If we took economic advice from the average conservative on social media we would abandon all government spending except for the military budget. Neither they or MMT true believers substituting blind faith for knowledge can be allowed to lead, but we are much closer to doing so on the conservative side than we are with MMT. As long as the government is viewed as a “cost” to our economy, and not the source of our net money supply, this will be the prevailing view.

This has resulted in our leaving trillion in productivity behind each budget year that we could realize without inflation or excessive monetization of resources. Industries that are not efficient users of resources in capitalism, such as education and healthcare, can be immediately funded with public money creation with no inflationary pressure. There is no reason for not doing so in an orderly fashion and any economic loss would be the result of misguided attempts to preserve those markets.

Infrastructure spending must be approached more cautiously. It will produce added demand for resources and labor while also adding to private sector demand for both. Such investments should also be more than simply repairing our old technologies and completely aware of new energy and transportation needs. We can ramp up GDP by building coal plants and highways, but they will not allow us to compete in the future and will harm the environment.