Thursday, November 7, 2013

Money Is No Object ---Stephanie Kelton

I absolutely agree with Stephanie Kelton's presentation here.

However:  "No Object" and its meaning depend on problem domain.  To her the title statement of this blog entry means exactly what money is in the current monetary system.  To me, her title statement is the key structural fault in the existing monetary system that must be corrected because an object oriented system design dictates that Money must be an Object.

She works within the current monetary system to better explain its attributes and behaviors, errors in perception of how the current system works and economic solutions based on the true nature of the current system and how it operates.  Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) paints the best picture of the established current system .  It identifies problems in perceptions and proposes economic solutions within the established current monetary system.

This is the conclusion of Stephanie Kelton's historical introduction to her presentation:

5. Textbook Conclusion• Money is what money does• A veil over the real economy• Not important in its own right• Money, debt and finance don’t even fit into many economic models

7. Regardless of Origin, Today• All money exists as an IOU • The “I” is the debtor • The “U” is the creditor • IOUs are recorded in a money of account • The Australian dollar • The US dollar • The Japanese Yen • The British pound • The _____ Euro???

8. Money is Not an Object• The money of account is abstract • Like an “inch,” a “foot” or a “yard”• It cannot be seen or felt• It is represents a social debt relation• In any modern nation, the money of account is chosen by the national government

Those bullet points from her presentation are exactly what is wrong with the current system but Stephanie makes the factual and accurate statement description as the basis for going on to demonstrate among other things that the nature of government debt is not bad in itself , it is just the offset account for private savings.  An accurate and truly different view than the political view of national debt and its dysfunctional conclusions.

For everything Stephanie says about the current monetary/economic system and how it could work better if we understand it, I see a better understanding that conclude it should be thrown on the scrap heap of history along with other failed conceptual structures that did not serve us and time and intelligence had told us that revolution was required where evolutionary refinement of the given system would never get us where we wish to go.

Stephanie might even agree with me.  Maybe not.  Maybe she believes firmly in a debt based monetary system.  I nevertheless agree with her in everything she presents to educate about the nature of current system using MMT.

The core problem with the system today is the fact that money is not an object but it should be.

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