First, the federal government doesn't "print money." It issues currency. It does this by making accounting entries bigger and, when it collects revenue via taxation/bond sales, it reduces those same numbers. It "expands and contracts balance sheets."👇
👆This is how all federal revenue and spending works, and has always worked, since the first dollar was issued around 222 years ago. This is the case regarding funding laws, purchasing and selling gov't securities, QE, and etc. There are no exceptions.👇
👆Giving a physicality to federal money it is plainly incorrect and highly misleading. Physical money is only created (actually, literally printed or minted) in response to citizens explicitly requesting it from a bank teller or ATM. Before that point, it's purely electronic.👇
👆Projecting a physicality onto money implies scarcity. MONEY IS NOT SCARCE. Real resources are scare, not money. Banks and the government create and destroy every second of every day. (You may think that's a bad thing, which is fine, but it is the reality.)👇
👆Money is scarce TO US as currency users, of course, but not to the issuer. We obviously, primarily, use their money. If the United States government is overthrown and stops existing, unless the new gov't chooses to honor it, all US dollars instantaneously become worthless.👇
👆Inflationary pressures are caused by spending outpacing productive capacity – spending, not money. Pretending we (actually) printed $100 trillion, put into a rocket, and then shot to the moon obviously cannot cause inflation. Nor can money invested or otherwise not spent.👇
👆Only spending money can cause inflation. Therefore, "creating money causes inflation" is simply not true.👇 forbes.com/sites/johnthar…
👆This is especially true if production can be ramped up to meet that new spending, money can be taxed away (or otherwise not spent) to reduce it, and any number of other things can come into play.👇 citizensmedia.tv/mmt-inflation-…
👆All of the above is equally true in the United States (the current reserve currency), the United Kingdom (the former reserve currency), Canada, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and etc. (none of which has ever been the reserve currency).👇 citizensmedia.tv/mmt-petrodolla…
👆#MMT describes how our monetary system actually, currently, already, and **has always** worked. To say "MMT people want even more [printing to outpace production]" is something you made up.👇
👆#MMT absolutely does demonstrate that many things are possible to do safely, as demonstrated in these four resource and inflationary impact studies: 1. Medicare For All: dropbox.com/s/wkqfesmcnega… 2. A truly-bold Green New Deal:👇 levyinstitute.org/pubs/wp_931.pdf
👆Too many people say with supreme confidence various terrible things they think #MMT is, does, or says, and quite often they're just making stuff up (or believing someone else who's making stuff up). For actual MMT, start here.
Welcome to ep 59 of Activist #MMT. Today's part 2 of my 2pt-conversation with Marxist academic, blogger, & MMTer, Jim Kavanagh (@ThePolemicist_). Jim talks more about how MMT is necessary but not sufficient for Marxism. Here's a brief highlight:👇
👆Jim has taught at Princeton, Carnegie Mellon, and Wesleyan Universities. He was also a regular guest on the internet radio show Loud and Clear with @BrianBeckerDC and @JohnKiriakou. He is currently an author at @NatCounterPunch and editor at The Polemicist.👇
I found this page, especially the graph & the final para referring to it, particularly challenging.👇
👆Here’s the (full) final paragraph in the above page-screenshot.
It says “the real wage” is equal to both "the marginal product of labor" and "the marginal disutility of work” and that “None of this is the least bit controversial, and Keynes does not take issue with either.”👇
1/ Banks create the vast majority of money in the economy, but it‘s credit, not currency. Currency doesn’t have to be paid back. Most receive it as a paycheck for doing labor.
2/ Bank credit Is in the form of credit cards or loans, and must be paid back 100% plus interest. Once paid back, it disappears.
3/ The fact that more than 90% of money in the economy is created from banks is (A) a bad thing that the government could change (by regulating or providing more for its people) but doesn’t and (B) does not provide anyone wealth.
1. The term full employment has been badly distorted. 2. The measurement of *current* unemployment has also been distorted.
So, not only can those in power draw the finish line, they can also lengthen or put obstacles on the path required to reach it. 1/
3. They also propagandize so people don't even know which direction to go.
Further, the Fed's mandate of maximum employment is, roughly, "to keep as many employed as possible, as long as it doesn't trigger inflation." So now it's quadruply meaningless 2/
1/ Welcome to ep 21 of Activist #MMT. This is actually pt *TWO* of my intvw with millennial & 1J Ryan Mathis. In pt 2 we compare Marx's labor theory of value to MMT's state theory of money. He then shatters the myth that "natural" laws govern our society. activistmmt.libsyn.com/ep-21-ryan-mat…
2/ This is a special two part interview where part one is being released simultaneously on @historic_ly. In part one, Ryan and I talk about his plan for recreating our corrupt political, media, and educational institutions.
3/ Also: Along with @MMTpodcast, @CheseMacro, & #MMT Mondays: on April 14th, #MMT-ers march online. On April 22nd, to mark the 50th anniv. of Earth Day, MMT-ers come together with environmental activists & groups to #EARTHRISE. You can find out more at earthrise2020.org