MMT for Kids, Professional Economists, Pundits, and other underdeveloped frontal lobes: Austerity is Nuts!

Ok kids, for today’s Fun Friday story time, lets look out the window for a lesson in econ 101. No need for your textbooks today, unless you need to stack up the Mankiw’s to see over the window ledge. Yes Billy, your Hubbard will work ok too.

Once upon a time, there was a forest full of oak trees and hungry squirrels. You see, the oak trees didn't have to save their nuts, because only they could make them! That's because the oak trees are the monopoly issuers of acorns. They grow their own acorns, and then they let the squirrels collect them. The squirrels are users of the nuts, and so they do need to worry about how they will get them, and maintain their supply of acorns in the future. Thats why smart squirrels dont eat all the acorns at once; they bury some away for the future. But the oak tree doesn’t have to do this, because it can just create more acorns! If the oak trees dont create enough acorns to feed all the squirrels, then some of the squirrels will have to go hungry. While the best trained squirrels may be able to beat the competition and have enough for themselves, there may be some other squirrels who go hungry. This is like how job training programs are somehow supposed to lower unemployment--it doesnt matter how trained employees are if there is not enough money to hire them. So is the US government the monopoly issuer of the dollar? Does Pete Peterson shit in the woods a gold toilet?

And guess what? The ability of squirrels to save nuts is based on how many the oak trees create. If the trees create only enough nuts to feed all the squirrels in the present time, none of the squirrels will be able to save any nuts for the future!  This is just like when the federal government does not create enough dollars for the economy, us folks as a whole cannot save. Perhaps our good friend Mike Rowe should spend some more time in the woods, and less time hanging out with Glenn Beck. If a deficit hack screams in the forest, and only squirrels are around to hear him, does he make a sound? Its ok either way, because no matter what, he can get a job at the Washington Post. The end!