Talking Default with NPR and Bloomberg TV
The debt limit is destructive, duplicative, and dumb. That was the title of a post I wrote a few days after the US hit this self-imposed anachronism back in January. Since then, I’ve done countless interviews about the state of play in the fight to raise the “debt” ceiling in time to avoid an unprecedented and catastrophic default.
Today, I will do two more interviews on the topic. The first will air live on NPR at 11am ET. This should be a good one, because we have the full hour to explore the issue, and they’re explicitly promoting the MMT lens. Other guests include Wally Adeyemo, US Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, Shai Akabas, Director of Economic Policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center, and Peggy Collins, Washington Bureau Chief for Bloomberg.
The second interview is with Bloomberg TV Asia. It’s a global program, however the segment will be short (5-7 minutes). It will air at 6:30 pm ET. The world is watching, and it is an utter embarrassment for the United States of America to be making headlines (again) over a potential default.
I’ll reflect on both interviews in a longer post tomorrow.
As a student of comparative religion, I see MMT as a sort of esoteric teaching, i.e. that which is reserved for a few qualified aspirants vs the exoteric teachings which are for the entire religious community. An example would be Hesychasm in Orthodox Christianity vs the teachings for the entire community of Orthodoxy. When MMT is spoken of publicly, it strikes the "masses" as heresy. I suspect many Congressmen and other public officials understand MMT, and have for a long time, but chose not to talk about it publicly, for fear of appearing foolish. E.g., Rep. Wright Patman of Texas and Ben Bernanke (drop money from helicopters) hesitated to speak publicly of it, because it sounds so strange. Some Sufi sages talked publicly about the esoteric teachings and were crucified for it (Al-Hallaj). It is difficult to understand the economics of a sovereign government that issues fiat currency, since it's so different from that of individuals and organizations without that ability. Even those public officials who do understand find it easier and politically safer to pretend they don't. I appreciate you are trying to educate the general public, and think it can be done. But it's not easy as long as those who already understand choose to remain silent about it.
Thanks for your excellent participation on the NPR panel today. I sent the following email to NPR for the panel.
15 May 2023
To: NPR panel
From: Dick Swartley, Jacksonville FL
What am I missing here?
In reality, there is no debt limit crisis. There will be no X date, when the U.S. government runs out of money to pay its obligations. The U.S. government can never run out of money. The U.S. government has the unique and exclusive power to issue U.S. dollars under the Constitution to pay its bills. "Uncle Sam can always pay!" “There’s nothing to prevent the federal government from creating as much money as it wants and paying it to someone.” Alan Greenspan. The Deficit Myth, Stephanie Kelton. Uncle Sam does not have to borrow (issue Treasury notes and bills) to cover a deficit. No law or anything else requires it. So, pay all debts and expenditures as law and the Constitution require, funded by issuing currency (credits to Fed reserve accounts) for payments as usual. The checks will clear, as usual. Choose not to borrow to cover a deficit, and avoid exceeding a stupid debt limit. Keep calm & carry on.