I don't think even the most dedicated MMT adherent would argue...

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    I don't think even the most dedicated MMT adherent would argue that it is the "answer to our Sovereign Debt".

    I did previously argue that since 1974 and the formation of the Bank of International Settlements, central banks have had an agreement not to give money directly to governments. Hence, that is why we have the peculiar arrangement, today, where governments sell bonds on to the private market (usually to private banks) and the central bank will buy that bond back (from the bank) at a higher price - easy money for the banks, is it not?

    At the time (1974) it was argued that excessive money in circulation directly caused inflation - that was the rationale for forbidding central banks from buying bonds from governments. And as I have already argued no inflation has been sighted in the last 10 years that the US, UK and Euro (and others) where there has been QE.

    The cases of Zimbabwe and Venezuela are favourite examples of hyper inflation, but have you considered the effect that destruction of the economy that occurred due land confiscation in Zimbabwe and that US economic sanctions on Venezuela (and corrupt dictator) might also have been significant? And as for Argentina "printing money", might the behaviour of various military "governments" had some influence as well? Argentina has been lumbered with a neoliberal (which of course proscribes budget surpluses) economic prescription which on the evidence would appear to have been a dismal failure. And where has the hyperinflation gone in Japan after all that money printing? No, inflation is much more nuanced that the mere printing of money.

    Some post-Keynesian economists, including MMT would suggest an economy that is under cooked could handle extra economic activity caused by the addition of a few percentage points of "printed money" into non financial business activity such as infrastructure which has an economic return. QE, on the other hand, gives money to the banks and modestly lowers interest rates, but leaves governments with the debt - unless the central bank doesn't require debt payment.



 
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