Selected in the top 100 Economics Sites

Follow me on Twitter

Saturday, September 17, 2016

Start it at minute 33:00 for a symposium preview.

http://www.wtibfm.com/single-post/2016/09/13/Watch-Talk-of-the-Town-91216

1 comment:

Jim Gaddis said...

Dr. Parker,
I am curious to know your opinion of Modern Monetary Theory as espoused by the works of economists Randall Wray, Stephanie Kelton, Bill Mitchell, Michael Hudson, and others and reiterated in the books of Frank Newman, Warren Mosler, Edward Delzio, Rodger Malcolm Mitchell and others. Do you acknowkedge any of the following premises to be true?

1. Constraints on the US monetary system, except for the remote possibility of inflation, are purely self-imposed (i.e. debt ceiling, required Treasuries sales in the deficit amounts, Treasury must spend from the general account, Fed may not directly increment the general account, etc).

2. Federal spending creates US dollars.

3. Federal taxing destroys US dollars.

4. The federal "debt" is actually a private sector asset, a safe form of investment and savings.

5. The federal debt matches, to the penny, aggregate non-federal net savings.

6. The federal debt is not a threat, but rather a benefit to our grandchildren. It is an asset they will inherit, not a liability they must oay for.

7. Federal deficit spending is the source of all private sector net positive aggregate financial assets. It's where our dollars come from.

8. Federal deficits are private sector surpluses. Federal surpluses are private sector deficits.

Modern Monetary Theory, in my estimation, more accurately reflects the reality of the US monetary system in the post gold-standard era than does more classical, or neoliberal descriptions of the likes of Friedman, Hayek, Mises, and their cohorts. I am guessing, based on what I have heard and read of your economic stances, that you probably disagree. Still, I would aporeciate your response.

Thanks.

Jim Gaddis (BA, Econ, NC State U, '73)
Grifton, NC
jimg320@gmail.com