MMT Is A Social Agenda – Not A Financial Solution

MMT IS A SOCIAL AGENDA

The subtitle of Stephanie Kelton’s book, The Deficit Myth, is “Modern Monetary Theory and the Birth of the People’s Economy”. The material in her book supports and encourages that theme and what it implies.

It isn’t that Ms. Kelton and others have not explained carefully how MMT can presumably work, both financially and economically; they have. The financial details have been enumerated and dissected adequately. However, the justification for implementation of MMT appears to be based on expectations of grander social programs, and how to pay for them.

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Gold vs. Silver – Absolutely No Comparison

GOLD VS. SILVER

In the five months between March and August this year, the price of silver increased from a fourteen-year low of $11.77 per ounce to a seven-year high of $29.26. That is a whopping gain of one hundred sixty-three percent.

Meanwhile, gold’s price rose from its low of $1472 per ounce to a recent high of $2061. That represents a gain of forty percent, which is certainly a handsome number. Nevertheless, silver’s performance outshone gold by a ratio of four-to-one.

However, five months doesn’t tell the whole story. For those who were and are, hopeful that this is just the beginning of silver’s day in the sun, be warned. Looking at the bigger picture historically, silver can’t hold a candle to gold.

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Fractional-Reserve Banking Is The Elephant In The Room

(Note: This article is an updated version of an original article published in 2017.  On March 15, 2020, the Federal Reserve Board reduced reserve requirement ratios to zero percent effective March 26, 2020.  The action eliminated reserve requirements for all depository institutions.)

FRACTIONAL-RESERVE BANKING

The expression “elephant in the room“…

“…an important or enormous topic, question, or controversial issue that is obvious or that everyone knows about but no one mentions or wants to discuss because it makes at least some of them uncomfortable or is personally, socially, or politically embarrassing, controversial, inflammatory, or dangerous. (source

A wordy definition, yes; but it is applicable to our topic of Fractional-Reserve Banking. After reading the rest of this article, you should be able to see just how important and enormous  Fractional-Reserve Banking is; as well as how dangerous.

Lets’s start with some history.

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A Depression For The 21st Century

A 21ST CENTURY DEPRESSION

Some are calling it the “Greater Depression” but that still makes last century’s Depression of the 1930’s the point of reference. The Great Depression of the 1930s was bad, but what we are facing now is worse.

The Depression Of The 21st Century will likely end up being the new singular event  of discussion and comparison for all financial and economic catastrophes.  Questions of how much worse and how long it will last are difficult to answer. Predictions about the type and strength of potential recovery could be premature.

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Goldman Sachs Gold; Buffett Sacks Goldman;

GOLDMAN SACHS, BUFFETT AND GOLD…

In late July, during an interview with CNBC, the chief investment officer of private wealth management at Goldman Sachs made the following statement:

“Our view is that gold is only appropriate if you have a very strong view that the U.S. dollar is going to be debased. We don’t have that view…” Sharmin Mossavar-Rahmani

Is Ms. Mossavar-Rahmani not aware that the U.S. dollar has already been debased by ninety-nine percent? And, that gold at $2000 per ounce (a one-hundred fold increase from $20 per ounce) already reflects that debasement?

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Federal Reserve vs. Judy Shelton And Gold

FEDERAL RESERVE VS. JUDY SHELTON 

Those in favor of Judy Shelton’s approval by Congress, pursuant to her nomination to the Federal Reserve Board Of Governors, should not be surprised by the torrent of criticism directed at her.

A letter published and signed by former Federal Reserve officials and staffers called on the Senate to reject her nomination, stating that “Ms. Shelton’s views are so extreme and ill-considered as to be an unnecessary distraction from the tasks at hand…”

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$10000 Gold – Or A Triple Top?

Predictions for a $10,000 gold price are based on seemingly sound fundamentals and logic; but the fundamentals are incorrect and presented in unrealistic context. Here are some things to keep in mind when you see any predictions for the price of gold.  

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Asset Price Crash Dead Ahead

An All-Asset Price Crash (AAPC) might be the next “Wow! Can you believe it?”

In the meantime, whether it be stocks, bonds, gold, or oil, investors are licking their chops and counting their profits before they are booked. And, they have reason to gloat. Let’s see what all the noise is about.

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The End of Inflation?

A current headline says “fears of currency debasement drive gold price higher”. Seems reasonable; and it is. It is also reasonable, however, that a potential end of inflation is near.

Historically, governments have been “debasing” their currencies for centuries. The debasement leads to a loss of purchasing power in the currency in use.

Since gold is original money and has proven itself to be a true store of value, then it should not be unexpected that gold’s higher price over time reflects that currency debasement.

The debasement leads to a loss of purchasing power in the currency in use.

All currencies are substitutes for ‘real money’, i.e., gold; and all governments inflate and destroy their own currencies. 

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MMT And Gold

ABOUT MMT AND GOLD 

According to MMT (Modern Monetary Theory), there are “four essential requirements that qualify a national currency as sovereign”.

Those four requirements include:

  • the National government chooses a money of account in which the currency is denominated;
  • the National government imposes obligations (taxes, fees, fines, tribute, tithes) denominated in the chosen money of account;
  • the National government issues a currency denominated in the money of account, and accepts that currency in payment of the imposed obligations; and
  • if the National government issues other obligations against itself, these are also denominated in the chosen money of account, and payable in the national government’s own currency.

We listed the above requirements and talked about ‘sovereign currencies’ in the article MMT – Variation On A Theme.

But, there is a fifth (important) requirement regarding MMT and a  National government which issues a sovereign currency. That requirement is stated quite clearly by L. Randall Wray, who is one of the leading spokespersons in behalf of MMT:

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