MMT : can we actually debate it?
With Mark Blyth’s recent destruction of MMT as a solution for Scotland there has been yet another spark in the debate (see last blog post) The trouble is, the debate just ends up going around in circles and it doesn’t need to. At the heart of the MMT debate is the concept that a currency issuing state need never run out of cash because it can always resort to the printing press. This is in itself true. The fundamental question that then follows is: Is this a wise thing to do? Specifically is it wise to print money for public spending when that money is not matched by tax or borrowing? That should be the debate over MMT. The deflections The problem is that those disciples of the MMT religion want to expend lots of energy trying to debate matters which are not fundamental to the issue. The press The first deflection is the use of the term ‘printing press’. Here we end up discussing if the state prints money or just creates in through the Bank of England. Printing press is just a meta