If there's a key, foundational insight from MMT, it's probably NOT that "taxes don't pay for gov spending," but rather the rejection of money as an impartial medium. In the mainstream view, money plays an a-political role, whose job is merely to help us measure value and (1/) ease transactions. This is based on the premise that the market "invented" money as an alternative to barter. But logically this fails at explaining many aspects of money, and historically we know it's not true. A better narrative is Christine Desan's "stakeholder" story of (2/)

Most people think that "printing money" causes inflation while government "borrowing" does not. But they're wrong. They both can cause inflation, and by the same amount. Let's see why. (Thread) People think this because "printing money" increases the money supply, while "borrowing" does not, it just shifts money around. But that's not really how prices work. Inflation happens when people try to buy more goods/services than the economy can produce. (2/)

The key to understanding money, taxes, unemployment, inflation, and national debt is to start with the following question: how does the government get ahold of the real resources (workers, buildings, cars, computers, fuel, etc.) that it needs to do the job of governing? 1/ There are a number of ways you might imagine, each with pros and cons. For instance, the government could ask for volunteers and donations. This tends not to work very well, for obvious reasons. 2/

Another few words on national debt. People have a hard time accepting that debt is different for the government than for you and me. They figure, nobody is above the rules. But that's wrong, because there's one group who's very clearly above the rules: the Mafia. /1 Everybody knows the rules don't apply to the Mafia. When the Mafia asks you for something, you give them what they want. When the Mafia tells you what to do, you do as you're told. The rules are different. Why? Because they have the guns. That means they set the terms. /2