The federal government (in the U.S.) is a currency producer it has a monopoly on dollar production. Currency users include ordinary people and every level of government below the federal one. Currency users are bound by the normal household ways of budgeting: expenses can’t get too far ahead of income for too long, or bad things happen. At its core, it distinguishes between currency producers and currency users. Kelton draws on Modern Monetary Theory, which is an outgrowth of Keynesianism. And if it’s broadly correct, which I think it is, then we have a much larger world of political possibility than we realize. It’s one of those books that seems counterintuitive until it suddenly clicks, after which it seems obvious. I really can’t recommend it (or time with the kids, for that matter) highly enough. This weekend involved options two and four, with a pen-in-hand reread of Stephanie Kelton’s The Deficit Myth. My go-tos usually involve silly comedies, time with the kids, an idiosyncratic palette of music or dense political/economic theory.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |