As Carl Icahn Joins MMT Fearmongering Party, We Promise Not To Play You An Embarrassing CNBC Clip From 2016…
Anybody who's anybody feels obliged to lambast modern monetary theory in 2019.
In case you haven't noticed, a veritable parade of "household names" have fallen in line over the past six months to lampoon MMT and cast aspersions on those who champion the theory.
Virtually none of the criticism is couched in rational terms -Â MMT's detractors (outside of economic circles, anyway) generally avoid serious engagement with the theoretical underpinnings on the excuse that the idea itself isn't wor
Enquiring minds want to know, Walt. What do you think about MMT? Is the only reason to raise rates……to prevent “spiraling inflation”?
Just how much money can we safely “print”?
Inflation is a function of supply shortages relative to demand, it is not simply a function of monetary policy. If the money that the government spends into existence contributes to the increase of supply, then inflation would never become a problem in the first place. But if inflation does look like it is not under control, then tax money out of existence and raise the cost of money (i.e.reduce demand).
Keep watching and learning, like most of us. H will pontificate when he is damn well ready….
History may sooner than we think , cast some light on why the Dollar ceased to be the worlds sole reserve currency… It may in fact come down to the fact that that supreme advantage was abused by the possessor …………
It was VP Dick Cheney around 2002 who said “deficits don’t matter”. I guess they do or don’t matter depending on who says so and when they say so.
Cheney should have emended his comment (recorded in Ron Suskind’s 2004, The Price of Loyalty): “Reagan proved deficits don’t matter [provided the GOP is doing the spending].”
Longtime reader, big fan. Shocked that the real Heisenberg isn’t using his soapbox to stand up to the politicians and their printing presses. They are ready to fatten their cattle. Aren’t you going to say something?
I don’t think you understand what the goal of MMT is — it’s not for politicians to “fatten their cattle”. and in case you haven’t noticed, I’m not yet convinced anybody has sufficiently explained why it won’t work — simply crying “hyperinflation” doesn’t cut here
Heisenberg: you hit the nail on the head. During the 2016 campaign, Icahn and his son called me up for a conference call to compare our approaches. His son had been reading MMT and found it was very close to his dad’s ideas. Icahn told me to ignore whatever Trump said in the campaign; Icahn was going to be one of Trumps closest econ advisers and they were going to ramp up government spending for massive infrastructure investment, job creation, and raising wages. Carl even liked the Job Guarantee but doubted govt was competent to run it so would have the private sector do it. Well, we know how that all turned out–Icahn didn’t last long in the administration and Trump got distracted by other things. And now Icahn has to join the bandwagon, declaring that the ideas he shared with MMT back in 2016 are crazy and would cause hyperinflation. L. Randall Wray