By J.D.
ALT
The last two and a half months I’ve been at work on a new book. As it evolved, I found I was approaching MMT from a new direction—one which made an explanation of MMT much less counter-intuitive and, perhaps, less controversial. The approach is relatively simple and straight-forward: follow what I began calling “standard money theory” step by step until one reaches a perspective that has, almost seamlessly, become “modern money theory.”
The book first considers why the “standard theory” we insist on applying to the world is incapable of addressing the climate-change crisis. (The exact same arguments could now be applied to confronting and mitigating the pandemic crisis!) Second, it explains how a simple shift in perspective transforms the standard money theory into modern money theory (MMT)—which CAN confront the crisis.
The
explanation of MMT is given twice: first in a narrative that explains the
Reserve/bank-dollar system that both private and public enterprise use to buy
goods and services; the second rendering of the explanation is more concise and
is illustrated with diagrams. This diagrammatic explanation is completely
different than what was presented a few years ago in the ebook “Diagrams &
Dollars.”
This new
book, for me, is a definitive “layman’s explanation” of modern money theory—and
why it is so important, at this moment in time, for MMT to be widely
understood by the general public. The new diagrams lend themselves to seminar
presentations, and to that end I will be making them freely available for
download on my website www.jdalt.com. It is my hope they’ll be used
by knowledgeable laymen to get serious MMT conversations going in local
communities around the country. That’s a big hope, I know, but the times call
for big hopes.
The book
is now available at Amazon.