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I'm on the line with us as Dr. Stephanie Kelton, Professor of Economics at Stony Brook University,

Executive Director of the Modern Monetary Theory Project, a leading expert on MMT,

former Chief Economist, the U.S. Senate Budget Committee on the Democratic Staff,

the author of the new book, the deficit myth, modern monetary theory, and the birth of the

people's economy. Professors are Dr. All of the above, Stephanie Kelton.

Welcome back to the program. Give us a synopsis if you would, of your book, of the deficit myth.

Why the myth of the deficit? Why combine those words?

Well, for lots of reasons, I mean, the title is singular when it's the deficit myth,

but unfortunately there are many myths when it comes to how we think about public money,

taxes, the purpose of taxes, the role of the deficit and the so-called national debt.

So the first six chapters of the book are really about myth busting, trying to get people

to have a better understanding of government finance and government finances, and why they're

different from household finances, or the finances of a private business, or even a state or

local government. So, you know, the book came out in June of 2020, actually, and then the paperback

came out more recently. But what it was trying to do was to say to us, you know, we've been

basically at best misled and at worst lied to about a lot of really important things,

...