‘Finding the Money’ The Documentary That Has DC POWER Brokers On Edge 

Bernstein is NOT an economist. Bachelor's in music, Master's and Doctorate in Social Work He should not have this job.

Congress hasn't had a BUDGET since 1996! There are NO BUDGETS. It's all CONTINUING RESOLUTIONS. Shameful.

Now you know why Occupy got kneecapped by identity politics

The federal government has no right to extort citizens under threat of force, period.

“GIVE me control of a nation’s money supply, and I care not who makes its laws.” - Mayer Amschel Rothschild, founder of the Rothschild banking dynasty

So proud of all of you for this much needed and civil discourse!

This is the equivalent of "How can I be overdrawn? I still have checks left!"

Once we left the gold standard which tethered spending, we entered a world of fiat unbanked currency. Every major currency was pegged to the US dollar. In 1970 we entered the first time in history that all world currencies are backed by absolutely nothing.

As Einstein said, if you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.

Finding the money? That's easy! There's ALWAYS money in the banana stand.

The average US billionaire was given $500 million apiece or more during COVID.

Conservatively the estimate is that we spent over 8 trillion dollars in Iraq and Afghanistan alone in the last 24 years. And we are still spending lots of money on Iraq. And think of all the harm that we caused.. Now billions more for Ukraine and Israel and more harm of course.

I guess, I'll have to watch the documentary because this discussion lacks specifics. It doesn't even clarify what MMT actually states. This woman states how people get it wrong and suggests that you can print money as opposed to borrowing it, but she doesn't clarify beyond that. I hope the documentary is clearer than this discussion.

The main problem with MMT is that it makes claims that are obviously true, and then draws non-connected conclusions from them. It's like saying, "The oceans contain water, therefore we must fund this government program." Along the lines it leaves out the fact that what those conclusions do is trade the markets assessment of value for political assessment of value. And there's a huge history of that going horribly badly. I really wish the director had interviewed some austrian economists. They have an explanation for money that better aligns with history. The "modern" in MMT appears to be intentionally ignoring that history.

Well, you see, it has about 28,947 unnecessary steps to confuse you and make you think we can't afford healthcare, but sending Israel billions of dollars every quarter is totally necessary.

IIRC, nearly every American President has stated publicly that the biggest threat we, as a country, face is the banks ... we have not paid off the moneys borrowed from the American Revolution, etc...

I can answer the question of 'why' we borrow money, that we can print very easily. It's the same reason you give your dead-beat brother in-law a loan, rather than just hand him $10K. You know you're probably not getting paid back, but at least you have a record of the transaction and you can use the existence of the un-paid first loan as a reason to resist giving him a 2nd, 3rd, or 4th loan.

what people lose cite of, or refuse to admit, is that most economic activity is unnecessary, but exist so people can get in the middle (banks) and take a cut.

You can vote for either party and you'll get the same result when it comes to monetary policy. Right now, the system benefits exactly who our leaders intended for it to benefit and it's not the people and that doesn't change no matter which side is in power. Coincidentally, it's always round about a 50/50 so both sides can say "we'd love to fix it but the other guys won't let us." It's a sham to keep us producing and money flowing towards the top...

The Fed hasn't gotten it right once! It's not by accident. Telling us inflation was transitory and such were lies not mistakes. They want more borrowing and more inflation. Also, the govt. has never re-fi their debt when interest rates were low or zero. Do you think they just forgot? This is purposeful.

She's talking about the Gov't taking over the energy companies. That's nuts.

I feel like Milton Friedman already made this documentary 40+ years ago.

No-one mentioned that the Fed is the one who decides how much money is to be printed. And that the Fed is a private organization. The government issues bonds to finance itself (in addition to taxes), but the Fed decides how much of those bonds to buy.

There are so many problems with MMT. The most obvious is the idea that the Federal Government is anywhere near competent enough to effectively manage something as massive, dynamic, and complicated as the U.S. economy. Centralized control of economies fails every time.

The Austrian economists have an answer

MMT stands for Modern Monetary Theory, which is a complete misnomer. 1) It's not modern, inflating the money supply in order to pay for government spending that's not covered by tax revenues is a strategy that has been around as long as Fiat currencies. 2) It's not monetary it's actually fiscal policy. 3) It's not a theory, it's just a gimmicky scheme.

Fractional reserve monetary policy was explored years ago by Peter Joseph in one of his Zeitgeist movies.

This is probably the most important, forward thinking segment I've ever seen on Rising. Thank you for having this brilliant guest on the show, I can't wait to watch the documentary!

Be curious how military spending figures into all of this.

This is a great question with a terrifying narrative. The only reason, that printing money is an option is because we are the world currency. We won’t be for long if this keeps up.

MMT just describes a system where we fund the government with inflation, instead of taxes. It's a more regressive and opaque method of funding the government, and for some reason progressives are very excited about it

The one thing our Govt has learned well is to tell everyone (ourselves included), "It's my way, or the highway!" Unfortunately, however, now that's 'busted,' too!

Stephanie Kelton is not the only one to listen to on this. Bill Mittchell , Michael Hudson, and others are essential. Bill Mitchell and Warren Mosler are I think regarded as the founders of this stream of economics.

“Studies have shown, if you print money and give it here, it’ll be good for you”

The Fed has more tools than just changing the interest rates. For example, the Fed controls bank reserve ratios which can directly helps control money supply. The Fed just refuses to increase bank reserve ratios, which reduce the money supply, as it hurts banks as much as it hurts us.

Yes resources, but another critical issue is CONTROL of those resources and priorities. Are we going to continue to allow the control of our collective resources to be concentrated in the hands of a few people worse primary motive for investment is profit?

Definitely political as she keeps going back to healthcare (Medicare for All) & Green energy as seemingly acceptable & not sectors that are concerning for driving up inflation.

Vote Red for big deficits, big tax cuts, and minor spending cuts. Vote Blue for big deficits, minor tax increases, and big spending increases. Both of these options are a recipe for disaster. MMT does not help in either scenario, but it sure makes it easier to distract fools.

All she is saying is that mmt declares that deficit spending in a fiat system is only bound by inflation… All decent economists have known this for ever. All mmt adds is the idea that in a fiat system govt makes the money and don’t need to borrow to spend. The bottom line is that fiat systems will all fail by inflation… these are old ideas with new names… so insane

"There is nothing to prevent the Federal Government from creating as much money as it wants and giving it to someone, the problem is are the Goods and Services available which those funds would be used to purchase. The Cash is there which is nice, but it has to be in balance with the resources to purchase." ~Alan Greenspan Under Oath refuting Paul Ryan's attempts to Justify privatizing Social Security.

If I can print money I don’t care about price. Prices go up

One of the consequences of MMT in regards to inflation not mentioned is that inflation can be caused by supply shocks. Those supply shocks like during covid. The other more important idea not sufficiently explored is how prices are set by corporations not markets and many corps hold regional or national pricing power allowing them to be price makers not price takers meaning corps don't have meaningful competitive pressures

That was the smartest and most interesting segment I've ever seen on Rising.

"There's one overriding fact. The entire financial system of the Western world is in private unelected unaccountable hands, the hands of people who meet in absolute secrecy. The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) every four five six weeks has a meeting of the top governors of the banks, and they meet in absolute secrecy. And they have the big banking families and so forth, they all meet up. The 'minutes' are never made available and they decide on the money creation and the money supply of the world. But none of us are allowed to know anything about it." ~Justin Walker, 03/20/2023

None of this will be possible with open borders

All she needed to do was ask Peter Schiff

She literally said the "public transit system is fast, free, and reliable." 🤔

Excellent discussion on this subject, which is not well understood by the general public. Will be watching the cocumentary. Many thanks!

The Fed is privately owned. Our government doesn't "print" our money

you can print money which is a promise about future productivity, aka fall harvest. When there is a mismatch valuation chaos ensues

I vividly remember being taught economics in 3rd or 4th grade at a very basic level and even then at 8-9 years old thought … the government can’t be in debt if they are the issuer and control both the physical and digital creation of it.

Nobody talks about the FED pumping in total of $2.7 Trillion into the stock market during the pandemic. First week of Shut Down the FED pumped $1 Trillion into the stock market and the money evaporated in 30mins. Basically $2.7 Trillion into the stock market while in a decline in GDP is what actually set off run away inflation

Whats peculiar is that we dont even have the capacity to discuss this stuff in general, in particular, in private or in public. Meanwhile this is a fundamental building bloc of society..... It really doesn't have to be this complicated and humans do have the capacity to understand the structures if we are given the particulars.... Glad to see this coming out more. We need functional transparency and to understand how to acccount for effects... In actuality not merely some ones theoretical versions of the world... The limits of transendental realism - after over two hundred years are we ready for the public... I believe we are! 🎉

She argues costs / money doesn’t matter but then for government programs and her reason is they will cost less. It’s not logical on its face

So what it comes down to is that the people we put in charge have no idea how to budget a checkbook and shouldn't be in charge of anything. Good Lord!

I see the biggest issue MMT creates is the making of economists have to admit that they were wrong in so many of their over arching economic positions. No one wants to admit they are wrong or even that maybe they were wrong all along. It's a tough sell.

Play money for everyone!!!

The documentary is excellent.

These women are JOURNALIST. They've informed us without editorial talking points. Asked the right questions and presented the facts for the WE THE PEOPLE to think critically.

This is so densely packed with information I'm forced to save it for repeat viewing.

Great show! I actually learned something

We basically did MMT during Covid. Printed a ton to fund massive government largess. What are we seeing now? High inflation. The problem with MMT is you ask them “what are the limits for government printing/spending ” and they have no good answers. At least not the people I’ve talked to. Years ago I had a back and forth email conversation with one of the leaders of the movement. He could not answer that question. Printing as much as you want to fund everything is the recipe for hyperinflation. If you could build prosperity that way, the romans might still be ruling the world. The Fed, mind you, is essentially printing with abandon this already. But they use the money they print to buy bonds which pushes financial markets up and increases inequality. It also enables tons of government spending. It is back door fiscal policy in a way that greases the hands of the banksters. MMT just wants to make it front door fiscal policy. You print to fund government spending directly rather than printing to buy government Treasuries that fund government spending indirectly. The Fed’s actions also gives them unbelievable power to affect capital markets. Using printed money this makes the whole ordeal more complicated, so people have trouble figuring it out. Both that and the fact they use new money to buy debt has delays the onset of inflation. But it has cropped up in last couple years. AND The financial system is very unstable because the Fed made money free for a decade after a debt crisis, which encouraged the system to take on astronomical amounts of debt. When it crashes again, they are going to have to print a TON. They are leading us down a dark road. But MMT is not the answer. It might be better than the current system, but that’s is a very low bar. Humans needs constraints. I think eventually we will find our way back to sound money. Like the Brics are doing - the currency they’re creating is tied to a basket of commodities. It is grounded to reality. No limits of printing reliably leads to currency debasement. History is littered with examples. Please show me the society that embraced “the government can print and spend whatever they want” that ended well.

I can't believe this women is arguing for the system that got us in this mess to begin with. If you think cost are high now just wait. At least with a debt you can see how much government is spending. If they get rid of that there is nothing limiting the spending/greed of those who benefit most by government spending.

Want to know why US government spends $1 Trillion on interest? Follow the money.

Stop the fiat con!! We need to go back to the gold standard!!!! B.r.i.c.s is a gold standard currency 🤔🤔

Why pay taxes?

John Cochrane wrote a book that I have not read, but I understand the gist is that inflation is caused by expectations that the government cannot meet its obligations. Not only do they have the public debt, but social security and medicare and other commitments.

“It’s not how much the government can spend, it’s how much they can get back in taxes.” Now that’s a chilling thought. Also, please don’t argue for “free healthcare” if you don’t look at where it’s currently in place. Wait times in the UK and Canada are measured in months and years for a vast majority of procedures.

She is conflating a lot of different aspects of the economy and calling it inflation.

The strong intelligence levels of "J-AM" and the guests you bring on are why I continue watching this program. Stellar job destroying MSM!

If you open your eyes, you can see that all the people that have been tapped to head our major government departments/institutions are not the best and the brightest! If they were, our country would not be in free fall!! Is it by design or just incompetence??

Fridays are much better than the other days now. These two are keeping this show from total ruin by Bri and Robbie

My understanding of why the government borrows money instead of just printing it is so that it can fund itself without causing runaway inflation. Because if it prints off the difference between tax revenue and spending, the money supply would go insane.

I love when people like this woman and Jessica argue that the same policies of the government trying to spend their way into prosperity that have failed in many countries around the world will work perfectly here in America. Just like socialism, I'm sure their argument is "that wasn't real mmt".

The National Debt Is What The Government Can Afford??? That's Beyond Ridiculous.

Debt is a Balance Sheet item. Thus, it must have a contra entry. In the case of "government debt", the contra entry is "private wealth".

Delighted to listen to this discussion. MMT is a simple description of how actual monetary operations work, but I don't blame anyone who's confused, including economists. Lots of people have a LOT to lose if this information were more broadly shared. We need to budget for REAL RESOURCES within inflationary limits, as Poitras noted. And we're NOT doing that because we're budgeting for dollars.

Read Thomas Sowell Basic Economics.

The track record of academic theories being implemented as policy speaks for itself.

The U.S. should borrow money when they are handing it out without receiving something in return. They should print the money when paying for a service or an asset.

Where did inflation go down???? Explain that????

Leathers fits her well

Stunning ! now an example of why we are in such Dire Circumstances.

So, Government prints money but gives that monopolistic privilege to the private entity named FED. Madness.

Hooray for Friday! No Bri today!

Totally wrong!!!

I was taxed $20,000 this year and I make less than 6 figures…. How are these people running out of money if there are 350 million people in this country.

MMT is a good theory, but it fail to take polititians into account. Giving them control of money is fatal. Haven't we already seen that? Forcing them to borrow for excess (excessive?) spending was intended to limit it somewhat. But those $34 trillion show us that has failed!

Finding the Money a brilliant take. Jessica Burbank and Amber Duke looking great in DC...keep them and keep Bre!

Sigh... This video is far dumber than any flat Earth argument I've ever heard. The biggest problem Stephanie Kelton and the other MMTers have is that they don't understand what money is and what gives it market worth.

The bigger question then is why do they tax at all? Just print my dollars due to the IRS.

She said the federal government prints money? The Federal Reserve is separate from the federal government.

She’s talking in circles.

Seems like an advertisement for MMT.

Wish you would invite Dr. Richard Wolff to weigh in on this!

This was an interesting discussion. It really demonstrates the value of asking the right questions.

The Government doesn't *PRINT* anything... that's what the FEDERAL RESERVE does. Granted... it's not really "printing"... but easier to just go with it. But the Federal RESERVE is Not really printing "MONEY" either... Its technically somthing called *RESERVES.* And these reserves DON'T go directly to the Government, either. They get exchanged with the *BANKS* first... which is why you might of heard of BANK RESERVES. Then the banks turn around and Exchange these Reserves with... THE GOVERNMENT.... And *THAT* is the point where the GOVERNMENT is *BORROWING* the Money. Can i have this guy's job now? 🍋🍋

just printing money is inflationary

You should've interviewed Peter Schiff. He'd tell you EXACTLY whats going on.

BEAUTIFUL ACADEMIC JOURNEY . hopefully open the eyes of the electorate