The Deficit Myth
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4.0 • 64 Ratings
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- $19.99
Publisher Description
A New York Times Bestseller
A “clear and vigorously written book” (Foreign Affairs), from the leading thinker of modern monetary theory, that delivers a bold new understanding for how to build a prosperous society
Stephanie Kelton's brilliant exploration of modern monetary theory (MMT) dramatically changes our understanding of how we can best deal with crucial issues ranging from poverty and inequality to creating jobs, expanding health care coverage, climate change, and building resilient infrastructure. Any ambitious proposal, however, inevitably runs into the buzz saw of how to find the money to pay for it, rooted in myths about deficits that are hobbling us as a country.
Kelton busts through the myths that prevent us from taking action: that the federal government should budget like a household, that deficits will harm the next generation, crowd out private investment, and undermine long-term growth, and that entitlements are propelling us toward a grave fiscal crisis.
MMT, as Kelton shows, shifts the terrain from narrow budgetary questions to one of broader economic and social benefits. With its important new ways of understanding money, taxes, and the critical role of deficit spending, MMT redefines how to responsibly use our resources so that we can maximize our potential as a society. MMT gives us the power to imagine a new politics and a new economy and move from a narrative of scarcity to one of opportunity.
Customer Reviews
Revealing
Reveals the truth about how money works
Political sophistry
I was expecting to find some real economic argument to support modern monetary theory here. As a reader and economic student I am very open minded though I consider myself a liberal/libertarian. What I found here was a lot of beautiful artful language masquerading as economics. The book was written actually to appeal to the emotions of minority groups and and the popular movement.
The part of the book that strike me is that the author is speaking about The federal government being able to print money and that people must use this form of money because the government says so. In essence I find the book to be highly supportive of a totalitarian and highly planned society. It is also striking that implicit in the argument is that the citizenry having to use government money because the government says so is the fact that the government will take away your freedom if you choose not to parlay with its business.
I have no doubt that this kind of language is appealing to the popular culture. And this is why it will gain some traction. It is always wise to know that, popular economic Theories and concepts will always gain grounds over sound economic concepts because sound economic concepts requires logic and deep thinking to follow the logic of sound economic principles, The former Does not. These kinds of popular economic theories are couched in an emotional appeal.
The book did not go into some of the major concerns that really cause some of the problems that we have today. It also failed to properly distinguish between the private and public sector. It’s almost as if the writer is explaining to us that there’s no difference. And that the activities in one can easily be fused and coincided with the other.
I also found it quite interesting how the author never Actually mentioned some of the great economist of years gone by, And try to directly refute their economic logic. This goes to prove that the author was not trying to really refute real economic principles and to replaced them with other good clean economic principles. But most of the language of the book was really geared around the emotional of the popular movement whether on the left, center, right or progressive.
If one is looking for real understanding of what modern monetary theory is all about, from A true economic perspective, this is not the book for you. I am also afraid that there is no such real economic perspective related to this theory.
One sided take
It took 10 hrs to drive one point - more deficit means more money for people...true but truth is more complicated. She did not cover the limitations of her hypothesis. It's sad that many economists just take one factor in economy and want to explain everything with it. My initial thought was wow... but it just dragged on...