An Austrian Critique of the New MMT Documentary

Stephanie Kelton is the star of a new documentary film touting the alleged brilliance of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). Murphy gives a comprehensive critique of the film, covering the flaws in its theory, history, and policy recommendations.

Chapters
00:00 Introduction
01:59 The MMT Argument
08:10 Who is Stephanie Kelton?
11:10 MMT's Convincing Strategy
17:36 How Kelton Came to the MMT Side
21:28 The Biggest Flaw in the MMT Argument
31:04 Non Sequiturs Snuck Into the Documentary
39:17 Kelton's Claim of Debt as a Financial Asset
57:30 Do Recessions Follow Federal Budget Surpluses?
59:55 Why Does Gov. Need to Borrow if they can just Print?
1:16:04 MMT Doesn't Understand Money
1:32:45 Conclusion

[carusorobi]

Please focus on the MMT money creation sequence. If you dont start there, you run in circles.
1. When the government spends, it creates new money to do so.
2. It choses to offer bonds as interest bearing money
3. It independenly collects taxes, closing the loop, redeeming the notes/ dollars where they die and are not used at the federal level.
All US dollars that exist in the world were printed / Digitized by the US government. Those dollars in the private sector are government debt (printed dollars not yet collected by taxes). How can it be any other way? If this sequence is not understood, you run in infinite circles where the thinking is skewed, inaccurate, and the real economy does not run at its potential. After 1.5 hours, you have run in circles and not dented the MMT arguments because you are missing the starting point. MMT is how the money system works and is irrefutible (Fed chairmen describe it). Politically, what we chose to do with it is a different question. Both sides have been using MMT since 1971 although unaware. States, municipalities, corporations, and households cannot create money. The US gov can. GE bonds are nothing like treasury bonds. GE needs to raise money because it cannot create it. The gov does not "borrow" or raise money via bonds - it pays interest on top of the money it already created- unfortunately we call it borrowing and debt. Why borrow what you have an infinite supply of? There are error errors in the description of the money system. They just present the ahaa realization wrapped up in a progressive agenda. Your confusing their agenda with an accurate description of the money system (MMT). I hope these comments are constuctive. Thanks for the video.

[troll_kin]

MMT: There are no fixed natural rules. It's all normative.
MMT: Let's enslave people.
Me: That's horrifying...
MMT (cocking gun): "We're just describing how the world works!"

[NorthernObserver]

MMT has already been refuted by the stagflation we are living through now.

It’s also highly ironic how deficit spending is fuelling massive income inequality.

It’s not a socialist policy. It’s a managerial policy.

[plnw]

29:59 US defence spending is 3.4% of GDP, the lowest it's been in a long time. This govt spending didn't affect inflation even when it was running at over 5%. He's clearly struggling to find an argument

[arofhoof]

I cannot the link of the critic of David Greager?

[travisthompson]

How do you turn "ctrl + p" into a documentary?

[Guti]

The only thing I hate about this podcast is how long he takes to make a point. Let's get to it.

[pandafox]

Just imagine if instead of holding treasuries, that capital was being used to fund productive private sector activity. Insane crowding out

[stevenmontplaisir]

So glad to be a supporter of the Mises team. Gold and silver is a chain breaker . With out real honesty in money we cannot have liberty and integrity. MMT delusions should be in the trash bin of history with one simple fact gold in relation with fiat dollars has risen by over 15, 000% in purchasing power.

[joeginorioviscalmusicvideo]

I was truly interested to hear what you had to say. But frankly, I haven’t heard anything that refuse the foundation of MMT.
Frankly, your argument had no depth and was filled with insults.

[zastorlexa]

Really helpful video. Thank you for posting.

[williambranch]

Lenin in Russia, Weimar in Germany, Stalin in Hungary, Mao in China and Mugabe in Zimbabwe ... all abolished money thru hyperinflation as a way of repudiating all debt.

[Boss-jltd]

Where's the beef? He's a fool!

[frederickmorris]

Even the youngest of children can understand that pretending that something has value and exchanging that pretence of value for something that has intrinsic value is very simply a fraud...

[Michael-vccs]

1:17:40 Yes, this is a perfect definition for slavery.
It is apparently okay if it’s done through currency rather than physical force.

[gustavojambersi]

I love how 25:16 you quoting rothbard subtly impersonating him. Good work!

[veewaha]

28:20 Murphy is making a bit of an error here in stating that it is the same effect if the government borrows money today and spends it, taxing everyone later, versus if the government taxed everyone today.

[christophorfaust]

I’ve spent the most of the last 5-years doubting MMT’s validity, and all of my adult life as a traditional debt adverse Republican. Voted for Ron Paul several times, cherished Any Rand as a spiritual guide. The only problem is that, post Nixon, we don’t live in that world.

Argue all you want that MMT is a bad thing, and get run over by it as its inherent truths prove not only viable in correcting market failures, but essential.

What so many traditional economists fail to understand, is that their education was based upon a reserve based currency, and a foundation based on scarcity. Neither which exist in the globalized marketplace today. While Trump tariffs tries to artificially recreate such marketplaces, such policies only empower the 1% at best, and even they reject living in such an isolated world.

Please do remove your heads from your collective butts and see the world as it is, before we see the Yuan as the global reserve currency… they have no problem with MMT!!!

[MrYishaiShields]

22:57 I think most MMT people could agree 80% of the time the allocation of money should be decided by the private sector AKA capitalism. Your mistake here is to think the government should have no role. When the people have chosen repesentives that have directed 20% of our gdp, which i think is a fair amount.

[baddog]

You either believe everyone has the right to wealth, or you believe only the business class has a right to wealth. That's the main argument. The gold standard only ever benefited the opulent.