An economics, investment, trading and policy blog with a focus on Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). We seek the truth, avoid the mainstream and are virulently anti-neoliberalism.
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Tuesday, April 21, 2015
It burns me up when I hear politicians say, we gotta "fix" Social Security
The proposals to "fix" Social Security all revolve around taking it away, sooner or later.
At 4.20 minutes in, did you mean to say the following?
"...and those taxes flow into the treasury's general account, and they're spent..."
But MMT mindf**k 101 informs us that taxes don't pay for anything.
Perhaps this is not the right place to bring this up, but even if taxes don't technically fund anything and are a way of regulating demand and controlling inflation, is that not the same thing but at one remove as taxes funding government spending?
I am not saying that this is a semantic distinction, but a distinction without a difference. In essence, whether you tax to fund or tax to regulate demand is irrelevant from the taxpayers point of view. What practical difference does it make?
Mike,
ReplyDeleteAt 4.20 minutes in, did you mean to say the following?
"...and those taxes flow into the treasury's general account, and they're spent..."
But MMT mindf**k 101 informs us that taxes don't pay for anything.
Perhaps this is not the right place to bring this up, but even if taxes don't technically fund anything and are a way of regulating demand and controlling inflation, is that not the same thing but at one remove as taxes funding government spending?
I am not saying that this is a semantic distinction, but a distinction without a difference. In essence, whether you tax to fund or tax to regulate demand is irrelevant from the taxpayers point of view. What practical difference does it make?
All are welcome to chime in.