Author Archives: Stephanie Kelton

Here’s some fiscal insanity from Japan, where they’re trying to juice the economy with Abenomics while simultaneously promising massive austerity ahead.  I’m sure that will prove very reassuring to markets.

Here’s another heart-warmer. Bank of America  has decided it’s been paying U.S. workers too much to review mortgage and other loan documents.  So it’s off shoring those jobs.  Now workers in India will be checking off on those appraisals, etc.  It should help the “struggling” conglomerate.

Finally, The Guardian reports that Ireland has fallen back into recession “despite” its multi-billion euro austerity drive.  The fact that they use the word “despite” shows you just how far we are from collectively figuring out the obvious.

Good luck to us all.

What’s the best way to communicate the principles of MMT to an audience who doesn’t know any economics?  Can you draw out the implications of the sector balances or explain the importance of sovereign money without complex jargon?  Can you do it a way that will resonate with the average eighth grader?  Can you do it in 25 words or less?  We’ll collect the best submissions and post them next week.  Give it your best shot!

*UPDATE*  I can see that we are off to a bad start.

Identify a single MMT principle and then explain that principle in 25 words or less.  We are not asking you to explain *all* of MMT in 25 words.

“Without jargon” means that you should not use words like: “fiscal”, “reserves”, “GDP”, “debit”, “credit”, “policy space”, “bonds”, “capital”, “austerity”, “monetary policy”, etc.  You’re communicating with someone who has an eighth grade education, people!   In the USA.  Think about what that means.