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The fun thing about MMT 'research' is that there is no there there. There is no stripped-down model to illustrate the basic point of whatever they're trying to say. If you ask for one, you're told to go on a wild-goose chase. https://twitter.com/maxfawcett/status/1314381967324975104
When pressed, MMTers will say that they don't really say that public debts and deficits don't matter, but they're not at all displeased to receive support from people who haven't received this memo. 2/
When pressed, MMTers will say that in order to avoid inflation, the government can increase taxes instead of using monetary policy. (It's *always* 'increase taxes'. It's *never* 'cut spending') 3/
This means that it would be the Department of Finance's job to manage inflation. Let's reflect on how absolutely *insane* that is. 4/
A fundamental lesson of the last 50 years is that Politicians. Cannot. Be. Trusted. To. Administer. Austerity. When. It. Is. Needed.
That's why we have the system we have now: countercyclical policy is delegated to Bank of Canada technocrats. 5/
That's why we have the system we have now: countercyclical policy is delegated to Bank of Canada technocrats. 5/
And it's not a matter of just increasing taxes on the rich. If you want to shut down inflationary pressures, you have to bring the hammer down on the middle class. They're the ones doing the spending. What government will do that? 6/
And then there's the fact that so much of fiscal policy is run by the provinces. Who's going to tell them what they can and cannot do? 7/
MMT is yet another manifestation of Canada's Cultural Cringe when it comes to economic policy. MMT was developed by Americans for the US, which is basically a closed economy. Canada is not. 8/
Americans really don't care what happens to their exchange rate, because it really doesn't matter to them. Our exchange rate *matters*. A monetary expansion that crashes our exchange rate has real effects. 9/
MMT is not wrong; it's just incredibly dumb. 10/10
