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Guest Post

Published by digby on April 21, 2010

Guest Post

Fiscal Sustainability Teach-In Counter Conference


-by Selise

Goal Thermometer

“The Fiscal Sustainability Teach-In Counter Conference will be the important event in Washington on April 28. Unlike the other meeting, this one will feature important work by honest scholars. It deserves at least equal attention, and very much more respect.“

— James K. Galbraith, The University of Texas at Austin. [April 19, 2010 via email]


* * *The deficit hawks at the Peterson Foundation are at it again: attacking Social Security and Medicare with their false economic notions, this time with a “Fiscal Summit” to “Discuss Nation’s Rising Deficits and Debt.”

We have a massive need for a counter-narrative to the false but conventional notion that Federal deficit spending is bad, that it is a burden to the next generation, that deficit spending risks insolvency — basically that the Federal Government Budget is some how analogous to a household budget when, in fact, it is no such thing.

The Teach-In Counter-Conference on Fiscal Sustainability on April 28th, 2010 in Washington, DC aims to do just that with some real world, honest economics. The date was chosen as an alternative and counter to the deficit hawks at Peterson Foundation’s “Fiscal Summit.”

We can move beyond the false economic orthodoxy that got us into the current economic mess and that are now being promoted to attack Social Security and Medicare — and harming our Nation and it’s People in so many ways. You can help.

The tentative program schedule, topics and presenters as of 04/16/10:

Time Period Topic Team Leaders
8:30–8:45 AM Welcoming Remarks
8:45–10:15 AM What Is Fiscal Sustainability? Team Leader: Professor Bill Mitchell, Research Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at the University of Newcastle, NSW Australia, and blogger at billy blog
10:15–10:30 AM BREAK
10:30 AM–12:00 PM Are There Spending Constraints on Governments Sovereign in their Currency? Team Leader: Stephanie Kelton, Associate Professor of Macroeconomics, Finance, and Money and Banking, Research Scloar at The Center for Full Employment and Price Stability (CFEPS), University of Missouri – Kansas City, Research Associate at The Levy Economics Institute of Bard College, and blogger at New Economics Perspectives
12:00–12:15 PM BREAK
12:15–1:45 PM The Deficit, the Debt, the Debt-To-GDP ratio, the Grandchildren and Government Economic Policy Team Leader: Warren Mosler, International Consulting Economist, Independent Candidate for the US Senate in Connecticut, and blogger at moslereconomics.com
1:45–2:00 PM BREAK
2:00–3:15 PM Inflation and Hyper-inflation Co-Team Leaders: Marshall Auerback, International Consulting Economist, blogger at New Deal 2.0 and New Economic Perspectives, and Mat Forstater, Professor of Economics, Director of CFEPS, Department of Economics, University of Missouri — Kansas City, Research Associate at The Levy Economics Institute of Bard College, and blogger at New Economic Perspectives
3:15–3:30 PM BREAK
3:30–5:00 PM Policy Proposals for Fiscal Sustainability Co-Team Leaders: L. Randall Wray, Professor of Economics, Director of CFEPSThe Levy Economics Institute of Bard College; and Pavlina Tcherneva, Assistant Professor of Economics at Franklin and Marshall College, Senior Research Associate at CFEPS and Research Associate at The Levy Economics Institute of Bard College and bloggers at New Economic Perspectives at the University of Missouri – Kansas City, and Senior Scholar at

What you can do to help:


  1. Contribute to the cost of the Conference — Here


  2. Attend the Teach-In — watch these pages for location and other logistical information


  3. Spread the word — write a blog post, talk with your friends.


  4. Educate yourself — some great introductory resources are:
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