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Degrowth and the ‘assistance’ of Modern Monetary Theory — Peter May

Summary:
So when Jason Hickell says that “MMT provides an opportunity for us to create a post-growth, post-capitalist economy” he is saying no more than it is possible now with our current monetary system. So money is decidedly not the problem, nor even capitalism. Political will is the problem. It appears to me that Peter May misses an important point about "capitalism" based on economic liberalism. Right from the start of the industrial age, the rallying cry of private enterprise was "laissez-faire," which means freeing business and commerce from government intrusion. This is based on the assumption that left to itself the "free market" is the most efficient and effective form of economic organization owing to the operation of market forces operating through the law of supply and demand.

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So when Jason Hickell says that “MMT provides an opportunity for us to create a post-growth, post-capitalist economy” he is saying no more than it is possible now with our current monetary system.
So money is decidedly not the problem, nor even capitalism.
Political will is the problem.
It appears to me that Peter May misses an important point about "capitalism" based on economic liberalism. Right from the start of the industrial age, the rallying cry of private enterprise was "laissez-faire," which means freeing business and commerce from government intrusion. This is based on the assumption that left to itself the "free market" is the most efficient and effective form of economic organization owing to the operation of market forces operating through the law of supply and demand.

This is still a strong argument accepted by much of the liberal world aka "capitalist" world, since "capitalism" is equated with economic liberalism and economic liberalism and political liberalism, that is, liberal democracy, are assumed to go hand in hand.

So advocates of economic liberalism would argue that imputing to them the motive of reducing the public footprint in the economy is not a matter of tilting the scales in favor of private enterprise.

The objection still has to be met that any motion in the direction of more "socialism" leads to greater inefficiency and reduced effectiveness.

Progressive Pulse
Degrowth and the ‘assistance’ of Modern Monetary Theory
Peter May

Mike Norman
Mike Norman is an economist and veteran trader whose career has spanned over 30 years on Wall Street. He is a former member and trader on the CME, NYMEX, COMEX and NYFE and he managed money for one of the largest hedge funds and ran a prop trading desk for Credit Suisse.

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