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This 2017 interview features a younger Steve Grumbine speaking with a younger-still Brad Voracek. Brad was in the first graduating class of the masters’ program at the Levy Economics Institute of Bard College. His real-world experience as a teacher and mentor in Arizona is vastly different from Steve’s, a father of nine in Pennsylvania, who has had to cope with the medical challenges and expenses faced by his late father — and now, his own.
It’s refreshing to hear a young person explain how MMT makes sense based on his own observations and point of view. Rather than engaging in arguments about politics and economics, Brad tells us that he approaches each issue with simple questions: what is our purpose/what do we want? In his view, rather than battling over a basic income, let’s determine how to meet people’s basic needs — after all, we already know how to pay for it.
Steve and Brad take the discussion of a job guarantee away from the usual talk of a transitional buffer stock of labor and delve instead into a broader range of human values. In redefining work we can find a kind of fulfillment that we don’t always associate with minimum wage jobs. Whether we find that fulfillment in creative fields, caring for the vulnerable, or public service in general, the possibilities are endless.
Brad is less riled by anti-MMT cynics than some of our older colleagues. This may be because of his early exposure to the concept of sectoral balances. It boils down to basic double-entry accounting; a debit on one side is a credit on the other. It’s always a two-sided transaction between humans. A government deficit means a private surplus.
Join us for this intergenerational conversation. You might see something in a whole new light!
Brad Voracek got his master’s degree at the Levy Economics Institute of Bard College. In 2017 he worked in AmeriCorps VISTA, observing how direct job creation programs work in practice. Now he is a high school teacher at Phoenix Coding Academy and lead mentor for the robotics team.
@bradvoracek on Twitter
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This 2017 interview features a younger Steve Grumbine speaking with a younger-still Brad Voracek. Brad was in the first graduating class of the masters’ program at the Levy Economics Institute of Bard College. His real-world experience as a teacher and mentor in Arizona is vastly different from Steve’s, a father of nine in Pennsylvania, who has had to cope with the medical challenges and expenses faced by his late father — and now, his own.
It’s refreshing to hear a young person explain how MMT makes sense based on his own observations and point of view. Rather than engaging in arguments about politics and economics, Brad tells us that he approaches each issue with simple questions: what is our purpose/what do we want? In his view, rather than battling over a basic income, let’s determine how to meet people’s basic needs — after all, we already know how to pay for it.
Steve and Brad take the discussion of a job guarantee away from the usual talk of a transitional buffer stock of labor and delve instead into a broader range of human values. In redefining work we can find a kind of fulfillment that we don’t always associate with minimum wage jobs. Whether we find that fulfillment in creative fields, caring for the vulnerable, or public service in general, the possibilities are endless.
Brad is less riled by anti-MMT cynics than some of our older colleagues. This may be because of his early exposure to the concept of sectoral balances. It boils down to basic double-entry accounting; a debit on one side is a credit on the other. It’s always a two-sided transaction between humans. A government deficit means a private surplus.
Join us for this intergenerational conversation. You might see something in a whole new light!
Brad Voracek got his master’s degree at the Levy Economics Institute of Bard College. In 2017 he worked in AmeriCorps VISTA, observing how direct job creation programs work in practice. Now he is a high school teacher at Phoenix Coding Academy and lead mentor for the robotics team.
@bradvoracek on Twitter
Coming Soon
Episode 110 - Taming the Megabanks with Art Wilmarth
Episode 109 - Institutions with Linwood Tauheed
Episode 108 - Knowledge is Power with Rev. Delman Coates
Episode 107 - We Are Losing the Media War with Jordan Chariton
Episode 106 - Reform or Revolution with Danny Haiphong
Episode 105 - The Case for Scottish Independence with Kairin Van Sweeden
Episode 104 - Focus on the Family with June Carbone
Episode 103 - Anatomy of a Job Guarantee with Fadhel Kaboub
Episode 102 - The Global Scourge of Neoliberalism with Patricia Pino
Episode 101 - Beat Back Better: Organizing in 2021 with Emma Caterine
Episode 100 - Flying with Sara Nelson
Episode 99 - A Modern Debt Jubilee with Steve Keen
Episode 98 - Imminent Collapse with L. Randall Wray
Episode 97 - Solidarity with Joe Burns
Episode 96 - Treasury's Gift To The Fed with Robert Hockett
Episode 95 - The Land Value Tax with Joshua Vincent and Rich Nymoen
Episode 94 - Political Sobriety with Rohan Grey
Episode 93 - The Public Banking Act with Rohan Grey
Episode 92 - Propaganda and the Vortex of Centrism with Esha Krishnaswamy
Episode 91 - Crisis Management with Warren Mosler
Episode 90 - The MMT Sequence with Warren Mosler
Episode 89 - Juxtapositions with Bill Mitchell
Episode 88 - Debt Deflation and the Neofeudal Empire with Michael Hudson
Episode 87 - A Just Transition Through Participatory Governance with Cindy Banyai
Episode 86 - 2020 with Margaret Kimberley
Episode 85 - Shadow Banking with Robert Hockett
Episode 84 - African Sovereignty and a Global Green New Deal with Fadhel Kaboub
Episode 83 - Mutual Credit and the War on Cash with Brett Scott
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