Unpacking "The Deficit Myth" by Stephanie Kelton | Modern Monetary Theory (MMT)

Video Description

Many people are worried that America is going broke, its government spending too much money. But Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) suggests that this is the wrong way to think about how fiat currencies, like the US dollar, actually work. This video is a book review and summary of The Deficit Myth by Stephanie Kelton in which she explains why the ideas of Modern Monetary Theory suggest that actually countries that issue their own currency, like the USA issuing the dollar, can afford to consistently spend a little more than they tax back, to always be in deficit, without it necessarily leading on to high levels of inflation. And, given the pressures on our economies from the metacrisis we are facing, I think this is a useful book to help better understand what are the real constraints on government spending. ▬▬ Chapters ▬▬ 00:00 - Is USA going broke? 00:54 - Household budgeting myth 04:27 - Paying back the debt 07:50 - "Green" dollars and "yellow" dollars 12:06 - Inflation and resources 14:54 - What do others think of MMT? ▬▬ Data sources ▬▬ Debt to GDP ratio ratio for USA up till 2022: From 'FRED' Federal Reserve Economic Data online data series maintained by Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GFDGDPA188S Source for latest US federal debt levels ($34 Trillion as of Feb 2024) https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/americas-finance-guide/national-debt/ US Federal deficits by year up until 2023: From 'FRED' Federal Reserve Economic Data online data series maintained by Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FYFSD US Inflation data up until 2023 From US Bureau of Labor Statistics: https://www.bls.gov/ Data obtained by picking data series: "CPI for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) 1982-84=100 (Unadjusted) - CUUR0000SA0" And the selecting to download an annual series via the form here: https://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/surveymost?bls ▬▬ Audio visual sources ▬▬ Clip of David Sacks: All-In podcast episode E131: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOUDG1FB03A&t=3775s Clip of Margaret Thatcher: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvz8tg4MVpA Clip of Ben Bernanke: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWJC__mz1Pc Clip of Paul Krugman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gyj1H-gjI8 Clip of Stephanie Kelton: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CIwS0PDs1g Clip of Dan Mitchell: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CIwS0PDs1g Song: Ship Wrek & Zookeepers - Ark [NCS Release] Music provided by NoCopyrightSounds Free Download/Stream: http://ncs.io/ark Watch: http://youtu.be/8xlDwukxjnA Song: Valence - Infinite [NCS Release] Music provided by NoCopyrightSounds Free Download/Stream: http://ncs.io/infinite Watch: http://youtu.be/QHoqD47gQG8 Additional music from Storyblocks: https://www.storyblocks.com/ Background image for title screens was created with various AI tools and GIMP.