Obviously, the simplest form of wealth re-distribution is literally handing cash to the poorest people in society. However, that’s not necessarily the most effective means of re-distributing wealth.

Andrew Yang, are you listening?

Yes, again I was using a bit of shorthand by talking about “funding public services”. Really what it does all come down to is wealth re-distribution.

As long as it is understood that taxing and spending are functionally separate operations we will do fine. We can spend without taxing first, or ever, but we can’t tax without spending. The nation’s currency is self-funding as it is created without a need to “pay for” its deployment in the economy. If we get hung up on household budget terminology where a “balanced” budget is a good thing and debt is bad we quickly begin eroding the base money supply (the debt) in a circular quest for the unattainable.

Any nation’s currency represents its unit of measure in which it conducts commerce and stores value/saves. Such a store of value/savings is only possible if the currency is distributed into the non-government sector in greater quantity than what is destroyed in taxation. Should such an issuing government actually balance its budget (a meaningless term) it essentially steals the resources and labor used by that government to the detriment of the economy by clawing back all payments made in its currency. We have forced the economy to serve the government’s spreadsheet for decades and the results of that couldn’t be more clear.