Saturday, September 21, 2013

Don't forget - - Socialist Worker's Party, I mean "Modern Money" lectures at Columbia Law School this Monday night!

Hard leftists at Columbia explain central banking while meticulously avoiding mention of Austrian analysis or even the US Constitution. 

In New York (and in Michigan and Massachusetts, home of Harvard),a lawyer shall not knowingly fail to disclose to the tribunal controlling legal authority known to the lawyer to be directly adverse to the position of the client and not disclosed by opposing counsel;

See Rule 3.3(a)(2) of the New York State Rules of Professional Conduct for attorneys.

Farley Grubb, one of the prior presenters, has written:


This new U.S. Constitution, ratified by the states and then adopted by Congress in 1789, profoundly altered the nation’s monetary structure. It was nothing short of revolutionary (Ferguson 1983, 404-405). Before the U.S. Constitution, the principal “inside” paper money in circulation was issued directly by government legislatures and backed not by specie (the “outside” money of the times) but by the issuing government’s future taxes.2 Very few banks existed—none before 1782 and only three by 1787. AFTER THE U.S. CONSTITUTION, GOVERNMENTS WERE PROHIBITED FROM ISSUING PAPER MONEY.

This fact has not been mentioned by the other presenters and is utterly contrary to the entire Magic Money Tree, I mean Modern Monetary Theory "paradigm".


UPDATE:

Before being allowed to practice law in the State of New York, each person must take the constitutional oath of office in open court:

I do solemnly swear that I WILL SUPPORT THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES, and the constitution of the State of New York, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of attorney and counselor-at-law, according to the best of my ability.

So, can you be a Keynesian and an attorney at the same time?

UPDATE 2:  

I've had a run-in with Mr. Vernengo before. 

From the mouths of babes: Tom Hickey inadvertently admits to understanding economic calculation and Cantillon Effects

Mike Norman blogger Tom Hickey has inadvertently a) admitted to understanding economic calculation; b) admitted that everyone engages in it and c) admitted that the process is distorted by emissions of funny money.  I had pointed out:

The funny money 1971 "dollar" was worth 32% of the 1933 "dollar". The 2013 "dollar" was worth 6% of the 1933 "dollar". And with every funny money emission, someone was able to rob others of their purchasing power, which is the whole point of the emission process.

Hickey responded to this irrefutable observation with this:

Looking at the relative value of a currency relative to the amount of gold it will purchase is irrelevant to most people, who are concerned instead with living standard, which is a function of productivity and income, for instance.

Yes, anyone who hoarded money under the mattress lost purchasing power. How many people would have been that stupid. 

This is after all a market economy and people are presumed to be intelligent enough to make reasonable investment decisions, which involves inflationary expectations [emphasis added]. 


See, everyone DOES engage in economic calculation and such activity is distorted by emissions of funny money. You just said so.

I'm bookmarking this one for posterity.

Hickey tried to take it all back, but it was now too late:

Let's put it differently. No one stashes money under the mattress for long periods other than crazy people.

I pound this point over and over:  EVERYBODY actually understands economic calculation to some degree in their real lives.  Keynesianism finds it necessary to expunge it from existing categories of thought.  Every day, all the time.

Hickey's statement is also an admission of his contempt for the unsophisticated. As I constantly explain, the purpose of funny money emissions is the theft of purchasing power BY THE ELITE from average people.  In Hickey's world, STUPID (his word) AVERAGE PEOPLE are going to be robbed blind by the process.  Cantillon Effects are real.  Who knew?