Thread by @RaulACarrillo

Over the years, I've heard both friends & critics dismiss Modern Money (#MMT) as a "one-trick pony." I have some thoughts on that. (1/X)

First of all, I get it. Having once held similar reservations myself, I extra get it. But it couldn't be further from the truth. (2/X)

We're talking money here. This thing we swim in, this thing we're forced to breathe, whether we like it or not buff.ly/2jH773u (3/X)

A body of thought that adopts money itself as a fundamental unit of analysis is bound to say something about nearly everything. #MMT (4/X)

MMT is not a utopian project. We don't pretend to offer silver bullets for all society's monsters. (5/X)

But whether you're a lefty fighting capital & empire, or a liberal concerned w/ the feasibility of reforms you'd ideally like to see...(6/X)

...we got you. We're here. We're involved. We'd truly love to hash out criticisms and collaborate. (7/X)

Isaiah Berlin (whom I otherwise dislike) popularized a crude, yet useful distinction btwn 2 kinds of thinkers: "hedgehogs" & "foxes." (8/X)

Loosely speaking, "hedgehogs" see the world through one, ultimate, systematic idea...(9/X)

...whereas "foxes" draw from a diverse variety of experiences and traditions to form a more contingent worldview. (10/X)

“The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.”
theguardian.com/books/2016/aug… (11/X)

As @rohangrey often notes, if your only interaction with MMT is online fights about fiat currency and federal budget constraints... (12/X)

...,it's understandable you'd think MMTers are hedgehogs rather than foxes. This is a mistake, though. (13/X)

Trust: there are a million things we could all do — and are trying to do — to broaden our message & push beyond the core catechism. (14/X)

But "MMTers" advocates have consistently drawn on, interpreted, transformed, & otherwise engaged with ideas beyond our own paradigm. (15/X)

We've done interdisciplinary work that hasn't drawn enough attention. Some individuals may be hedgehogs, but as a group, we're foxes. (16/X)

Even strictly as a body of economic thought, MMT offers deep arguments beyond what we generally deem to be monetary & fiscal policy. (17/X)

Ideas about labor, banking, crisis, development, ecology, inequality, trade & payments, for ex., have consistently been part of MMT. (18/X)

When you include the legal (and sociological, and anthropological, and historical, and cultural) dimensions of MMT... (19/X)

....we are looking at an incredibly powerful, useful prism for social and political analysis. (20/X)

Over the years, Modern Money has offered insights into the nature of fraud, corruption, surveillance, and social control...(21/X)

...as well as the meanings of justice, work, value, participation, and democracy. (22/X)

This conference, #MMT2017, Fri-Sun, is an invite to join us & dig deeper. It's all recorded & livestreamed. buff.ly/2wlQvEf (23/X)

.@thepublicmoney is especially focused on building bridges between MMT & the chief political and social justice issues of our time. (24/X)

We're out here. And we're ready to work together to build a better world. (25/25)