[mhuffman]

My education is in economics and finance. I just happen to have also programmed for a long, long time. The first thing I would say is that economics is as slippery as nearly any other social science. So no one really knows what will and will not work in macroeconomics because even when they try there could be many convoluting factors to make a reasonable assessment of what actually happened.

>Personally I find the arguments of MMT to be strong. This forum has charactered the theory as an excuse for profligate spending, however, the actual proponents simply state that budget deficit are ok so long as inflation is under control. Therefore, the theory would posit that the actual resolution to this would be to shrink the deficit spend in order to properly tame inflation.

My problem with MMT is the same problem I have with all political economic schemes in the US ... it goes to those that already have it. We already know one thing that does seem to work in a lot of places -- if you have a prosperous middle class, your economy starts booming for everyone! This makes plenty of sense. If wealthy people get money they buy financial or hard assets. If anyone else gets money they tend to (or have to) spend it. It is that churn of money between people that makes an economy really work out. I fear that MMT would just be a debit card for the wealthy with a veneer of helping the middle class or poor. We got a bit of an example with the Covid loans and hand outs. Nearly all of that money ended up in the hands of the rich ... even the money that was given directly to the poor, it just took a few months.

[giardini]

mhuffman says >"My problem with MMT is the same problem I have with all political economic schemes in the US"<

With "...all political economic schemes..."?

Then obviously the problem is not with MMT but with something else. Are are suggesting that the rich are the problem? Are you also suggesting that the elimination of the rich is the solution?

In either case please clearly state so. You might also suggest how to eliminate the rich and thereby achieve a better world.

[mhuffman]

>Then obviously the problem is not with MMT but with something else.

Correct, I clearly stated what I thought it was.

>Are are suggesting that the rich are the problem?

Not at all! I am claiming that the govt. officials that have their hands on the ability to disperse "free" money are very easily swayed by lobbyists and influence from those with lots of money or power.

>Are you also suggesting that the elimination of the rich is the solution?

Not at all! I am saying that the rich already have money so there is no need to give the bulk of any new created money to them.

>In either case please clearly state so.

I hope the above is clear enough, if not, just let me know. I can go on about this in great depth!

>You might also suggest how to eliminate the rich and thereby achieve a better world.

I would not and never have suggested any such thing. This is your mis-reading of something I wrote, or your misunderstanding, or (hopefully not) you being willfully disingenuous. In fact, from some perspectives, I might be considered rich!