Modern Monetary Theory - MMT

What is MMT and how could it completely change your perception of life in a nation with a sovereign fiat currency?

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MMT - What is it anyway??
"I've heard it called the Magic Money Tree"
"If we just keep printing money, we'll devalue the dollar!"
"Printing money will cause inflation!"
"OhEmGee the National Debt!!"

We've all heard loads of rumors...now it's time to get the truth!

Use the arrows or swipe through the slides to learn more.
Modern Monetary Theory or MMT
MMT is just a description of how sovereign fiat, floating exchange rate currencies like the US dollar actually work. MMT helps us move past the outdated gold-standard thinking that hasn't been right for decades.

It's not something to implement someday, it is exactly how our money works TODAY!!
Sovereign currency issuers...
Many governments issue their own currency. The sovereign issuer of a nation’s currency is nothing like the users of its currency - such as households, businesses, or state and local governments.

The currency issuer is not constrained to balanced budgeting in the same way as a currency user.
Government Solvency
Sovereign governments can never run out of the currency they issue.

No matter what politicians or talking heads on TV say, when a country issues its own sovereign currency, it can never run out.

That would be like the scorekeeper in baseball running out of points! Crazy, right?
Taxes and Federal Spending
Federal taxes are not collected in order for the government to spend later. They are actually deleted out of existence!

As a matter of fact, in order for us to pay taxes in the first place, the government, the CURRENCY ISSUER, has to create (or spend into existence) the money. Then, we CURRENCY USERS have to find a way to get some money to pay our taxes.
The National Debt
It is not possible for a currency issuer to go broke.

Most governments, most of the time, will run fiscal deficits. This is not a matter of concern, and is indeed a good thing, as it means most private sectors will be able to run the financial surpluses they wish to add to their net savings.

The government’s deficit is our surplus – we should be glad all that money hasn’t been taxed out of the economy!
Where Do I Learn More?
Look through our collection of articles below to learn more! They are conveniently categorized and there are plenty of resources from MMT Beginner to Macroeconomics Expert level.
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Browse our MMT focused articles and filter them using the tabs at the top to find a specific topic.

Browse our MMT focused articles and filter them using the dropdown tab at the top to find a specific topic.

  • All Articles
  • Federal Reserve
  • Hyperinflation
  • Inflation
  • Job Guarantee
  • MMT 101
  • MMT Academics
  • MMT Rebuttal
  • National Debt
  • Social Security
  • Taxation
All Articles
  • All Articles
  • Federal Reserve
  • Hyperinflation
  • Inflation
  • Job Guarantee
  • MMT 101
  • MMT Academics
  • MMT Rebuttal
  • National Debt
  • Social Security
  • Taxation

“Liberal” Economists Cheered the New Democrats’ Deregulation of Finance

Hillary and Bill Clinton and Paul Krugman have pivoted in response to Bernie Sanders’ series of electoral wins and are racing hard right on finance and crime.

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3 stooges discussing the national debt

“Debt” Ceilings for Dummies

Beautifully simple are a sovereign nation’s sectoral balances. They readily demonstrate that the government’s negative is the public’s positive, and vice versa.

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Yes, We Need to Start Taxing the Rich More: Here’s Why

Higher taxes on the rich are a means by which to slow the process of the accumulation of wealth. By slowing the process of accumulated wealth, higher top marginal taxes increase income equality.

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Why the New Deal Became the No Deal

The opening photo montage [on the Real Progressives home page] seems to be outlining an over-arching story about why American progressivism needs to make a …

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Why Modern Monetary Theory is a Serious Idea for a Serious Time: A Response to James Pethokoukis

MMT is now being criticized by economic pundits, particularly from conservative think tanks. This commentary is a rebuttal to one such article.

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cheering crowd

Why MMT Progressivism is the Real Populism

Today’s “populists,”—both right and left—appear to believe that virtually anything the U.S. federal government does is an oppression of individual liberty, private rights and local …

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Why Government Spending Can’t Turn the U.S. Into Venezuela

When poor countries fall prey to inflation, it’s not because they’re “too socialist.” The ris­ing pop­u­lar­i­ty of mod­ern mon­e­tary the­o­ry (MMT) has inevitably brought mis­con­cep­tions.

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A full port

Why America’s “Shipping Crisis” Will Not End

A first-person narrative of a truck driver with 20 years of experience of why nothing is going to change in the shipping industry.

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country club

Why America is Not a Country Club

and why we should look to our board of directors to straighten it out.

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The back of a dollar bill

White Paper: A National Investment Authority

Robert C. Hockett and Saule T. Omarova propose in the white paper listed below that the United States government create a ‘National Investment Authority’ as …

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White Paper: Modern Monetary Theory (MMT)

The purpose of this white paper is to publicly present the fundamentals of MMT.

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travel bus journey learn mmt

Where to Start Learning About MMT

Have you recently discovered MMT or Modern Monetary Theory and want to learn more but aren’t sure where to start? Well, start at the beginning, of course!

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Memes for Sharing

Why we need to debunk the 'deficit myth' - BBC REEL

Government spending is increasing at an unprecedented rate to deal with the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Many people worry this could burden future generations.

However, economist Stephanie Kelton, author of The Deficit Myth, argues that we need to rethink our attitudes towards government spending.

Could Modern Monetary Theory help us navigate our way out of this crisis – and even help build a fairer economy?

Producer: Dan John
Animation: Jacqueline Nixon

(Republished with permission from the BBC)

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Modern Monetary Theory and Economic Justice

Economic Justice

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Environmental & Ecological Justice

Modern Monetary Theory and Peace with Justice

Peace with Justice

Modern Monetary Theory and Equality with Justice

Equality with Justice

Modern Monetary Theory and Democracy

Democracy

Modern Monetary Theory - Health and Wellbeing

Health and Wellbeing

Technology & Innovation - Modern Monetary Theory

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