Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Stephanie Kelton wows at SF financial planner conference

The keynote speakers provided controversial opinions and research that challenge conventional views and generally accepted beliefs on the broader economy and government policies.
“The most thought-provoking session,” Pitney contends, “was the keynote of Dr. Stephanie Kelton, who introduced Modern Monetary Theory (MMT), which shows how our misplaced fears about government finance are actually costing the US economy trillions of dollars.”
Dr. Kelton, chair of the department of economics at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, presented evidence that strongly suggests that everyone in mainstream economics misunderstands how government finance interacts with the economy. She demonstrated how government finance is part of the domestic and global balance sheet.
“When federal inflows (taxes) and outflows (spending) are viewed as balance sheet items, we clearly see how everyone and everything is connected,” states Pitney. “Dr, Kelton presented a fascinating chart that illustrated the perfect symmetry of inflows and outflows among the US government, businesses, households and other countries,” he continues, “and how the outflows from one of those sectors shows up as inflows somewhere else.”
Dr. Kelton showed that government deficits are an important source of corporate profits. She pointed out, “The fiscal cliff and the sequester are 'customer killers,’ meaning that people have less money to spend and it is creating a massive drag on the economy. We need to cut taxes or increase spending now — debt is only half of the balance sheet.”
The keynote inspired Pitney to learn more and expand his understanding of MMT. He asserts, “If MMT is as robust as seems to be, this could be a game changer and has significant implications for the broader economy and our individual planning clients.”
PRWeb
Financial Coach Attends Nation’s Best Regional Financial Planning Conference
(h/t Senexx Art on FB)

9 comments:

PeterP said...

Exciting! People get it when they hear it.

Greg said...

Ive said many times, Dr Kelton is the best face for MMT.
She's smart, attractive and she gets it completely.

paul meli said...

I'm pleased that she is relating profits with deficits...something I've been harping on for a long time.

Now I'm focused on the argument that the entire economy is driven by public spending.

That will be a tough sell...approaching blasphemy...but it is what it is.

James said...

Excellent, although I wish she wouldn't say "We need to cut taxes OR increase spending now", you know very well which part of that certain people will pick up on, it's their get out clause, forget government investment in poorer people, just cut taxes.

Ideally we'd increase government spending and cut taxes, targeted correctly that would be the best solution.

paul meli said...

How about this?

"We need to cut taxes on working people or increase spending on public investment"

Clonal said...

Paul,
cutting taxes only impacts those with an income. So it does not affect people living in poverty - Actual US Poverty Twice Official Figure

Which is why Federal spending on those in poverty is absolutely essential - and to be done without the degrading experiences that the poor are subjected to when applying for benefits

paul meli said...

"Which is why Federal spending on those in poverty is absolutely essential - and to be done without the degrading experiences that the poor are subjected to when applying for benefits"

Clonal, I agree with this 100%…

Was just fishing for a slogan…and emphasizing that the LAST thing we need to do is cut taxes on the wealthy.

Giving free money to poor people helps pretty much everyone else…especially small business.

It creates customers they wouldn't have had otherwise.

Crake said...
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Crake said...
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