Current discourse on the left AND the right frames national debt as something like a doomsday barometer. But that's a big smoke screen. Public debt and fiat money are a necessity of modern monetary systems and not inherently good or bad. What the debt is being used for—the qualitative issue—that's the real thing we should all be worried about.
Today I speak with Carlos García Hernández, author of Fiat Socialism. They discuss modern monetary theory, fiat money, debt, inflation, Japan, job guarantees, public deficits, national debt, and monetary sovereignty. The talk also looks at Argentina, BRICS, Marx, and the case for full employment, basic needs, and socialism without the gold standard.
Links:
Fiat Socialism at Lola Books:
https://www.lolabooks.eu/products/fiat-socialismFiat Socialism at Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Fiat-Socialism-Achieving-socialism-monetary-ebook/dp/B0CHWM4KNCNeutrality Studies substack:
https://pascallottaz.substack.com(Opt in for Academic Section from your profile settings:
https://pascallottaz.substack.com/s/academic)Merch:
https://neutralitystudies-shop.fourthwall.comDonation:
https://neutralitystudies.com/donateTimestamps:
00:00:00 Introduction
00:00:34 MMT basics and fiat money
00:09:41 Job guarantee and inflation
00:14:14 Japan and the inflation myth
00:20:19 Deficits savings and debt
00:29:56 Argentina BRICS and foreign debt
00:34:12 Fiat socialism and full employment
00:42:12 Marx capitalism and crisis
00:49:22 Socialist strategy and closing