The Deficit Myth

Henry George School of Social Science

Spring 2024

Week 6 (May 6 2024) Discussion Questions

Chapter 7: The Deficits That Matter

• Provide a brief description of each of the social deficits which Kelton describes in this chapter:

  • Jobs

  • Savings

  • Health care

  • Education

  • Infrastructure

  • Climate

  • Democracy

Chapter 8: Building an Economy for the People

• Explain Kelton's distinction between the descriptive and prescriptive sides of Modern Money Theory.

• Explain the distinction between the discretionary and non-discretionary parts of the federal budget.

• What would it mean for Congress to start budgeting like a currency issuer rather than a currency user?

• Explain how a federal Job Guarantee would function as an automatic stabilizer.

• Kelton writes, "Budgeting through an MMT lens would have us replace the artifical budget constraint that tells us to live within our financial means with [an] inflation constraint that tells us to live within our biological and material means." (256) Discuss.