“[With The Capital Order], we can begin to see method in the madness: austerity is a vital bulwark in defense of the capitalist system.” ― Business RecorderA 2022 Best Book in Economics ― Financial TimesFall 2022 Book Recommendation (General Interest) -- Sean Guynes“Shocking disparities underlie economist Clara Mattei’s topical study of austerity measures promoted over the past century. Focusing on 1920s liberal-democracy Britain and fascist Italy, she argues that the profitable application of austerity to these dissimilar nations licensed its use as a capitalist ‘tool of class control.” ― Nature“She argues that forcing a recession or cutting social welfare is not really about budgets and debt. This so-called “economic pain” is inflicted deliberately to make the labour force feel insecure and to stop demanding better conditions.” ― Irish Examiner“Clara Mattei shows how the supposedly apolitical science of economics has served, and continues to serve, as an ideology of class oppression. The chapters exploring the birth, in Britain and Italy in the 1920s, of what the author calls ‘the technocratic project’ of austerity, and its political and economic consequences, are particularly illuminating.” -- Robert Skidelsky“Illuminating . . . Any reader of The Capital Order will be struck by the contemporary resonances.” ― The New Statesman“There is a long history of efforts to separate the political from the economic domain. . . . One very impressive recent study, by Clara Mattei, argues persuasively that this dichotomy, typically taking the form of austerity programs, has been a major instrument of class war for a century, paving the way to fascism, which was indeed welcomed by Western elite opinion.”—Noam Chomsky  ― Truth Out"In her book The Capital Order, economist Clara Mattei shows that austerity was thought of as a counter-offensive against experiments in economic democracy." ― Alternatives Economiques“A work with remarkable resonance for the moment we are living through. I found it impossible to put down.” -- James K. Galbraith“Austerity is not an innocent policy error, but a fallacy functional to dark interests. Mattei’s admirable new book exposes austerity’s hidden agenda.” -- Yanis Varoufakis“[A] message for our time.” ― Brazzil Magazine“Clara Mattei’s work is an important contribution to building a new economic narrative. At a time when inflation is up and governments feel inclined to once again ‘tighten their belts,’ this book is as relevant as ever.” -- Mariana Mazzucato"The Capital Order uses the historical record in Europe to argue that austerity—tightening the belt, cutting government programs—is less about budgets and debt and more about deliberately making the labor force feel insecure." ― APM's Marketplace Morning Report“A very readable and historically profound work.” -- translated from German ― H/Soz/Kult“Brilliantly provocative . . . powerfully argued. . . . With her history of the relationship between liberal economists and fascism, Mattei puts the skids under complacent champions of liberal democracy who today summon the fascist figure as a reassuring boogyman. . . . A round house critique of the role of liberal economics in general.” -- Adam Tooze ― Chartbook"Through meticulously compiled archival material, Mattei explores austerity by studying economists in the 1920s from the birthplace of liberalism (Britain) and the birthplace of fascism (Italy) to draw a provocative conclusion about its nature: 'an anti-democratic reaction to threats from bottom-up social change.'” ― Politics Today"The capital order asserts the primacy of capital over labor in the hierarchy of social relations within the capitalist production process. That primacy was threatened after World War I in what Mattei claims was the greatest crisis in the history of capitalism. . . . To counter these trends, Mattei argues, unelected technocratic elites 'invented' austerity as a means of re-naturalizing the capital order. . . . What Britain’s technocrats accomplished through the market, Italy’s fascists accomplished through Mussolini’s edicts. . . Recommended." ― Choice"Austerity is premeditated policy. It’s a blunt instrument that preempts resistance by weakening and dividing the working class while unifying different wings of the ruling class. . . . Mattei documents austerity’s essential role in the rise of fascism." ― Counterpunch"Mattei shows how austerity emerged as the response of international capital to the risks to its power and wealth. Its aim was to rescue capitalism from ‘its enemies’ by taming an increasingly politicized and restive class and restoring the prewar order." ― History Today"There are few books that once read manage to leave a clear idea and a full-fledged thesis imprinted on the reader’s mind: Chiara E. Mattei’s book is one of them." ― The Journal of European Economic History"Mattei reminds us that . . . austerity is a one-sided class war, conducted in numbers and defended by economists’ jargon.” -- Aditya Chakrabortty ― The Guardian"A wonderful book [and a] compelling story." ― Rethinking Economics"She [Mattei] has done an impressive amount of archival research and has skillfully mined the published literature of the interwar period. The fruit of these labors is a rich and insightful account of a pivotal moment in capitalism’s history." -- Gary Mongiovi ― Catalyst“It’s often been pointed out that austerity just doesn’t achieve its stated aims of balancing the books and paying down public debt. [In Mattei’s] analysis the actual aim is not the stated one, it is to discipline the working population. Over the last century it would seem to have achieved that quite successfully.” ― The National“A powerful critique.” ― Asiana Times“A serious economic history of the 1920s and its fiscal and credit policies, and you should not dismiss it.” -- Tyler Cowen ― Marginal Revolution“A fascinating history of the rise of austerity policies in post–World War I Europe and how it paved the way for fascism—along with many of the economic policies of today. A must-read, with key lessons for the future. Historical political economy at its best.” -- Thomas Piketty"Austerity’s defenders claim that any adverse impact on employment will quickly end and will be justified by eventual success. Such is the theory. Clara Mattei will have none of it. Her vigorously written and well-researched new study, The Capital Order, insists that austerity is a class strategy, not just a policy to restore economic equilibrium." ― European Review of Books“A decade after austerity tore British society apart, the UK government stands ready to do so again. Given that it didn’t work the first time around, one wonders why they want to try it again. This is where Mattei’s explanation illuminates brightly: if we think of austerity not as an economic policy, but as a form of capitalist crisis management for moments when the lower orders start to question the governing classes’ preferences, then its repeated dosage—despite its damages—makes much more sense.” -- Mark Blyth"Meticulously researched. . . Mattei’s analysis is an exemplary work of historical political economy that seeks to steer the conversation on capitalist crisis from Keynesianism back toward Marx." ― Phenomenal World"In our current moment, as policymakers are once again entertaining monetary tightening as a means to impose necessary hardship & discipline on working people, The Capital Order is a potent reminder of the cruel rationality of austerity." ― Dissent Magazine

The descriptions of all three unidentified objects shot down Feb. 10-12 match the shapes, altitudes and payloads of the small pico balloons, which can usually be purchased for $12-180 each, depending on the type.

we know the point of taxes is not actually to raise revenue, the point is to reduce consumption to decrease demand in the economy.

an infinite amount of cash

looking to implement massive, costly programs including a national daycare system, pharmacare, affordable housing and green initiatives.

Even Trudeau’s former top adviser, Gerald Butts, appears to have his doubts about MMT, recently posted the following on twitter: “I read The Deficit Myth this week. I dunno guys. I see why you want to believe in MMT, but it feels like snake oil to me. Things that sound too good to be true almost always are.”

The National Post’s Jesse Snyder wrote an excellent piece recently about how the Canadian economy has been transformed in the past decade moving from a healthy three to five per cent trade surplus to an annual average deficit of negative two to three per cent. Over the same period, Canadian investments in assets abroad surpassed foreign direct investments by $804 billion.

It is expected that the Bank of Canada will end up controlling more than 56 per cent of our total government bond market by end of 2021, up from 29 per cent today, according to estimates from Ian Pollick, head of fixed income, currency and commodity research at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, as cited by Bloomberg. If you think about that, it sounds an awful lot like Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) is now being tested in this country.

While the NDP has been lobbying for a wealth tax, so far there have been few indications of tax hikes from the Liberal government.

Alfred Mitchell-Innes, writing in 1914, argued that money exists not as a medium of exchange but as a standard of deferred payment, with government money being debt the government may reclaim through taxation.

これは財務省も認めていることで、2002年に外国の格付け会社が日本国債の格付けを下げたときに、財務省は「日・米など先進国の自国建て国債のデフォルトは考えられない。デフォルトとして如何なる事態を想定しているのか。」という反論の意見書を出しました。

たしかに、「GDPに占める債務残高」は深刻な財政危機に陥っているギリシャやイタリアよりずっと悪くて、日本はダントツの最下位です。 　だけど、それっておかしな話だと思いませんか？　むしろ、このグラフを見たら、こう考えるべきなんです。なぜ、ダントツで最下位の日本ではなく、ギリシャやイタリアが財政危機に陥ってるのか、と。日本とギリシャが同じならば、日本の財政は2006年くらいの時点でとっくに破綻してなければおかしいじゃないですか？

誤解を恐れずに、MMTを最も手短に説明するとこうなります。日英米のように自国通貨を発行できる政府（中央政府＋中央銀行）の自国通貨建ての国債はデフォルトしないので、変動相場制のもとでは、政府はいくらでも好きなだけ財政支出をすることができる。財源の心配をする必要はない、と。