We are doing some controversy out on The Patio this morning. We do not claim to have any particular insight into what is happening at your place, but one of the major legacy media markets had one of those bottom-screen creeping headlines crawling across the screen announcing it was a slow news day. Placing the “headline” at “the bottom” of the screen is a sneaky way to keep our attention on the non-news that is newsy. They call those lower crawling words “chyrons.”

What are they? Chyrons can be used to promote other programs, give some backstory, or get viewers involved on social media. There actually is some chyron news, we just can’t get to it because our Government is still getting set up for the last dramatic demonstration of resolve in Fiscal 2023, and the solemn passage of the budget for next year.

The money we have been spending was 2023, and that runs out at midnight on 30 September. There is some news contained in that, and this is the end of the week so there are some stories that will not have chyrons until it is almost time to head down to the Green Pig for a drink or two. That also leaves 22 days to generate the crisis that will be deemed newsworthy.

We took a trial run at that while it was still quiet this week. There is pressure building. The deficit in the proposed budget for next year is supposed to be $2 Trillion bucks. Some of us did budget stuff back in our day at the public trough. The total Federal budget was then only a little more than twice that. Can you imagine sitting at the dinner table and announcing we were going to put half of the month’s bills on the credit card and let it slide into the future?

Obviously, that approach to spending would cause some problems. But that would be solved by jumbling new problems atop other significant ones. The overall debt the one we were arguing about two months ago- the $32 Trillion- is hanging out there bold as life. Reports on Tuesday were that taxpayers were each responsible for $97,000 as our share. We are not sure exactly how that sea of debt will be retired, except the glimmer of possibility that we are not going to worry about it. Thankfully, there is a new theory tht will take care of everything. Ready? It is the Modern Monetary Theory, or “MMT.”

MMT is an alternative economic theory that insists governments with fiat currency- the printed paper they issue consisting of paper with numbers on it- can create more money just by telling their Treasuries to print more of the stuff.

The MMT term was originally coined by Australian economist Bill Mitchell just after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1990. You might consider it a sort of lamentable leakage. We were always on the other side of the question back then. You could call us proponents of “Antique Monetary Theory,” or AMT. That is the idea that you ought to be prepared to pay off the money you borrow, and that the act of borrowing itself is something that should be discussed before getting way over our heads. The MMT crowd has made their position more mainstream over the past few years, since it appears to cost nothing. Political figures like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez like that aspect of the theory, but there are some concerns.

Those of us who are inclined to support AMT think that MMT seems like an idealistic solution to growing economic problems. All of them self-inflicted. Basically, MMT is a form of late 1940s Keynesian economics with a “wacky (but fun!) theory of money creation tacked onto it.” That is the view of a fellow named Mark Kuperberg, anyway. He is an economist at Swathmore, and he claims that since the government can issue money, it can create more since it’s no longer backed by anything of actual value. Like gold or silver.
It is a little startling that we now base the wold’s lagest economy on the idea that we an just print more cash if we need it. Old School Theorists believe that MMT cannot counter our economic problems and will generate inflation and increased deficits. That already appears to be demonstrated in the staggering level of the U.S. National Debt.
So, you may have been told it is a slow news day. That is true, to an extent. We ae going to have a crisis about not being able to fund out government. We have one day over three weeks to put something together that will enable the Government to cover things like Medicare and Defense. And our pensions, of course.
The people who represent us across the Potomac assure us there is a new theory that will take care of everything. Or at least part of everything. We will be talking a lot about that, but we can let it rest over the weekend. Next week we will be told we can just roll everything together into a gigantic single bill that will provide for all our needs over the next year.
We anticipate there will be a crisis or two that might be newsworthy and not slow. And there will be nothing for which anyone is personally responsible.
It is a modern theory that some believe has no consequences. They could be right, although the chyron at the bottom of the screen has a couple question marks that could need discussion. And, do you have $97,000 bucks we could borrow? Just until the pension checks come for the first time in Fiscal 2024?

Copyright 2023 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com