MMT Knowledge is Power

Published on 2026-08-30

Contents

Could be the most boring title I have written, but this has been bubbling for a while, I just needed to write it.

People far too often ignore dynamics. Knowledge seems static, but in the real world this is never the case. When we gain knowledge we are continually refining it, or we die. One or the other. It is a sort of mainstream Economics N3rd thing to ignore dynamics, so please do not! (Do not be a n3rd, nor be a mere economist!🤣)

True, if all you had was mere knowledge then like an economist you’d be pretty useless.

My main message today is,

Knowledge is an infinite resource, once you draw upon it, it is still there. It might even be enhanced.

The issue then — to turn knowledge into power — is action. Even for the neoliberal who loves depoliticization of what should be public policy — taking the politics out of politics — inaction is a type of action. A wilfulness not to give a damn. The entire thesis of laissez faire doctrine is kind of madness in this respect. It is unconscionable for anyone with a moral conscience. That is to say, when you have political 𝕡𝕠𝕨𝕖𝕣 then inaction is a form of action. Why? Because you could have chosen to do otherwise. (I believe there is such a thing as free will, though I know not from where it springs nor what it permits, I only know the quantum cosmology permitting some freedom of action in a physical world. FN-1 )

That’d be my second main point today: counterfactuals are also of huge importance, and people ignore them far too often.

Let’s then consider political 𝕡𝕠𝕨𝕖𝕣 to be something that requires knowledge. If the knowledge is false the 𝕡𝕠𝕨𝕖𝕣 is going to be very lively a terrible power, unjust, or good but only be sheer accident. Fn-2

Since all knowledge is power, and is infinite in resource, but is dynamic so can be updated, MMT knowledge is Power. But as I just noted, it must be accompanied by action. Or — if you already have social power — this could be inaction. You do not get an escape clause. With great power comes great responsibility.

What we do with this power matters.

What about: “With great knowledge comes…” — well this is different! If you lack the particular power to act freely, or free-enough, then with great power comes great frustration and depression, but at least I think a responsibility to teach & educate. So we all have some social power. Hence all knowledge is power. Unless you are dead or socially isolated completely isolated (an impossibility for any long period?).

Last thing then is the moral layer.

I wrote nothing yet about the good of knowledge, or the good of power. How do we make knowledge and power good?

The only reasonable answer in my view is with a moral lens. Even if you end up being wrong, you will know this and course-correct if your motives were pure good. But not necessarily if you motives were pure evil (if there is a such a thing, but let’s day “relatively evil” FN-3 ).

MMT Knowledge is Power. It can be very nasty. The b̶e̶s̶t̶ most effective MMT politicians in our times were Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld. They drew on an infinite resource (the mere idea the US government debt is not operationally constrained) for absolutely no good ends. That mere idea, that knowledge (which was true) never depleted whenever they used it, could not be destroyed without invasive brain surgery, or the like, being performed on those old shrivelled soul dudes.

People who say “MMT is not 𝕡𝕠𝕨𝕖𝕣” are clowns.Fn-4 Remember, you cannot help but act unless you are dead, so the mere knowledge impels you to act, or not act, but in not acting you are acting. I hate to trot out a Zen line like this, but Lord help me it is true, in this context.

A blind old lady is crossing the road and about to be hit by a lorry, and you are nearby. If you choose to not act have you been morally neutral? Or have you been pretty darn evil, in some relative terms?

You could, I suppose, choose to not act upon the knowledge of MMT. But be realistic and fair in your assessment? Who is that person?

We can admit that once everyone, or some critical mass, understand MMT — or whatever the system of units of account for social obligations in your neighbourhood happens to be, maybe not MMT — then knowledge of this generalized MMT, becomes a bit trivial.FN-5 But just because it might then appear to have no effect is forgetting the second lesson: the counterfactual.

Footnotes:

(1) In any case, the universe boundary conditions could have been otherwise, so you could have done otherwise.

(2) I can give an example. When politicians tax petrol, it can reduce use of cars. That's a good for the environment. It is not a bad thing for business, because the firm always has the degree of freedom to increase their price, hence if needed to use a car they can still use a car. The household cannot, unless the household controls the wage price. This is just an example. It is of course always better if people are given the freedom to make the choice (to use a car or not). It tend to not work out well when moral thinking is legislated. Moral consequences are a different story, but this footnote is getting too long, so allow me to allow you to fill in the rest.

(3) Total unimportant aside: is absolute nonexistence the only absolute evil? I'd say so. For anything nasty you can name, I can name something nastier in the membership of the Pervert Class. Not that I want to do that thinking. So "evil" is always relative, as a point of logic. Whereas absolute Good is not, since that is a singular limit (I offer here no existence proof, that's more homework for you to finish yourself).

(4) The clown I have in mind is my younger brother. He did not "get" my argument. He was very animated trying to convince me MMT activism and teaching is irrelevant. (Somewhat out of kindness, he wanted me to earn income instead of wasting time on Quixotic pursuits.)

(5) Yes, indeed! I do want MMT knowledge to be boring and appear inconsequential. In that way my brother would not be worrying about my income in the first place. (While I would still be n3rd-arguing obscure counterfactuals ... probably.🤣) MMT is a superpower today, especially for educators, in the future it will be, with any luck, as powerful as a blade of grass or knowledge of a grain of rice.

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