Clarification about Modern Monetary Therory

Dear Professor Wolff, On social media, there's a group that calls itself "Real Progressives". It is led by Steven Grumbine. Mr. Grumbine frequently posts videos claiming that, since the US has monetary sovereignty, it can just print unlimited amounts of money to pay for any government program it likes (healthcare, education,...). He pretty much implies that the national dept is irrelevant and that we are being lied to when it comes to economics and that we don't know anything about economics. Another favorite line of his is "Taxes don't pay for spending". I'd very much like to get your viewpoint on this, because 1. this seems to be too fantastical to be true and 2. Mr. Grumbine has quite an influence in the progressive movement in the US. I greatly appreciate your way of explaining economics. Thank you. An example video can be found here: "MMT, Monetary Sovereignty and Why it Should Matter to ALL Progressives..." https://www.facebook.com/RealProgressive/videos/1597074277288663/ Another bold video, where he gets kinda agressive about it: "Warning: this video contains an economic throat punch of a rant... fit for cable not public TV... Hillary Clinton, goldbug fanatics and the hyper inflation hyperventilators who are guilty of economic treason against the nation." https://www.facebook.com/RealProgressive/videos/1616237938705630/


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  • Robert Mitchell
    commented 2017-07-29 16:05:45 -0400
    Yes, I like that guy’s rant, and agree with him that deficits don’t matter. Republicans know it; Cheney said Reagan proved deficits don’t matter. Conservatives are trolling liberals about balanced budgets and the National Debt, and the dems are biting hard.
  • Robert Mitchell
    tagged this with good 2017-07-29 16:05:45 -0400
  • Fabrice Bongartz
    published this page in Ask Prof. Wolff 2017-07-25 11:14:35 -0400

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