The Deficit Myth
Modern Monetary Theory and the Birth of the People's Economy
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4.4 • 119 Ratings
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- $1.99
Publisher Description
A New York Times Bestseller
A bold and compelling case for modern monetary theory and how it can help us build a more prosperous society, from the leading expert on the subject.
“Conversational, fierce, relentless.” —Financial Times
Myths about deficits have long hobbled us as a country. Expanding healthcare coverage, creating new jobs, combatting climate change, building resilient infrastructure: How can we pay for it all? Leading economic thinker Stephanie Kelton shows how misguided that mindset is. Rather than asking self-defeating questions like how to pay for the crucial improvements our society needs, Kelton guides us to ask: Which deficits actually matter?
Stephanie Kelton’s brilliant exploration of modern monetary theory dramatically redefines how we can responsibly use our resources, giving us the power to move from a narrative of scarcity to one of opportunity and maximizing our potential as a society.
Customer Reviews
This is important information …
that everyone should know and think about.
I was suspicious when I heard that the Fed was raising interest rates to make sure enough people were unemployed to keep inflation down. Seemed kind of cruel and unAmerican. Now I understand the game a little better. This book really turns the focus around.
Dr Kelton should be a household name. And we need a line of Deficit Owl merch. I’d wear that t-shirt.
Government Reimagined
This is a readable book about the US deficit and how to think about it. MMT suggests the deft is not a boogie man, as long as the government can print money and inflation stays under control. I’ve heard prominent economists suggest MMT should not be taken seriously but the arguments seem silly (we’d become like Greece or Venezuela) or extremely technical (and hard to follow). There are big ideas in this book that are understandable to almost anyone and I’d like critics to address those ideas, also in ways accessible to the non experts like me. If the ideas in the book are on track then the central thesis, that the way to think about debt, taxes, borrowing etc. is first to imagine the kind of society you want — for example one in which caring for people is valued, ensuring adequate health care and education, addressing climate change, making sure anyone who wants a job has one — and then allocate the resources necessary to achieve it. No serious person could think market based capitalism would ever get us there. Any solution must involve government leadership, a lot of it. Our current politicians are not up to the task — both in terms of their understanding and their honesty and integrity. It’s past time to vote the current lot out and elect decent, smart people.
Proof is in the Pudding
And the pudding is 2020-2024, where Kelton has gotten all she wishes for, and the world has never been more unbalanced, let alone the US. The fact this garbage is taught by this woman as a professor and this developer of young minds is treasonous. And more than a bit disgusting.
And please understand she has completed one of the greatest travesties of data driven conclusions - the error of her causation/correlation between deficit drawdown and depression. Not to mention what she defines as “depression” would hardly be considered a recession.
Please don’t waste your time.