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Comment by holymacaral | Hacker News Reader

MMT is a rationalization for unlimited spending & economic control. Do you really think AOC, Warren, Sanders actually understand the theory of MMT which they advocate (if not by name)?

The MMT theorists began with the conclusion they wanted and concocted a theory to get there. This is policy shaping theory at its finest.

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It's also such a disingenuous name – "modern" monetary theory. To the layman, it automatically reads like a new and improved understanding of Economics, when in reality it's just another theory, and not even a very mainstream one at that.

It started as a joke. It's called "modern" because it only applies to the past 4000 years.

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2018/10/randy-wray-modern-mo...

That might very well be an interesting bit of trivia but it doesn't make it less disingenuous

Based on the names that you supplied, I'm guessing that you assume that MMT is a left-wing idea. I think the bigger reason to pay attention to it is because it has support on both sides of the American political spectrum. Read The Macro Tourist's post [1] for a pragmatic trader's take on the matter. He also suggests that Trump is already an implicit proponent of MMT, what with his increased spending and decreased tax revenue.

[1] https://www.themacrotourist.com/posts/2019/01/23/mmt/

"implicit proponent" is an oxymoron.

I get what you mean based on the dictionary definitions of implicit and proponent. What I meant was that his actions are aligned with MMT theory, even though he probably doesn't explicitly subscribe to the theory.

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