Politicians love to pay lip service to taming the deficit, but when they’re in power, they invariably do the opposite, cutting taxes and/or increasing spending. And yet, despite all that seeming fiscal recklessness, the U.S. economy remains strong. It makes you wonder: maybe deficits aren’t such a big deal after all. In the second of a two-part episode about our burgeoning national debt, Mark and Joe consider whether deficits matter by conducting a chronological tour of economic thinking, from classical liberalism to Keynesianism to neoliberalism to Modern Monetary Theory. Is the Left right? Is the Right wrong? We’ve got some answers. (Recorded June 30, 2023.)
Politicians love to pay lip service to taming the deficit, but when they’re in power, they invariably do the opposite, cutting taxes and/or increasing spending. And yet, despite all that seeming fiscal recklessness, the U.S. economy remains strong. It makes you wonder: maybe deficits aren’t such a big deal after all. In the second of a two-part episode about our burgeoning national debt, Mark and Joe consider whether deficits matter by conducting a chronological tour of economic thinking, from classical liberalism to Keynesianism to neoliberalism to Modern Monetary Theory. Is the Left right? Is the Right wrong? We’ve got some answers. (Recorded June 30, 2023.)