Vis a vis rigorous analysis: There are almost no statistics in this book. Removing the claptrap the book would be about 10% as long, unless the author did the hard work of fleshing out her idea with more rigorous analysis. Unfortunately, this good idea is buried under a blizzard of handwringing left wing claptrap. The things that matter are inflation and the availability of real economic resources-goods and services-in the economy.

There is a good core idea here, summed up by the title: For an issuer of a sovereign currency such as the US dollar, the UK pound, the Japanese yen, etc., deficits do not matter. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio. MMT gives us the power to imagine a new politics and a new economy and move from a narrative of scarcity to one of opportunity.

With its important new ways of understanding money, taxes, and the critical role of deficit spending, MMT redefines how to responsibly use our resources so that we can maximize our potential as a society. MMT, as Kelton shows, shifts the terrain from narrow budgetary questions to one of broader economic and social benefits. Kelton busts through the myths that prevent us from taking action: that the federal government should budget like a household, that deficits will harm the next generation, crowd out private investment, and undermine long-term growth, and that entitlements are propelling us toward a grave fiscal crisis.

Any ambitious proposal, however, inevitably runs into the buzz saw of how to find the money to pay for it, rooted in myths about deficits that are hobbling us as a country. Stephanie Kelton's brilliant exploration of modern monetary theory (MMT) dramatically changes our understanding of how we can best deal with crucial issues ranging from poverty and inequality to creating jobs, expanding health care coverage, climate change, and building resilient infrastructure. The leading thinker and most visible public advocate of modern monetary theory - the freshest and most important idea about economics in decades - delivers a radically different, bold, new understanding for how to build a just and prosperous society.

The deficit myth book