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In this episode we're joined by Fadhel Kaboub for a conversation about the US dollar, its hegemony over the globe, and the emerging challenges to this hegemony. Fadhel Kaboub is associate professor of economics at Denison University, president of the Global Institute for Sustainable Prosperity, and author of Global South Perspectives on substack.
Our conversation begins with an introduction to moden monetary theory, providing a brief introduction to how this idea first emerged. In doing so, Fadhel first walks us through traditional monetary theory, the idea that money emerged as a more efficient form of barter. We then discuss how MMT challenges this traditional theory and what the implications are when it comes to economic policy and politics.
Fadhel then talks about the structure of modern monetary theory and how inflation, debt (both soverign and foreign), and deficits are understood within the MMT universe. We discuss how MMT theorists understand government spending and why they insist that "finding the money" to pay for social services is not a real thing, using the example of a Green New Deal and WWII mobilization to illustrate their point.
Fadhel then responds to some of the critiques of MMT from the left—specifically, the Marxist critique that MMT doesn't fully understand how power works. This critique centers on the contention that it's naive to think of the nation state is a neutral arbiter which has the ultimate goal of resolving capitalism's contradictions on behalf of the working class.
We then expand our conversation out to include a global perspective, exploring the issue of monetary sovereignty in the global South, along with debt and other structural traps that the West uses to keep global South states at the bottom of the value chain. We end by discussing the interests of the working classes of the global South and the global North and how the workers of the world can unite to fight for a world that's better for everyone.
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