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#MMT was easy for me to grasp bc just prior to learning what Modern Monetary Theory is, I was telling my son that money, the U.S. Dollar, is nothing more than an arbitrary representation of value--that labor and the real resources it uses are how real value is created. /1
Value, in and of itself, is nothing more than a human construct placed on real resources (i.e. things) and the amount of work it takes to cultivate, manipulate, or fashion those things into other things for other humans. /2
That value is driven by another human construct called demand (i.e. desire/need) by other humans (i.e. consumers) to have the things that have been given value.
In modern marketing, most of that desire is artificially driven by advertisers to create false scarcity and need. /3
In modern marketing, most of that desire is artificially driven by advertisers to create false scarcity and need. /3
Money becomes a necessary function of modern society, only bc governments create a demand for that currency through force called taxation. Taxes can't be paid with things. You have to cash those things in for the demanded currency. /4
Modern does not refer to industrialized or what is deemed "civilized" society. Modern dates back to the beginning of recorded history which dates back 1000s of years to the first cuneiform tablets (3200 B.C.E.) with accounting terms inscribed on them, also known as money. /5
No less than 5000 years ago, money was created by scribing marks on a clay tablet with a reed stylus. The marks on the clay were money. Did those marks have any REAL value? Or were they simply representations of value based on a standard of measurement? The latter. /6
In current modern times, we use electronic means of creating those accounting terms on electronic databases to keep track of the money being created by our modern governments. We allow citizens to hold physical representations, printed & electronic money, to engage in exchange./7
The order of operations of money creation and the way money is used, including its arbitrary representation of value in relation to the goods and services it can be exchanged for, has not changed much in nearly 6000 years--what we understand to be recorded history. /8
When you finally understand how money is created, what its purpose is, & government's role in creating it, you can unlock its full political potential to provide society with all the things any modern society should invest in: Food, Housing, Education, Healthcare. #LearnMMT /END
