Welcome to ep 66 of Activist #MMT. Today I talk with @DEhnts & @AskerVoldsgaard about their 2020 paper responding to a 2019 mainstream paper expressing the concern for the long-term fiscal sustainability of gov't spending & its corresponding debt & interest. A brief highlight.👇
Welcome to ep 66 of Activist #MMT. Today I talk with @DEhnts & @AskerVoldsgaard about their 2020 paper responding to a 2019 mainstream paper expressing the concern for the long-term fiscal sustainability of gov't spending & its corresponding debt & interest. A brief highlight.👇
👆Since #MMT demonstrates that much more spending on public spending is perfectly safe (and desperately needed), the concern is often directed at the MMT project itself.
👆We first summarize the mainstream argument, and then its many flawed assumptions. This conversation inspired this post, where I summarize the argument and each of its assumptions, and describe why each is incorrect.👇 citizensmedia.tv/mmt-fiscal-sus…
👆The 2019 paper is written in what we consider to be good faith: it cites the #MMT literature & is respectful to its authors. Since this happens to be unusual, I've compiled several good-faith critiques, including responses from MMTers, here.👇 citizensmedia.tv/mmt-criticism
👆This is part one of a two-part conversation, but it's also part one of a four part conversation on the relationship between mainstream or neoclassical economics and #MMT. Parts two and three are with @SamHLevey, where we discuss the core assumptions of mainstream economics.👇
👆For even $1/month, patrons of Activist #MMT currently have exclusive and super-early access to *SEVEN* full episodes (incl. both with Sam), with both activists & academics (& several more on the way). Here's the full list, each with a brief highlight:👇 citizensmedia.tv/activist-mmt-p…
👆As enlightening and fun as it is to create this podcast, your financial support makes it a lot easier. Please consider becoming a patron of Activist #MMT. Start here:👇 patreon.com/activistmmt
👆Patrons of Activist #MMT also get the unique opportunity to ask my academic guests questions, and they also support the development of this large collection of MMT resources, which leans heavily on the MMT body of academic work:
👆Delaying checks in order to ensure the rich don't get them causes orders of magnitude more death and suffering for the poor, than in preventing the further luxury of the rich. (Do you really think billionaires would celebrate were a $2k check to arrive in their mailbox???)👇
👆People are dying right now. Let's stop screwing around and help them.
Also, means testing to prevent the rich from getting some pittance of a benefit (from their perspective) forces the poor to PROVE they deserve that benefit. Also an inexcusable thing to do in this crisis.👇
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.👇
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.👇
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.