583: Why Modern Monetary Theory Loses to Basic Economics EVERY TIME

On today's episode, I'm joined by Jon Miltimore from FEE to talk about why modern monetary theory loses to basic economics every time.

We go over the basics of MMT—its ideas of fiat currency, how it's different from other forms of money, and why it's so popular with politicians who have no idea what they're talking about.

We also discuss how these ideas have been used to justify policies in for thousands of years—which hurt working people and make things worse for our economy long-term.

Finally, we'll cover how the MMTers' theory has been disproved in practice and how we can use basic economic principles to understand the problems with their theory.

In our discussion, we'll look at:

-Why MMT is considered neo-Keynesianism

-How an understanding of money and banking are essential to understanding modern monetary theory

-The role of inflation in MMT and its effects on real wages

-Why inflation doesn't help workers in a recession

-How monetary policy affects unemployment