CUNY Queens College.
Joined February 2023
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Its time to get rid of the myth led by orthodox economists that inflation is only solved through the combination of austerity
Monetary: rate hikes
Fiscal: cut spending
How we fight inflation doesn't just matter for the economy. It matters for democracy.
If government decisions leave people poorer, more indebted and less secure, we risk deepening the conditions that have emboldened the far-right.
🔗 My article for the @FT. Link below.
Durable goods orders in Sept finish up by 1.8% m/m, highest in five months
Led by transportation orders which climbed 4.6% & civilian aircraft bookings which climbed 28.4%
Core ex transportation rose 0.5% m/m (0.3% m/m in Aug)
tradingeconomics.com/united-…
October consumer confidence rises to 91.7 while the present and expectations index saw improvements as well
Despite this, confidence index remains on a long term downward trend as consumers remain concerned over inflation and plan to pull back on spending on services & durable goods over the next six months
Also 12 month inflation index fell to 5.8%, still elevated as consumers expect higher rates in the next 12 months
conference-board.org/topics/…
Mike Bostic retweeted
📚 A beginner-friendly reading list on the modern monetary system from an MMT and Post-Keynesian perspective, in recommended reading order:
1. Warren Mosler — Seven Deadly Innocent Frauds of Economic Policy (2010)
2. Stephanie Kelton — The Deficit Myth (2020)
3. Dirk Ehnts — Modern Money Theory: A Simple Guide to the Monetary System (2024)
4. Steve Keen — The New Economics: A Manifesto (2021)
5. L. Randall Wray — Why Minsky Matters (2016)
6. Steve Keen — Can We Avoid Another Financial Crisis? (2017)
7. Pavlina R. Tcherneva — The Case for a Job Guarantee (2020)
8. L. Randall Wray — Modern Money Theory: A Primer on Macroeconomics for Sovereign Monetary Systems (2015)
9. Steve Keen — Debunking Economics (2011)
10. Marc Lavoie — Post-Keynesian Economics: New Foundations (2014)
11. Wynne Godley & Marc Lavoie — Monetary Economics (2007)
Start with the basics, then gradually move towards more advanced theory.
Weekly market recap:
Dow Jones+0.5%
S&P 500 -0.3%
NASDAQ -0.5%
Week ahead:
FOMC meeting and rate decision
New home sales (Sept)
Consumer confidence (Oct)
PCE inflation, personal income and spending (Oct)
3Q GDP
Durable goods orders (Sept)
Final consumer sentiment outlook for Oct changes little at 48.0 & down 10.4% y/y
1 yr inflation outlook moved up from 4.6% to 4.7%
Long run moved up from 3.4% to 3.5%
Second straight month inflation outlook for both time horizons moved higher with both at its highest levels since May
Manufacturing PMI rises to its highest levels in over 5 years
But price pressures remain intact, rising at its sharpest rate since Aug 2022
pmi.spglobal.com/Public/Home…
This chart below debunks the notion that Jerome Powell hiking rates played the biggest role towards inflation falling
To me, orthodox economists exist to protect the status quo and are flat out clueless when it comes down to understanding money. On topics such as taxes, inflation, interest rates, deficits, unemployment they've been consistently wrong and then doubling down on it. Their arrogance is on another level but these are the same people who couldn't foresee the GFC of 2007-2008 or even the dot com bubble/recession of 2000-2001. Also, orthodox economists suffer from a terrible lack of accountability, pushing policies for decades that have put America in the position it's in today. Truly pathetic and unfortunate.
The fatal challenge to heterodox economics is that there isn't actually orthodox economics.
Just take a few recent Nobels: behavioral, information failure, institutions, bubbles, financial fragility, labor monopsony (sort of), Schumpeterian creative destruction, etc.
Not to mention RCTs which are emblematic of how much economic research is empirical and only lightly if at all structural.
The real difference is methods. Heterodox economics is an avowedly political project not a social scientific effort to better understand the world. And I have nothing against political projects just shouldn't confuse the two.
He also said the US needed the unemployment rate to be 10% for one year to curb inflation post pandemic. Safe to say he was incorrect then too.
Why does Larry Summers not argue in favor of 5 percent unemployment for five years to ease inflation in 2026? What is different now?
Anyway, it was bad advice then and it would be bad advice now.
bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
Mike Bostic retweeted
Thread that shows the extent to which mainstream macro must be revised to make theory and policy sense.
Unaddressed and left uncorrected, however, is mainstream’s fundamental misunderstanding of the nature, role, and impact of government deficits,debt, indeed, borrowing itself.
Coming into Jackson Hole, economists are grappling with a major issue: Can central banking as we know it be the primary tool of macroeconomic stabilization in the industrial world over the next decade? In my forthcoming paper w/ @annastansbury, we argue that this is in doubt. 1/
US housing starts fell 5.2% in Sept, lowest in 4 months and down 7.4% y/y
30 year fixed mortgage rate jumped to 7.40%, highest levels in almost three years
Building permits fell 0.2% to 1.4 million
ijr.com/discover/us-housing-…
Homebuilder sentiment falls to a 14 year low due to rising mortgage rates (now above 7%) along with inflationary pressures due to rising energy and material costs.
nahb.org/news-and-economics/…
China's 3Q GDP was boosted by stronger than expected exports which led to a record trade surplus of $133.5 billion
Retail sales growth came in at 1.1% which exceeded expectations & industrial output came in at 5.5%
Chinese gov has stepped up it's fiscal support as domestic challenges remain with regards to consumption & housing
cnbc.com/2026/10/19/chinas-e…
Mike Bostic retweeted
Policymakers gather in Bangkok with oil near $100 a barrel, the second energy shock in four years, and 3.4 billion people living in countries that spend more on interest than on health or education.
The advice governments receive has not changed. Protect the headline deficit, cut investment first, wait for rates to fall.
New for @ProSyn, published alongside the first policy brief on fiscal rules from the Global Council on New Economics for the 21st Century, which I co-chair with Deputy Prime Minister of Spain @carlos_cuerpo.
Op-ed ➡️ project-syndicate.org/commen…
Policy brief ➡️ neweconomicscouncil.org/
Mike Bostic retweeted
With unemployment, idle capacity, unmet investment needs and social needs, why obsess over the deficit? The real question is what resources we can mobilise and for what purpose. The fiscal balance should follow our priorities, not dictate them