Peter Martin — The economics of a budget surplus: Something to think about before making rash promises

Left of centre political parties are nearly always faced with the charge, levelled by their right of centre opponents, of fiscal profligacy. Accusations are made that the more socially minded parties cannot be trusted with a nation’s finances. They will tend to spend too much ‘taxpayers’ money’ on what they consider to be worthy causes. This supposed tendency is often disingenuously linked to the size of the government budget deficit, which in turn is equally disingenuously linked to the size of government itself. Left unanswered this charge will cost votes. So how should they best respond to the very predictable attacks along these lines which will be only too familiar to Labour Party strategists?

MMT solution follows. Why "fiscal responsibility" is irresponsible.

Labor List
The economics of a budget surplus: Something to think about before making rash promises
Peter Martin