Tuesday, November 19, 2019

The Problems with Modern Monetary Theory — Steve Womack

In May of this year, House Budget Committee Republicans sent a letter to Chairman John Yarmuth (D-KY) requesting a hearing on MMT. Tomorrow, the House Budget Committee is holding a hearing titled “Reexamining the Costs of Debt,” and MMT is expected to be a central theme.
The Hon. Mr. Womack neglects to say that Dick Cheney told us that President Reagan (who has been sainted by the GOP) showed that deficits don't matter. 😀 Maybe he should rethink his position.

House Budget Committee
The Problems with Modern Monetary Theory
Steve Womack, Ranking Member

3 comments:

Ralph Musgrave said...

I don't entirely blame critics of MMT for getting the impression that MMTers advocate printing money like there's no tomorrow: that's exactly the impression some leading MMTers give! Meanwhile, when challenged, those MMTers refer to some publication where it says in the small print that money creation is limited by inflation.

When saying that a recession can always be cured simply by printing and spending money, MMTers should always, always, always say that inflation places a limit to the amount of printing that can be done.

Joe said...

Kelton, from the interviews I've listened to, always makes it clear that inflation is the limit... But yeah, mmt has terrible messaging imo.

Senexx said...

It is not the material that is the problem, its the comprehension that the constraint is always the real resources. Real resources are the constraint. Inflation only invokes numbers, it doesn't invoke people, concrete, steel, etc.