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"What is the answer? […]
The cancellation and writing off of existing debt burdens for poor countries (I don’t like the word debt ‘forgiveness’ as there is nothing to forgive)."

by Michael Roberts: https://thenextrecession.wordpress.com/2025/06/30/sustainable-development-and-unsustainable-debt/

@jeremy_pm The Crown is a monetary sovereign and by definition cannot go insolvent unless it's done with intent.

I get the feeling that the number of people who stake their livelihoods (or political careers) on avoiding, obfuscating, or flat-out lying about this is growing faster than the number we're supposed to be hyperventilating about.

#MMT needs to be part of the replacement of the Public Finance Act and the Reserve Bank Act, and while we're at it please take the boot off our throats.

@jlepawsky the debt myth hype is strong recently because of the "big bill" in the US, which comes with a large increase of debt/deficit.

For #mmt and taxes, I like to focus that the govt can maintain demand for its currency, even if they don't ultimately collect all the spending back as taxes. Can be illustrated by considering if $99 taxed of $100 spent was collected, would people still accept it?

50 of 100?

1 of 100?

It's a lot closer to 1/100 than it is to 99/100.

11/n This is also a short and sweet primer on functional finance/mmt: https://www.mmt.works/mmt-taxes-do-not-fund-government-spending/ #cdnpoli #mmt

10/n Anyway, this episode of the MMT Podcast really helped me think hard about why it matters how the story of money is told: https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-199-wing-131820648?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_fan&utm_content=web_share #cdnpoli #mmt

9/n None of the above means that the federal government can just spend whatever it wants ... because inflation could become a problem. But at the same time, we do not have to accept the premise that in order to spend on programs 'we' want the federal government has to cut other programs #cdnpoli #mmt

7/n I mean I know we hear about Canada 'borrowing', but the country's publicly available accounts show that that borrowing is almost entirely in the form of the country's own treasury bills and bonds, all of which are payable in Canadian dollars --- Canada cannot 'run out' of the currency it is the sole issuing authority of. #cdnpoli #mmt

6/n

A federal budget is a plan for a given fiscal year proposed by the finance minister and then voted on by parliament. The money in that proposed budget does not come from taxes previously collected. It comes from the currency issuing authority (the Bank of Canada, BOC). BOC does not have a pile of dollars lying around in a vault from taxes collected the year before or whatever. If parliament votes to approve the budget, the finance minister just instructs the BOC to credit the relevant accounts literally with keystrokes. #mmt #cdnpoli

5/n Federal government spending and taxing is not like a household. I think that matters because it can change the story about whether 'we' can or can't afford to do this or that thing. I guess what I mean is that I hear talk on both the left and the right that presupposes cuts are necessary in order to fund other or new federal initiatives. #cdnpoli #mmt

4/n To be clear I'm not bringing any of this up because I'm some sort of pro- or anti-tax person. It just seems weird that people on both the left and the right keep talking about federal government taxing and spending by relying on a household metaphor. #cdnpoli #mmt

3/n Federal taxes can be collected for other reasons (e.g. to discourage some behaviours (smoking) or encourage others (charities)), but those reasons are secondary to the two primary reasons for federal taxes. #mmt #cdnpoli

2/n Federal taxes are collected only for two basic reasons: one, to create a demand for the national currency (Canadian dollar) because people have to pay their taxes in that currency and two, as a way to control inflation, including inflation that could be caused by the government's own spending. #mmt #cdnpoli