Migrated from SourceForge ticket #12
Original Reporter: profstevekeen
Created: 2015-09-04 16:08:44.243000
Last Modified: 2026-09-22 00:30:53.671000
Status: open
Description
This is long overdue and has been inspired by a narky but to some extent justified comment on the program on my blog, which I'm responding to now. We always wanted to include a model repository, but that's a large project. The Help is also not up to date (my fault) and it would help to have sample files available for new users.
A repository is a large project however, so would it be possible to provide a semi-automated model repository in the meantime? I'm thinking of a web/ftp based location to which I could send MKY files, which would then be loaded as example files when someone first installed Minsky. Or something like that.
This would give first time users a set of sample files that (a) worked and (b) gave an idea of how to use the program. That would address the valid complaints (there are a lot of invalid complaints!) made in this post:
"As is, program barely works and is as such completely unusable. I could not keep it up running for more than 5 minutes. After an hour of trying I finally uninstalled it even though I would desperately like to get my hands on a decent tool to model financial flows.
All I can say is you could have spent €100k more wisely, but that’s my opinion.
Functionality wise I would find it useful if the program would come with some basic economic templates which would be explained in more detail. Zip file contains no examples, and the ones on github have no documentation. If this tool is to be of any use for beginners, extensive help file is probably more needed than an elaborate list of modules for data processing.
Which brings me to the second point. I’m sorry it’s slightly off topic, but the above is such a perfect example it’s impossible for me to resist.
Namely, it is my contention that you’ve massively overpaid a project that ultmately does not work. Now if you have had paid for it out of your own pocket you would probably be upset as you could not market and or sell it properly. As it was paid for by the grant your first instinct is to apply for another grant. It’s not a lot of money involved, but it’s an illustration.
You see where I’m getting at? It this was a business, it would fail.
That seems to be the case with most government financed projects. Just a recent example from the country I come from: government overpaid a coal fired power plant 3 times over only to find that now it is finally finished it will start to loose money every day it operates. (about €4M/month) Sure it was a huge stimulus for local economy, but it came at a huge cost and loans acquired.
This type of behavior is what I believe got my country into trouble and imho got Greece and a host of other countries into trouble as well. So your contention that more government spending should be in order in times of crisis rather that austerity is probably going to make the situation worse as this spending is never rational spending. To this extent Peter Schiff, as much as you seem to dislike him, is right.
As long as the sums are small, such as €100k in the example above, this is non issue. However €1.5B was spent on a power plant I wrote about. And this is not the only example, hence the problem facing these countries: falling GDP, huge external deficit, tax hikes and political instability.
More loans to boost spending will not solve the underlying problem, nor will debt jubilee, nor will pennies from the sky (or rather Eurocopter if only we had a Fed equivalent here). What needs to change is a social contract between people to form new kind of state, “new deal” so to speak, but that’s just to plain difficult as people are unwilling to change and are unwilling to face reality and are unwilling to learn. And btw “new deal” from US was not the example of what’s needed, but the name is too good not to be reused.
Anyway this is what I wanted to comment on, and I would appreciate a reply if you would be so kind to indulge me with one.
BR"
Migrated from SourceForge ticket #12
Original Reporter: profstevekeen
Created: 2015-09-04 16:08:44.243000
Last Modified: 2026-09-22 00:30:53.671000
Status: open
Description
This is long overdue and has been inspired by a narky but to some extent justified comment on the program on my blog, which I'm responding to now. We always wanted to include a model repository, but that's a large project. The Help is also not up to date (my fault) and it would help to have sample files available for new users.
A repository is a large project however, so would it be possible to provide a semi-automated model repository in the meantime? I'm thinking of a web/ftp based location to which I could send MKY files, which would then be loaded as example files when someone first installed Minsky. Or something like that.
This would give first time users a set of sample files that (a) worked and (b) gave an idea of how to use the program. That would address the valid complaints (there are a lot of invalid complaints!) made in this post:
"As is, program barely works and is as such completely unusable. I could not keep it up running for more than 5 minutes. After an hour of trying I finally uninstalled it even though I would desperately like to get my hands on a decent tool to model financial flows.
All I can say is you could have spent €100k more wisely, but that’s my opinion.
Functionality wise I would find it useful if the program would come with some basic economic templates which would be explained in more detail. Zip file contains no examples, and the ones on github have no documentation. If this tool is to be of any use for beginners, extensive help file is probably more needed than an elaborate list of modules for data processing.
Which brings me to the second point. I’m sorry it’s slightly off topic, but the above is such a perfect example it’s impossible for me to resist.
Namely, it is my contention that you’ve massively overpaid a project that ultmately does not work. Now if you have had paid for it out of your own pocket you would probably be upset as you could not market and or sell it properly. As it was paid for by the grant your first instinct is to apply for another grant. It’s not a lot of money involved, but it’s an illustration.
You see where I’m getting at? It this was a business, it would fail.
That seems to be the case with most government financed projects. Just a recent example from the country I come from: government overpaid a coal fired power plant 3 times over only to find that now it is finally finished it will start to loose money every day it operates. (about €4M/month) Sure it was a huge stimulus for local economy, but it came at a huge cost and loans acquired.
This type of behavior is what I believe got my country into trouble and imho got Greece and a host of other countries into trouble as well. So your contention that more government spending should be in order in times of crisis rather that austerity is probably going to make the situation worse as this spending is never rational spending. To this extent Peter Schiff, as much as you seem to dislike him, is right.
As long as the sums are small, such as €100k in the example above, this is non issue. However €1.5B was spent on a power plant I wrote about. And this is not the only example, hence the problem facing these countries: falling GDP, huge external deficit, tax hikes and political instability.
More loans to boost spending will not solve the underlying problem, nor will debt jubilee, nor will pennies from the sky (or rather Eurocopter if only we had a Fed equivalent here). What needs to change is a social contract between people to form new kind of state, “new deal” so to speak, but that’s just to plain difficult as people are unwilling to change and are unwilling to face reality and are unwilling to learn. And btw “new deal” from US was not the example of what’s needed, but the name is too good not to be reused.
Anyway this is what I wanted to comment on, and I would appreciate a reply if you would be so kind to indulge me with one.
BR"