Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/05/03/watch-an-excruciating-interview-where-bidens-top-economic-advisor-rambles-incoherently-when-asked-a-simple-question.html
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I believe he struggles because the answer is one that no one in govt. should admit to. It’s a bit involved so it’s best to look it up.
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The documentary may well make some excellent points but I’m reflexively skeptical of any economic critique promoted by cryptocurrency enthusiasts…
“How crazy is it that the government makes money out of thin air?”, says the Bitcoiner.
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Yeah… I’m afraid this is more likely what you get when (A) the question is covered in Econ 101, (B) the interviewee is not a teacher, (C) the interviewee can tell the querent has an agenda, but it’s impossible to tell what it is because it’s apparently incoherent, and (D) the querent is just fine with presenting totally raw responses to make the interviewee look stupid.
In this case, among other things, government bonds are also used to help manage the money supply. What that is and how they do it is easy to explain… over the course of Introduction to Macroeconomics, available at your local college or smarty-pants high school. Doing it in a sound bite, though, requires preparation.
(For folks who really want to know the answer: I’ve found Khan Academy useful before–brushed me up on some first-year calculus stuff I never did get when I was a youth–but I haven’t watched Macroeconomics | Economics | Khan Academy personally. I watched Timothy Taylor’s series back in the day, The Great Courses , but those are 20 years old at this point.)
(EDIT: misremembered last name, had to move an apostrophe. EDIT2: somehow managed to confuse “interviewee” with “querent”; fixed.)
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Oh ffs. First boing boing gets coated in crappy AI images and now they’re quietly schilling for Bitcoin?
What the hell is going on over there?
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If the US prints money, the money supply goes up and the value of the money goes down (i.e., inflation).
Borrowing gets the money back into the treasury but without affecting the underlying value of the money.
Maybe (OK, definitely) oversimplified, but I’m sticking with it.
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… not a good sign when the “answer” depends on somebody’s agenda, and we can’t hear it until after everybody’s loyalties are established 
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Don’t forget one of the other foundations of MMT, taxing money out of existence.
But the interviewer isn’t a bitcoiner. She’s a leading economist who is a proponent and expert in MMT. The cryptoboyz are all up in arms against it.
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Hey, they don’t just conjure Bitcoin out of nothing. Every one represents an amount of energy someone used up, so you can’t create money without destroying something. This is an improvement for reasons.
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@frauenfelder, you should use the original content on Twitter instead of the second or third copy on Reddit. Here’s a link to the original tweet: https://twitter.com/FindingMoneyDoc/status/1786050601236779078
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one of the wilder things of modern capitalism to me is that the banks can also print money. not real notes, but they can issue new debt… which seems effectively the same thing.
we live in a weird world
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It’s almost like rather than a single entity, the authors here at BB are a mixed group of people who embrace various viewpoints about the world… but NAH, that can’t possible be the case, could it?
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Well, sort of? The querent’s agenda is evangelizing MMT, and she’s an expert at it. But it’s less engaging to interview a mirror, so she’s interviewing another expert on MMT. He’s just not great at articulating it.
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I think MMT took a hit when inflation went up to 8% in 2022. Turns out there is a cost to printing free money and dropping it from helicopters.
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As best I understand MMT, the problem comes specifically from the part where you drop it from the helicopters. You’re meant to spend money on activity that creates real material value, so the money supply doesn’t outpace the underlying value of the economy. But, you know, socialism is when the government does stuff, freedom is when the government gives handouts to the capitalist class for doing nothing, better to devalue currency than do a socialism.
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So don’t look at the profiteering behind the curtain?
Nah. Those of us living in the reality-based world know that 53% of the inflation over the past couple of years is due to price gouging by the world’s largest corporations:
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you should use the original content on Twitter
There is also a link to the Youtube trailer, which in turn has a link to the website for those interested. I think the last thing that BB needs is encouragement to link to Twitter more. Let that dumpster fire burn out.
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Yeah, good point.
Still, at least BB should try using the first Reddit post, instead of one of the subsequent copies.
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Linking the instantly available 3rd copy is the new authenticity. You’ll be accused of thinking through your response to a question if you pause to check references and so on.
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I believe they’re trying to avoid xitter links.
