Ep113[1/2] Gregg Stebben: Introducing an open-minded friend to MMT

Welcome to episode 113 of Activist #MMT. Today I introduce MMT to author, journalist, radio talker, podcaster, and friend, Gregg Stebben. Gregg is co-author of the 1999 book Everything You Need to Know about Economics, which is part of a four-book series called The Pocket Professor, on the topics of economics, physics, philosophy, and religion. Among several other books, Gregg also co-wrote the 2017 The Little Red Book of New York Wisdom with former mayor Ed Koch.

(Here's a link to part two. A list of the audio chapters in this episode can be found at the bottom of this post.)

This two-part episode is an unscripted conversation, but our starting-off point is a short introductory post I wrote for the purpose of this discussion. In part one, I give Gregg a broad introduction to MMT, its basic policy implications, and some of the major myths it shatters. In part two, we branch out to a wide-ranging conversation about the state of the world and how MMT does and does not relate to it.

This episode is also another step in my journey to creating a general introduction to MMT. It's actually my second recording with Gregg. The first, in May of last year, was never released. I ran through my introduction presentation, which I had been working on for several months. Although I got a lot out out of the experience, including some important analogies and insights, as a whole it just never came together. It was overwhelming. Even though only an hour, it probably contained somewhere between five hours and four years of information. After my experience with Gregg, I abandoned the presentation entirely. This was most upsetting to me because of how so many gave their time and feedback to improve it. As Gregg says, however, it was all a part of how I got to where I am today. The information is still there, just in a different form. Speaking of which, before listening to today's episode, you might want to consider reading my post. It's called A political introduction to real-world economics.

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And now, onto my conversation with Gregg Stebben. Enjoy.

Resources

• Gregg's author page on Google Books.
• 2007 book by Chip and Dan Heath, Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die

Audio chapters

• 5:17 - Adam Smith
• 5:35 - Macro automation software
• 10:09 - Gregg introduces himself
• 12:59 - My abandoned presentation
• 19:04 - MMT is a map
• 24:53 - It is imposs...