Tag Archives: MMT

By J.D. ALT The Republican tax reform will be criticized on many fronts. It is a battle of criticisms that will likely become as chaotic, ill-informed, and counter-productive as the tax reform process itself has been. This is because it will surely ignore the only strategic battle-front that ultimately matters: the basic premise of what taxes are for and why they’re necessary. Before the Republican tax reformers even said a word, their arguments and proposals were packaged in the tired...

MMT.QuartzDoes the Republican tax cut mean deficits don’t matter?Tim Fernholz

Roger Farmer is out with an argument for the optimal level of public debt being 70% of GDP. Ralph provides the MMT answer. It is nicely succinct. MMTers have solved this one. Others are still floundering, in particular Roger Farmer in this NIESR article on the subject, is all over the place far as I can see (1). So I’ll run thru this vexed question for the umpteenth time.... Farmer bills himself as a Keynesian. Ralph reminds us of the answer Keynes himself gave to the question of public...

Do you remember back to May 2016, when the British Treasury, which is clearly full of mainstream macroeconomists who have little understanding of how the system actually operates released their ‘Brexit’ predictions? The ‘study’ (putting the best spin possible on what was a tawdry piece of propaganda) – HM Treasury analysis: the immediate economic impact of leaving the EU – was strategically released to have maximum impact on the vote, which would come just a month later. Fortunately, for...

By J.D. ALT What follows is a to-do list for the next political power generation―the Millennials in whose hands the operation of America will begin soon, thankfully, to be grasped. The Boomer and GenX generations have succeeded in guiding America to the brink of social chaos and environmental disaster. Thankfully, the Millennials actually have the critical tool necessary to build anew what the 1% power-structures of the Boomer/GenXers have so greedily destroyed. All that is required is...

MMT is mentioned, but the author buys into the criticism of MMT based on assuming central bank and Treasury consolidation, and he misses the key concept of Treasury issuance being a reserve drain in his criticism. He mentions Stephanie Kelton and gives a shout out to Scott Fullwiler, too. The post is also interesting as a look at popularized economics. Hughes cites an Izabella Kaminska post at FT Alphaville on MMT that is worth reading or re-reading as the case may be:  Why MMT is like...

Here are links to the full series of The EMU Reform RuseBill Mitchell – billy blogThe EMU reform ruse – Part 1 The EMU reform ruse – Part 2 The EMU reform ruse – Part 3 The EMU reform ruse – Part 4 and Final Bill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia

SFC-based analysis.Seeking AlphaTax Reform: The Impact On Macro Fiscal Flows And Investment MarketsAlan Longbon

By J.D. ALT It is literally painful to watch our political leaders’ efforts to rethink and restructure how we are going levy taxes on ourselves as a collective society. It is like watching a family member struggling with mental illness: the demons being wrestled with are imaginary—yet they have the palpable force somehow of a granite wall. And as the struggle with this palpable monolith unfolds, even we—the clear observers of reality—forget that it is imaginary; when we do remember, the...

  Noah Smith puts Stephanie Kelton and MMT in the crosshairs of his sights. Bloomberg ViewBigger Deficits for Bad Tax Cuts Is a Bad DealNoah Smith | Bloomberg View columnist