metal/commodity). This is apart from it being a very readable book that walks you through the anthropological and economic side of human societies.

Difficulty: Easy (written as a popular book for lay audience, very entertaining read)

3. Reclaiming the State: A Progressive Vision of Sovereignty for a Post-Neoliberal World by Bill Mitchell and Thomas Fazi

More of a history/economics book that details why Keynesianism was destined to fail and how it necessarily led to Neoliberalism, how Neoliberalism despite its reputation is actually a state-driven project (government enforcing free market and private property aka Fascism), and how the only way out of it is to re-assert national sovereignty through (re-)nationalization of privatized assets under the control of multi-national corporations. Focused on the history behind the fall of the UK and Europe into neoliberalism, as well as the European debt crisis in the 2010s. Contains a brief primer on MMT in the second part of the book but is optional if you have already read The Deficit Myth.

Difficulty: Easy-Intermediate (written for lay audience but it helps if one is familiar with post-war European history)

4. Debunking Economics: The Naked Emperor Dethroned? by Steve Keen

Steve Keen is a heterodox economist (MMT adjacent) who’s a huge lib but Debunking Economics is probably the most comprehensive takedown on mainstream neoclassical economics. Walks you through the entire Econ 101 and explains to you - step by step - why everything (yes, everything) taught in your university economics class is wrong and a completely unrealistic model of how the real world works. Has one later chapter that critiques Marx (it wasn’t that bad) but otherwise one of the best books out there if you need someone to explain to you in simple terms why mainstream economics is wrong.

Difficulty: Easy-Intermediate (written for lay audience, better yet if you have not been indoctrinated by neoclassical economics, but gets harder later on when introducing finance theory. A complete course on economics - more or less)

5. Killing the Host: How Financial Parasites and Debt Bondage Destroy the Global Economy by Michael Hudson

Hudson’s books are notoriously dense but this is still one of the best books out there that explained the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis and the European sovereign debt crisis of the 2010s. Weaves together classical political economy (Smith, Ricardo, Marx), the clash between industrial capitalist class and feudal landlord class, the history of early banking and development of stock markets, with the present day crises of capitalism. Difficult read, and do not be surprised that you understand maybe 10-20% on your first go. As the years went by, I would re-read the book every 1-2 years and still learned new things that I never grasped before.

Difficulty: Hard (very dense book, with a lot of information that, at first, seem to have no cohesive structure, until you realize that they are all intertwined with one another)

6. Super Imperialism: the Economic Strategy of American Empire by Michael Hudson

It is not an understatement to say that Super Imperialism is possibly the most important text needed to understand the underlying mechanisms that advance US imperialism since the 1970s. First published in 1972, it walks you through the global financial system from the pre-WWI gold standard era, to the Bretton Woods, then in excruciating detail how abandoning the Bretton Woods could lead to the US getting “free rides” all over the world simply by printing money as a global reserve currency issuer. Deals with a lot of balance of payment stuff and explains why the US can only afford its 700+ military bases all over the world through dollar hegemony. Bonus points for the fact that the US State Department actually studied this book to learn how to do imperialism.

Just like how Marx took Smith and Ricardo’s theories to their logical conclusion in Capital Vol. 1, Hudson took Marx’s unfinished theory of finance capital from Capital Vol. 3 to its logical conclusion. Very difficult read - takes many many reads to really understand the core of the subject, and even then there is always something new to learn when re-visited over the years. I don’t even pretend to understand half of the text as a non-specialist, but it is a truly enlightening read that can easily blow your mind off when it finally “clicks”.

Difficulty: Hard hard (maybe I’m just stupid, but this book is ridiculously hard and definitely not a casual read. You’ll probably have to learn the history of the British Empire, the European and American history, the Cold War geopolitics along the way to even begin to make sense of it. Go slow and don’t try to take everything in all at once)