Thread by @DeficitOwls

It's Day 6 of our online book club for @StephanieKelton's The Deficit Myth!

Today we're reading Chapter 6, and we'll post highlights below. Read along and post your favorite parts with the hashtag #TheDeficitMyth.

Happy reading🦉...

Chapter 6 is about entitlements. While the conventional wisdom says these programs are running out of money, SK says we can always afford to make dollar payments, the question is will there be goods for those dollars to buy? #TheDeficitMyth

"Receiving entitlement benefits isn’t a moral failure or a sign of weakness." #TheDeficitMyth

MMT "tells us why looking at the sustainability of entitlement programs in financial terms misses the point, and why the biggest challenges facing these programs have nothing to do with affordability." #TheDeficitMyth

Kelton says that Roosevelt made a mistake when he tried to make it appear that the payroll tax "pays for" Social Security. #TheDeficitMyth

"FDR thought that his political foes would have a hard time attacking the program as long as everyone could 'see' that the money to pay benefits was there. And therein lies the problem. Today, everyone can see that the money isn’t there." #TheDeficitMyth

Kelton righteously ridicules Kotlikoff for arguing that we should care about the financial shortfalls of Social Security out into the infinite future. #TheDeficitMyth

"imagine how much better it would have been if [Al Gore] had simply said, 'Social Security is safe. No major changes are necessary. The federal government can keep every promise it has made because it can never run out of money.'” #TheDeficitMyth

Kelton describing the importance of Social Security to today's workers.

"Contrary to what Senate Republicans suggested, the disability program is neither generous nor rife with fraud. It’s extremely difficult and time consuming to qualify for Social Security disability payments and even harder to appeal a denial." #TheDeficitMyth

"Constant attacks haven’t succeeded in undermining public support for entitlement programs, but they have undermined public confidence in their long-term financial viability." #TheDeficitMyth

"When we talk about whether entitlements are sustainable, we need to think in terms of our economy’s real productive capacity. We need to think about how the economy will absorb those dollars, not where those dollars will come from." #TheDeficitMyth

"Coming up with the money to pay benefits is the easy part. The real challenge involves managing any inflationary pressures that might arise as that money gets spent into the real economy." #TheDeficitMyth

Kelton on what we should be doing to prepare for the retirement of Baby Boomers - it's not cutting benefits or raising taxes to "find the money." #TheDeficitMyth

"The war on entitlements is rooted in outmoded thinking about the nature of money and the real purpose of taxation."

That's it for today, tune in tomorrow for Chapter 7! #TheDeficitMyth