MMT -- helicopter money, and why it won't work

It’s too late for America to recover. It left it too long. It was arrogant and conceited, paying for things it didn’t need, like wars and mega-mansions, but not those it did. So it didn’t invest when it should have, but now the bill is due, but nobody can pay it. What do you call a society like that? Bankrupt. Just like most Americans are, only they don’t know it. What do you call a whole society of people, after all, who die in debt?America’s broke, my friends.

https://eand.co/im-not-that-i-m-negative-america-really-is-screwed-13b47653e4ed

This article sums up the dilemma of the US, but then goes on to recommend helicopter money. It leaves out what all the economic and political "experts" leave out: sprawl.

Dropping cash on top of a failed consumer-product based system just adds fuel to the fire. The system won't change, it will still be based on individual purchases, and there will be even less money for public goods. The article does a good job of distinguishing between these.

The US needs to unwind sprawl. Make cities car-free, make education and healthcare free. Guarantee housing.

As empire collapses US working class fights back - @paydayreport

Strikes and labor organizing are on the rise as essential workers grapple with safety concerns while on the job. Meatpacking plants, city sanitation and healthcare are some of the industries where workers are striking or organizing.

https://www.wunc.org/post/labor-organizing-pandemic-asheville-nurses-await-consequential-union-decision

for more see paydayreport.com   @paydayreport

Oil is worth $120,000 per barrel. Not a typo.

Anti-China campaign will backfire

In the US, both political parties are ramping up anti-China feeling.

There are several problems with this plan:

• To strike back, China need only announce intent to sell US government bonds.
• Racism tends to kill its host. East Asians in the US will become estranged.
• The US has very a serious problem -- a crumbling infrastructure.

The last point is the most important, and the least discussed. There is plenty of chatter in the US political about everything except the second law of thermodynamics. To put it simply, things decay.

Engineers calculate that the US needs $3T just to make infrastructure safe. But, on top of that, sprawl infrastructure needs constant energy input.

It will take the US many years to unwind sprawl. In that time it should not be provoking other countries.

What is coming for the US -- Virus is just getting started

US bankers have already looted the cash-register. By direct FedReserve gifts of printed money to banks and by gifts of borrowed money through the federal government.

There is little left to steal, but the virus is just getting started. People are scared to work, and unable or unwilling to spend money. Long slow stagflation with much suffering is here.

There will intense campaigns to increase all possible divisions among the people and between the people and foreign countries. Racism will be the major weapon, but other divisions such gender and age will also be used.

People need to become politically active. Join or form local groups. These groups can push government to provide free services or provide them itself. Get away from sprawl and individualism and move to urban communal sharing. Think about how to deal with armed right-wing gangs.

Suburbs should become farms again. Cities should be car-free. 

US got caught in between virus and economy -- now in deep trouble

There is no doubt that quick response is necessary when dealing with an exponentially spreading virus.

Yet some countries, notably the US, tried to dodge the problem. Mathematically, they could have lost a couple million lives and come out with little economic disruption.

That failed when it became obvious that an overflow of healthcare facilities would make this plan a very noisy and unpleasant affair.

So they changed horses and tried to mitigate viral growth with "stay home" and "personal distance."

These weak measures got them into the worst of both worlds. Now any direction they go will fail.

• Suppression of virus -- would require measures that would lead to major social upheaval.
• Continue Stay-home -- social upheaval plus economic stagnation.
• Open up all -- return to virus exponential growth, which increase fear of going to work.