Morning Memo - 2024-02-19
Have I fallen a little behind in my morning memo? I have just a little bit, but here I go again.
I have been collecting a lot of samples of subjects about which I need to write. I don't need more subject matter, but I want to make my newsletter and blog somewhat topical. As I have expressed elsewhere, my primary goal remains to provide tools for people to think more clearly. There are enough people who speak firmly from limited authority. I don't want to join that chorus. I want to give you, my reader, a way to look at these things so you can tease out what makes sense and what does not.
In the interest of fully understanding other people's arguments, I spent about an hour and 1/2 last night (and it was painful, believe me) listening to Stephanie Shelton and a few other people with whom I'm not familiar discuss MMT.
In this discussion, like so many others I have viewed, the main speaker never bothered to give a concise definition of "money." When discussing the subject, it helps to begin the discussion with the definition of the subject matter. When discussing the somewhat controversial "theory" about money, a clear and precise definition would help the listeners. If the speakers don't give a definition, they're leaving it entirely up to the listener to use their own definition, which may or may not be accurate.
In the case of money, even when they give a definition, it tends to miss the primary point of having money. People frequently described money as a "medium of exchange." Money has a distinct characteristic that separates it from all other goods used in exchange: money acts as an INDIRECT medium of exchange.
The word "indirect" has significance in the definition of money because the receiver does not expect to consume money. The receiver, in all cases, anticipates making another exchange for yet another good. Since the receiver accepts the good in anticipation of exchanging it again the quantity does not need to change. Something the MMTers don't seem to understand.
Since I will attack the subject many times on other channels, I will bid my readers a do.
Jim Berger