Despite that the detail of accounting can be used to create an illusion that tax-then-spend is the means of government procurement, wouldn't it be true to say that 'every gov't dollar spent is a new dollar' has been true ever since the abandonment of gold exchangability (1915 in NZ?) or perhaps the end of the 'proxy gold standard' of Bretton Woods? Accountancy as a plausible means of obfuscation is commonplace in money-laundering, valuation of businesses for sale etc, so one can.presume it was also used 'post-gold' as a deliberate idoelogical obfuscation of the new reality of money.
That is true - but the institutional structures in place at the time (for instance, the fixed exchange rate before 1985) placed financial constraint on the government. On accountancy - you might be interested in some of Susan Newberry's work on accountancy and the New Zealand government. Here's her PhD Thesis: https://ir.canterbury.ac.nz/server/api/core/bitstreams/50f64547-d6ac-438b-aa68-ae9d3cc6712c/content
Too often, 'reduction of child poverty' is treated as a moral signpost rather than a target for a policy rooted in structural choices. I appreciate this post for going beyond the emotional appeal and pointing to need to study the deeper mechanics. If we keep debating symptoms without unpacking the system, we are just decorating the problem.
Agree! I love MMT as a "Okay, so we have the Financial Freedom, now what can we do with that?"
Child Poverty is massive - and intrinsically linked to the fact that families are impoverished. To take children away from family (and particularly loving family) is often an injustice that the life improvements material wellbeing can bring.
One of the tools that MMT opens up is the establishment of Job Guarantee Programs and associated Training. Structures that allow individuals to find work, to find community, and to find hope that they can take their life back into their own hands. The deeply socio-cultural nature of First World Poverty is a generational problem - giving young people substantial hope for a future in which they can provide for themselves and feel good in doing so is certainly a positive step.
Providing support and community for young, old, and solo parents is another - but perhaps is the kind of change that is beyond the reach of economic change alone. Certainly it seems to me that structural change which re-socialises a busy-minded and busy-handed class of humanity would benefit the wider well-being
Despite that the detail of accounting can be used to create an illusion that tax-then-spend is the means of government procurement, wouldn't it be true to say that 'every gov't dollar spent is a new dollar' has been true ever since the abandonment of gold exchangability (1915 in NZ?) or perhaps the end of the 'proxy gold standard' of Bretton Woods? Accountancy as a plausible means of obfuscation is commonplace in money-laundering, valuation of businesses for sale etc, so one can.presume it was also used 'post-gold' as a deliberate idoelogical obfuscation of the new reality of money.
That is true - but the institutional structures in place at the time (for instance, the fixed exchange rate before 1985) placed financial constraint on the government. On accountancy - you might be interested in some of Susan Newberry's work on accountancy and the New Zealand government. Here's her PhD Thesis: https://ir.canterbury.ac.nz/server/api/core/bitstreams/50f64547-d6ac-438b-aa68-ae9d3cc6712c/content
Too often, 'reduction of child poverty' is treated as a moral signpost rather than a target for a policy rooted in structural choices. I appreciate this post for going beyond the emotional appeal and pointing to need to study the deeper mechanics. If we keep debating symptoms without unpacking the system, we are just decorating the problem.
Agree! I love MMT as a "Okay, so we have the Financial Freedom, now what can we do with that?"
Child Poverty is massive - and intrinsically linked to the fact that families are impoverished. To take children away from family (and particularly loving family) is often an injustice that the life improvements material wellbeing can bring.
One of the tools that MMT opens up is the establishment of Job Guarantee Programs and associated Training. Structures that allow individuals to find work, to find community, and to find hope that they can take their life back into their own hands. The deeply socio-cultural nature of First World Poverty is a generational problem - giving young people substantial hope for a future in which they can provide for themselves and feel good in doing so is certainly a positive step.
Providing support and community for young, old, and solo parents is another - but perhaps is the kind of change that is beyond the reach of economic change alone. Certainly it seems to me that structural change which re-socialises a busy-minded and busy-handed class of humanity would benefit the wider well-being