How are we going to pay for all this shit?

I only blame Ronnie for convincing you and others that debt does not matter when Republicans are in charge. Originally Posted by WTF

Cut the crap WTF. If not for “Ronnie” we’d be barefoot and speaking Russian.

used country to china of course

If you liked the Christopher Leonard piece linked above by Why_Yes_I_Do, you might really like his new book, which I just read yesterday. Quite an interesting and informative read... Originally Posted by CaptainMidnight

Is this the book you speak of?
http://www.christopherleonard.biz/

https://www.amazon.com/Lords-Easy-Mo.../dp/1982166630

... For those who don't know, MMT encourages putting the printing presses in overdrive and running up the national debt to accomplish social and political objectives. This supposedly works great just as long as the economy has the ability to churn out the needed goods and services. The love of my life, Ditzy Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, and Bernie Sanders used MMT to justify deficit spending for their proposed Green New Deal... Originally Posted by Tiny

You used "Love of my life", AOC and Bernie in the same sentence?!? While I can appreciate the kinkiness of your three way tryst, my typical advice to friends and family is that if you have a partner running up your credit card uncontrollably - take away the credit card and/or ditch that partner.

You used "Love of my life", AOC and Bernie in the same sentence?!? While I can appreciate the kinkiness of your three way tryst, my typical advice to friends and family is that if you have a partner running up your credit card uncontrollably - take away the credit card and/or ditch that partner. Originally Posted by Why_Yes_I_Do

Well, thanks for the tough love. They wanted to run up the credit card about 30 trillion with their green new deal so maybe I’m better off without them.

OK, as you suggested, I'm moving my reply to a more appropriate place. God forbid I hijack my own thread... Originally Posted by Tiny

Dunno. I got confusing directives from the Mods in the past about an OP hijacking their own thread as to whether the Mods would intervene. Though it sounded as if they might if the OP reported the OP to them for jacking the OP's thread. I know it sounds twisted, but not as twisted as AOC, Bernie and love of my life in the same sentence - so who knows. YMMV

You can't just turn on a spicket and instantly get more oil.... Originally Posted by WTF

Wtf is a spicket? Or do you mean a sticky wicket? Did you pay your picket ticket or stick it to the Man? Olivia Howard asked you to flick it and lick it. She's still laughing because you couldn't dick it. You've been a cricket ever since.

BAAAHAHAHAHAHA!

Cut the crap WTF. If not for “Ronnie” we’d be barefoot and speaking Russian. Originally Posted by Tiny

Are you talking about the guy who sold arms to Iran?



And who is to say we won't be at some point? Have you seen their debt compared to ours?

Wtf is a spicket? Or do you mean a sticky wicket? Did you pay your picket ticket or stick it to the Man? Olivia Howard asked you to flick it and lick it. She's still laughing because you couldn't dick it. You've been a cricket ever since.

BAAAHAHAHAHAHA! Originally Posted by lustylad

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=spicket

Used in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to refer to a faucet. In some regions of Pittsburgh, a spicket is strictly on the outside of a house; in others, it can refer to any faucet, including the one at the kitchen sink.
This spicket don't work no more, because the pipes froze n'at.

Awww, you mean a SPIGOT! Now I dig it, you silly bigot!

How long have you been speaking Pittsburghese?

Normally when you say "spicket" - don't you mean the second definition from your Urban Dictionary?

"A sexual practice involving eels and anal cavities."

Awww, you mean a SPIGOT! Now I dig it, you bigot! Originally Posted by lustylad

Pretty weak but better than your historical economic knowledge!

By the way, I still find it amusing that many journalists, ignorant dilettantes like wtf and even economists (who really should know better!) continue to lambaste Reagan for pursuing a policy centered around "trickle-down economics," even though that's not remotely what happened.

(But when did facts matter to most of these people, anyway?) Originally Posted by CaptainMidnight

FTFY, Captain.

FTFY, . Originally Posted by lustylad

Spending during the years Reagan budgeted (FY 1982–89) averaged 21.6% GDP, roughly tied with President Obama for the highest among any recent President. Each faced a severe recession early in their administration. In addition, the public debt rose from 26% GDP in 1980 to 41% GDP by 1988. In dollar terms, the public debt rose from $712 billion in 1980 to $2.052 trillion in 1988, a roughly three-fold increase.

What you're describing is more like Keynesian theory, stimulating the economy when we're in a recession. That's a good idea. The MMT'ers on the other hand would run up big deficits year in and year out to accomplish their political and social goals. Or that's what I think anyway. Hopefully CM or LL will correct me if I'm wrong. Originally Posted by Tiny

Actually, it was the corrupt, spendthrift, irresponsible, pandering, vote-buying politicians who started us down the road of running up big deficits year in and year out, in good years and bad ones. They cloaked and justified their fiscal malpractice using pseudo-Keynesian jargon. When real Keynesians pushed back against such heresy by pointing out that Keynes only endorsed pump-priming and deficit-spending when needed for temporary counter-cyclical purposes, the corrupt politicians started looking around for a new academic theory to "legitimize" their hopeless addiction to spending and debasing the coin of the realm. That's when idiot self-styled Social Justice Warriors like Professor Stephanie stepped up to provide a phony academic cover in the form of "Modern Monetary Theory". MMT started out as a joke that was taken seriously only by fringe types and Trotskyites wasting away their lives in dim faculty lounges, but once it was embraced by braindead socialists like Bernie Sanders, it quickly acquired cache with the far-left "woke" classes inside the Beltway. Thanks to the pandemic and Biden's pusillanimity, MMT is now being put into practice - the corrupt politicians view it as a green light to spend us into oblivion without any constraint or any consideration of where we are in the business cycle!

In truth, MMT is just empty, pernicious poison that lacks even a smidgen of intellectual respectability among serious economists. Now that it has blown inflation through the roof, there is zero chance of it ever becoming a credible or workable economic doctrine.

In Professor Stephanie's world, the government can just spend as it pleases in order to pay for endlessly expanding social benefits, jobs programs for all, the "green new deal," etc., etc., etc. The only constraint is inflation... Originally Posted by CaptainMidnight

Gee, that didn't take long!

As I posted in the Pittsburgh sandbox, inflation has skyrocketed so fast it reminds me of the new Corvette EV that can go from 0 to 60 in 3.4 seconds!