MMP Blog #50: MMT Without the JG? Conclusion
Can you separate the MMT explanation of the cause of unemployment from the policy to cure it? Yes. Should you? Of course not.
Can you separate the MMT explanation of the cause of unemployment from the policy to cure it? Yes. Should you? Of course not.
Once one understands that sovereign governments do not have to force millions to suffer involuntary unemployment, then the ethically defensible position of opposing a Job Guarantee is narrowed.
The public purpose is an evolving concept. The national government must play an important role in society as it helps to identify the social purpose and to establish a social structure in which individuals and groups will work toward achieving the public purpose.
The US Dollar probably will not remain the world’s reserve currency. From the US perspective, that might be a disappointment. In the long view of history, it is inconsequential.
Applying a household “budget constraint” to government is obviously inappropriate—households are users of the currency, while government is the issuer. How could economics have become so confused?
This week we begin a new topic: functional finance. Today we will lay out Abba Lerner’s approach to policy.