#156 Dirk Ehnts: Davos, Debt Ceilings & Other Dubious Dramas

With expert guidance from economist and "MMT Essentials" author, Dr Dirk Ehnts, Patrica and Christian fill the gaps in reporting on the World Economic Forum's annual greenwashing festival in Davos, where critics of the Biden administration's kitten-weak climate bill (the Inflation Reduction Act) warn it gives *too much* assistance to green initiatives. And, as US Republican efforts are underway to cancel already-appropriated federal spending with yet another mendaciously confected debt ceiling drama, the discussion emphasises the importance of understanding the difference between your debt and the government's so-called "debt".   Please help sustain this podcast! Patrons get early access to all episodes and patron-only episodes: https://www.patreon.com/MMTpodcast   For an intro to MMT: Our first three episodes: https://www.patreon.com/posts/41742417 Episode 126 - Dirk Ehnts: How Banks Create Money: https://www.patreon.com/posts/62603318   All our episodes in chronological order: https://www.patreon.com/posts/43111643   All our episodes with Dirk Ehnts: https://www.patreon.com/posts/44467243 Dirk Ehnts' website: https://www.dirk-ehnts.de/ Dirk Ehnts on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DEhnts   Relevant to this episode: On government debt: "Some Numbers Are Big. Let Me Help You Get Over It": https://christreilly.com/2020/02/17/some-numbers-are-big-let-me-help-you-get-over-it/ For more on the interplay between commercial bank money (deposits) and central bank money (reserves), listen to our Episode 126 - Dirk Ehnts: How Banks Create Money: https://www.patreon.com/posts/62603318 For more on the Job Guarantee as buffer-stock policy to achieve superior price stability to our current system, listen to our episode 125 - Sam Levey: Monopoly, Monopsony, And What To Do About Them: https://www.patreon.com/posts/61954971 Apply for Dr Dirk Ehnts' Modern Monetary Theory and European Macroeconomics course at Maastricht University (July 31st - August 4th): https://maastricht.dreamapply.com/courses/course/183-modern-monetary-theory-and-european-macroeconomics   Quick MMT reads: Warren's Mosler's MMT white paper: http://moslereconomics.com/mmt-white-paper/ Steven Hail's quick MMT explainer: https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-modern-monetary-theory-72095 On government debt: "Some Numbers Are Big. Let Me Help You Get Over It": https://christreilly.com/2020/02/17/some-numbers-are-big-let-me-help-you-get-over-it/   For a short, non-technical, free ebook explaining MMT, download MMT founder Warren Mosler's "7 Deadly Innocent Frauds Of Economic Policy" here: http://moslereconomics.com/wp-content/powerpoints/7DIF.pdf   Order the Gower Initiative's "Modern Monetary Theory - Key Insights, Leading Thinkers" (2023) here: https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/modern-monetary-theory-9781802208085.html   Episodes on monetary operations: Episode 20 - Warren Mosler: The MMT Money Story (part 1): https://www.patreon.com/posts/28004824 Episode 126 - Dirk Ehnts: How Banks Create Money: https://www.patreon.com/posts/62603318 Episode 13 - Steven Hail: Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Banking, But Were Afraid To Ask: https://www.patreon.com/posts/41790887 Episode 43 - Sam Levey: Understanding Endogenous Money: https://www.patreon.com/posts/35073683 Episode 84 - Andrew Berkeley, Richard Tye & Neil Wilson: An Accounting Model Of The UK Exchequer (Part 1): https://www.patreon.com/posts/46352183 Episode 86 - Andrew Berkeley, Richard Tye & Neil Wilson: An Accounting Model Of The UK Exchequer (Part 2): https://www.patreon.com/posts/46865929    Episodes on inflation: Episode 7: Steven Hail: Inflation, Price Shocks and Other Misunderstandings: https://www.patreon.com/posts/41780508 Episode 65 - Phil Armstrong: Understanding Inflation: https://www.patreon.com/posts/40672678 Episode 104 - John T Harvey: Inflation, Stagflation & Healing The Nation: https://www.patreon.com/posts/52207835 Episode 123 - Warren Mosler: Understanding The Price Level And Inflation: https://www.patreon.com/posts/59856379 Episode 128 - L. Randall Wray & Yeva Nersisyan: What's Causing Accelerating Inflation? Pandemic Or Policy Response?: https://www.patreon.com/posts/63776558   More on government bonds (and "vigilantes"): Episode 30 - Steven Hail: Understanding Government Bonds (Part 1):https://www.patreon.com/posts/29621245 Episode 31 - Steven Hail: Understanding Government Bonds (Part 2): https://www.patreon.com/posts/29829500 Episode 143 - Paul Sheard: What Is Quantitative Easing?: https://www.patreon.com/posts/71589989?pr=true Episode 147 - Dirk Ehnts: Do Markets Control Our Politics?: https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-147-dirk-72906421 Episode 144 - Warren Mosler: The Natural Rate Of Interest Is Zero: https://www.patreon.com/posts/71966513 Episode 145 - John T Harvey: What Determines Currency Prices?: https://www.patreon.com/posts/72283811?pr=true   Job Guarantee episodes: Episode 4 - Fadhel Kaboub: What is the Job Guarantee?: https://www.patreon.com/posts/41742701 Episode 47 - Pavlina Tcherneva: Building Resilience - The Case For A Job Guarantee: https://www.patreon.com/posts/36034543 Episode 148 - Pavlina Tcherneva: Why The Job Guarantee Is Core To Modern Monetary Theory: https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-148-why-73211346 Pavlina Tcherneva's Job Guarantee FAQ page: https://pavlina-tcherneva.net/job-guarantee-faq/   MMT events and courses in 2023 Apply for Professor Bill Mitchell's short, free online course in Modern Monetary Theory (February 15th - March 14th) here: https://www.edx.org/course/modern-monetary-theory-economics-for-the-21st-century More information about Professor Mitchell's MMTed project (free public online courses in MMT) here: http://www.mmted.org/ Tickets to the very first Scotonomics festival (online or in-person, Dundee, Scotland 24th-26th March) are available here: https://scotonomics.scot/live-events/ Apply for Dr Dirk Ehnts' Modern Monetary Theory and European Macroeconomics course at Maastricht University (July 31st - August 4th) here: https://maastricht.dreamapply.com/courses/course/183-modern-monetary-theory-and-european-macroeconomics Details of Modern Money Lab's online graduate and postgraduate courses in MMT are here: https://modernmoneylab.org.au/   A list of MMT-informed campaigns and organisations worldwide: https://www.patreon.com/posts/47900757   We are working towards full transcripts, but in the meantime, closed captions for all episodes are available on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEp_nGVTuMfBun2wiG-c0Ew/videos   Show notes: https://www.patreon.com/posts/77672342