I am seeing a lot of posts of the "if billionaires paid taxes, we could ..." I agree with the sentiment, billionaires should be taxed WAAAAY more than they are, but let's be clear that this is not what prevents anything. I have resisted the urge to reply guy when I see this but let me post this.
As I learn about MMT I have come to agree with its tenets. The US government can afford to pay anything in US dollars. They are not waiting to collect receipts from taxes in order to spend. See the Iran war. They started spending $1B/day because they wanted to. The act of spending is in fact what creates money in the first place.
Billionaires should have the fuck taxed out of them to:
- Reduce the gravity well they create in society as they buy legislation and politicians to create their end goal of being even more grossly wealthy
- Lessen the supply of dollars for inflation purposes
Anytime the government screams that anything is too expensive, it is bullshit. It means they don't want to do it and are using that as a fig leaf. MMT doesn't magically create resources, but it does magically create dollars or pounds or yen. If there is human capital and natural resources available, a thing can be done. The US government cannot run out of dollars for the same reason that Delta airlines cannot run out of frequent flier miles.
So I agree with everyone's posts about wanting the rich to pay more tax and ceasing to spend money to wage war in Iran. I don't agree with the conclusion "... then we could do X". We could do X today with the resources we have if those pulling the governmental strings wanted to. We can do that with or without increased tax receipts, with or without war being waged. It's easier without those things but it is always possible. Don't fall for the false dichotomy.
MMT podcast is an accessible way in to the subject
https://pileusmmt.libsyn.com/ as is Stephanie Kelton's book THE DEFICIT MYTH.
The MMT Podcast offers economic analysis on current issues from a Modern Monetary Theory perspective. Aimed at anyone who has ever felt lost in the jargon used by mainstream economics commentators. We believe economics is for everyone. You can help sustain this podcast via Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/MMTpodcast
Recent conversations I've had regarding #PublicBanking, #ModernMonetaryTheory #MMT, and #LandValueTaxation #LVT in #Vermont #VT have again shown how little knowledge and understanding there is among the electorate of not only these particular concepts, but of how economies actually function.
People approach these subjects with deep skepticism, because they run counterintuitive to received "wisdom".
I often feel like Galileo attempting to prove the fact that the Earth revolves around the Sun.
Taxes categorically do not "pay for" government, at least, not on the level of the government that issues the currency. #ModernMonetaryTheory #MMT demonstrates this ably. The federal government *must* first spend the currency into existence, in order for taxes to be paid.
However, for the state and municipal governments in the US, since they cannot spend more currency into existence, they are forced to tax first, then spend.
#PublicBanking would allow them to get around that limitation.
We can argue that it's a good thing that we tax more now to account for certain public goods. I am not arguing that taxes should be lower, only that the structure of our #taxation system is dysfunctional, because of the structure of our political system.
In a modern economy, taxes have two and only two legitimate purposes and functions: to stabilize and regulate the value of the #currency, and to redistribute wealth that unjustly accrues to the owners of economic monopoly privileges. #MMT
A WEEK ago, on March 5, more than 50,000 German school students went on strike. In more than 130 cities the strikes — organised by a coalition, School Strikes Against Conscription, including the Green Youth, the communist SDAJ (Socialist German Working Youth), Jusos Young Socialists, the Falken and several trade union youth organisations — filled the streets with protesters against the war preparations of the German government. It followed an earlier school strike last year.
Japan Pop News
🅱🅸🅶🅾🆁🆁🅴.🅾🆁🅶
facebita
Dave Slusher - Tech Stuff
Gemma Seymour
&2i
Green Christian