January 12, 2018

Are MMTers stupid or corrupt or both?

Comment on Stephanie Kelton and Randall Wray on ‘Answers from the MMTers’

Blog-Reference

MMTers are beyond any doubt stupid, more specifically, scientifically incompetent. Put bluntly, they do not even get the elementary mathematics of national accounting right. For the full-spectrum refutation see Down with idiocy! and cross-references MMT.

The corruption of MMTers consists in the violation of scientific standards. Firstly, they pretend to fight for the benefit of the ninety-nine-percenters but in fact promote the cause of the one-percenters, see MMT = proto-scientific garbage + deception of the 99-percenters

Secondly, MMTers affirm open discussion but block refutation, opposition, and questioning on their blogs/accounts.* Here are some recent  examples of blocking (Source Twitter, see captations)
















The key message of MMT is that deficit spending solves almost all economic problems and government debt does not matter. Because it holds Public Deficit = Private Profit, MMTers are ― intentionally or unintentionally does not matter ― agenda-pusher for the one-percenters.* Public debt matters enormously for the distribution of income and financial wealth.

Summary: With few exceptions, economists are either not aware of scientific standards or ignore/violate them. There is not much difference with regard to scientific competence respectively lack thereof between Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy.

Egmont Kakarot-Handtke

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* Of course, propaganda, manipulation, and disinformation are not restricted to the proponents of MMT but widespread among both orthodox and heterodox economists. After all, economics started as Political Economy and is a cargo cult science since Adam Smith/Karl Marx. Which blogs promote serious research/discussion and which are mere propaganda outlets can only be found out by testing, that is, by submitting well-argued posts. From concrete experience over a longer time span follows this random selection of blogs that have blocked/deleted/manipulated challenging posts. If this not yet independently double-checked list contains errors/omissions a notification is welcome (handtke@axec.de).


Note that the blog owner is entitled to reject submissions for whatever reason. There is nothing illegal in selecting the content of one’s own blog. What is at issue is the violation of well-established and well-known scientific standards. Inviting discussion and then censoring critique/refutation is clearly against the idea of scientific discourse.

There are recurring publications of Top 10/100 blogs which, however, use popularity/ prestige as main criteria and NOT genuine scientific quality. Whether blogs are manipulated is never asked or tested. So, in effect, Top 10/100 charts protect/promote ― intentionally/unintentionally does not matter ― fraudulent blogs.*

Blogs with a perfect track record of non-blocking/non-manipulation over a considerable time span have been