I had a fun thought the other day: Why is it that Keynesian shills like Paul Krugman usually don’t like Modern Monetary Theory?
After all, both of them promote the same irresponsible and destructive policies of massive government spending and interference with the market…
Very quick post here, but as a part of Mises University, the great Bob Murphy and Jonathan Newman did a fantastic talk about Modern Monetary Theory and some of the sticking points people walk into when they try to argue against it.
At the end of the talk, Dr. Newman mentions the book “The Theory of Idle Resources” by William H. Hutt. What he didn’t say is that the whole book is available free at the Mises Institute website.
Get your copy here!
Breaking down the fallacies and dangerous conclusions of MMT is one of the best things you can do today!
I am pleased to say that the Mises Institute has published another one of my essays! This time, it’s an essay that organizes and crystallizes my thoughts about Modern Monetary Theory, specifically the negative effects of moving goods from the private sphere to the public sphere.
Find it at the Mises Institute website here.
I’ve been reading a bit about Modern Monetary Theory lately, and one argument I’ve seen a few times is that inflation and taxation are merely methods to transfer goods from the “private sphere” to the “public sphere.”
Check out my latest at the Mises Wire. It’s about how the Modern Monetary Theory clowns use something like the Motte and Bailey fallacy to gain influence with politicians and feed them really bad ideas. The negative consequences of those ideas are well known to MMTers, but they can omit them and pretend they’re “unintended.”
Here’s a little bonus bit that I wrote about it:
My focus was how MMT’s use of odd definitions, convenient tautologies, and strategic vagueness leads to politicians thinking they be more aggressive parasites without negative consequences.
Court intellectuals remain so by justifying the actions of their state masters. MMT is just another place for would-be court intellectuals to do this. It’s as easy as omitting secondary consequences (“unintended” consequences) from their writing.
The modern capital structure is vast and complex but can quickly and easily be destroyed by an overzealous state. The USSR’s policies turned Ukraine from a breadbasket into a valley of death in just a few years, and it can happen again.
Good economists stand in the way of idiots demanding our seed corn. Bad economists cheer the thugs on. They omit vital caveats and let the state’s greed take its course.