Hi TOK Folks,
Here is the link to Jason Bessey's MMT presentation<https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MYpA40ZzPuWZ0Iiai7nxO80Im9V0U-d5/view?usp=sharing>. MANY THANKS to Jason for his time and knowledge. It was fascinating and I have been thinking about it quite a bit.
FWIW, here are my take home points (Disclaimer: Please note I have very limited background knowledge in economic theory, especially macro-economic modeling, so I would not take what I say here as having any epistemic authority):
First, we definitely should not be thinking about the US Debt/Deficit as being anything like a household debt/deficit.
Second, currency issuers like the US inject dollars into the economy and then remove them via taxes.
Third, a key issue is the "real-potential wealth" of the country. That is, the potential-into-actual resource flow potential that is present. This is a key concept. And crucial, as I suspect it might be the case that the US is far more wealthy than we even know what to do with. We just are not directing our wealth into the right problems to enable the maximization of human well-being. This connects to point 4.
Fourth, MMT opens up many different novel ways for how the government might direct its economic/governance power. So, re-envisioning values comes along with this idea, as well as the kinds of things government might do.
Fifth, money and value are, at least in part, what people believe it to be. There are definitely threats in conceiving of money as just marks on a paper, like someone keeping score on a football game. Or to go with that analogy, to the extent that the score keeper just starts adding or subtracting points, it violates the entire rules/spirit of the game. So there clearly is some "psychological danger" here, which likely is at least some of where the resistance is.
Sixth, the currency issuer is only one aspect of the financial/economic system. There are also private consumer exchanges, local government and international exchange rates. Clearly, the way the US Gov spends money and taxes goods/exchanges impacts these other economic/financial sectors. We did not get into this, and I suspect this is where much real complexity resides.
As this suggests, much good food for thought here. Thanks again, Jason.
Best,
Gregg
___________________________________________
Gregg Henriques, Ph.D.
Professor
Department of Graduate Psychology
216 Johnston Hall
MSC 7401
James Madison University
Harrisonburg, VA 22807
(540) 568-7857 (phone)
(540) 568-4747 (fax)
Be that which enhances dignity and well-being with integrity.
Check out the Unified Theory Of Knowledge homepage at:
https://www.unifiedtheoryofknowledge.org/
############################
To unsubscribe from the TOK-SOCIETY-L list:
write to: mailto:[log in to unmask]
or click the following link:
http://listserv.jmu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=TOK-SOCIETY-L&A=1
|
