Picture I took at the Climate Protest Melbourne 2019
As we enter our first economic recession in 30 years, Angus Armour calls for a radical rethink. “We must revive our passion for bold economic reform.” [1]
What if we started by listening to Professor Stephanie Kelton’s [2] radical rethink on Modern Monetary Theory?
Kelton debunks 6 myths, the deadliest being that Government should run its budget as we run our household and corporate budgets, with a healthy balance sheet, spending in check, avoiding too much debt and deficit.
Federal government is a currency issuer. Different to state and local governments, corporations and households, which are currency users. Balanced budgets belong to the latter not the former. Radical.
So much follows from there. Federal government can spend on the things we most need. Not to infinity. But, keeping inflation and employment as the risks to manage, not surpluses and growth.
We’ve so much to do. Obsessed with growth, we’ve been in an ecological recession for over 200 years. If the ecology were the economy, we’d have addressed the ecological recession 199 years ago.
Ecological thinking isn’t radical. It’s not common despite drought, bushfires, floods, and COVID.
A radical rethink would do well to start with Modern Monetary Theory.
#ThisCentury #sustainability #systemsthinking #strategy #culture
[1] Angus Armour, Managing Director & CEO, Australian Institute of Company Directors, Radical Rethink, Company Director, July 2020
[2] Stephanie Kelton, Professor of economics and public policy at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and Bloomberg contributing columnist