American Monetary Association

Jason Hartman talks with Dr. Randy Wray, one of the foremost experts in Modern Monetary Theory, about why Minsky the philosopher is important, what exactly MMT is and why it's relevant in today's monetary society. They especially tackle the job guarantee program that MMT espouses and what's coming up for the US in the economy for the next few years.

Key Takeaways:

[1:26] Who is Minsky and why is he someone we should concern ourselves with?

[4:43] What is Modern Monetary Theory and why is it applicable?

[10:31] The governments going back to the colonies spends money into existence and then taxes it back to avoid causing inflation

[13:38] Has all the money that was put into the economy during Obama's term been taken back out by taxes or is it causing inflation?

[17:51] The test you need to use to discover if you're doing monetary policy correct

[21:48] Spending during The New Deal greatly helped move our nation forward and allowed us to become the richest, most developed nation on Earth

[25:49] The job guarantee that Dr Wray is focusing on now would involve a lot of care work, and it would be decentralized

[28:58] What's coming up, economically, for the United States

Website:

www.Levy.org

Direct download: AMA_268_Randy_Wray.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:50pm EST

After a tour of an Amazon fulfillment center, Jason Hartman has an "investigative report" from the inside of a ride-sharing trip talking with a former employee of Amazon on how we have been misled a little by the company.

Key Takeaways:

[2:23] Amazon pickers are walking at least 10 miles a day to get orders together

[4:08] The pay raise that Amazon gave their warehouse employees was offset by a slash in benefits

Website:

www.JasonHartman.com/Properties

Direct download: AMA_267_Amazon.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:00pm EST

Jason Hartman talks with Tal Tsfany, President & CEO of the Ayn Rand Institute, about free speech on college campuses, how we should be defining things like happiness and selfishness, and why we should be focusing on the self. They also examine the philosophies of those who want to tax the rich in order to redistribute wealth.

Key Takeaways:

[2:28] What's happening with speech on college campuses is a result of progressive philosophies

[4:16] What would Ayn Rand's political views be in today's world?

[7:56] Ayn Rand's definition of happiness

[11:23] Love is a goal or value that you pursue. It's a spiritual trade

[15:20] Ayn's definition of selfishness

[19:18] Berkley students in the 60s were reading Ayn Rand to be cool, but not following through on the axioms

Website:

www.AynRand.org

Direct download: AMA_266_Tal_Tsfany.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:00pm EST

Jason Hartman talks with Raghuram Rajan, former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India and former Chief Economist and Director of Research at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), about how community has been weakened, which has allowed competitive markets and governments to get out of balance. They also discuss what jobs will remain after automation takes off even more, mortgage rates and whether we're headed toward inflation or deflation.

Key Takeaways:

[1:24] What the IMF is and how it differs from the World Bank

[6:20] Massive technological change tends to hit an area and hurt before the benefits kick in later

[9:30] After automation comes and takes many of the jobs, there will still be jobs that involve human interaction

[14:51] Is Raghuram seeing inflation, deflation, stagflation or what in the coming years?

[17:34] Are mortgage interest rates artificially low?

[22:17] There's good deflation and bad deflation

Websites:

The Third Pillar: How Markets and the State Leave the Community Behind

Raghuram Rajan at Chicago Booth School of Business

Direct download: AMA_265_Raghuram_Rajan.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:22pm EST

1