Blog-Reference
Tom Hickey features Stephanie Kelton and Warren Mosler as the two major MMT spokespersons.
Stephanie Kelton has been refuted elsewhere.#1 Here, Tom Hickey’s summary of Warren Mosler’s arguments is taken as a check-list for the detailed final refutation.
“1. The currency itself is a state monopoly.” Half-true. The central bank (in a closed economy) is the institution tasked with the creation/destruction of money according to the needs of the household sector, the business sector, and the government sector. The specifics of the task and the rights/obligations are defined by the Legitimate Sovereign.
“2. The ‘money story’ begins with a state desiring to provision itself.” False. The money story begins with the elementary production-consumption economy with the household sector receiving money wages from the business sector and the households spending their wage income by buying stuff from the business sector. Money is created out of nothing and completely destroyed in the process. There is no such thing as a fixed stock of money.#2, #3
“3. Taxation by design functions to create sellers of goods and services (unemployment) seeking the state’s currency in exchange to avoid tax penalties.” False. A Zero-Tax Economy is feasible.#4
“4. The state (or its agents) is the single supplier of that which it demands as payment of taxes.” False. The definition of central bank money as a general discharge of liabilities includes tax liabilities. As a generalized IOU central bank money discharges, first of all, the wage claims of workers against the firms that comprise the business sector.
“5. Therefore the state, from inception, necessarily spends first, after which tax payments are made …” False. The sequence, i.e. G before T vs T before T is NOT decisive. The crucial point is the balance, i.e. G greater T = deficit vs T greater G = surplus, in a period of a given length. The central bank finances G by money creation and gets T back and destroys the money. If T=G, the budget is balanced, otherwise not. If G is greater than T, the business sector makes a profit, otherwise, it makes a loss. This follows from the macroeconomic Profit Law.#5 It is completely irrelevant for profit/loss in a given period whether the government spends first and taxes later or the other way round.
“6. The public debt is nothing more than the funds spend by the state that have yet to be used for tax payment, …” True. Public debt is a tax liability of the household sector that is rolled over for an indefinite time. This liability generates interest income for the Oligarchy which is taxed from WeThePeople for an indefinite time. When the accumulated deferred taxes (= public debt) are eventually paid, the economy faces a crisis because profit turns into loss.#5 In sum: The macroeconomic Profit Law Q≡(G−T)+(I−S)+Yd implies Public Deficit = Private Profit. So, private financial wealth grows in lockstep with public debt. WeThePeople owes the public debt and the Oligarchy owns it.
Note well that Warren Mosler never mentions the word profit and the negative distributional effects of deficit-spending/money-creation on WeThePeople.#6
MMT’s Warren Mosler is a stupid/corrupt political agenda pusher.#7, #8
Egmont Kakarot-Handtke
#1 Stephanie Kelton’s legendary Plain-Sight-Ink-Trick
#2 The ultimate ― analytical ― origin of money
#3 The creation and value of money and near-monies
#4 The Third Way: Towards the happy Zero-Tax Economy
#5 Deficit-spending, public debt, and macroeconomic profit/loss
#6 MMT sucks
#7 MMT: The one deadly error/fraud of Warren Mosler
#8 MMT, Warren Mosler, and the little helpers from Wall Street and Academia
Related 'Proof of MMT's inconsistency' and 'Criminals and the monetary order' and 'The counterfeiter never runs out of money' and 'Deficit-spending/money-creation is ALWAYS a bad deal for WeThePeople' and 'MMT’s true program'.
For more on Warren Mosler see AXECquery.
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