MMT is a Political Problem: Part 1

The way a problem is seen can determine how or even if it gets solved.

看待问题的方式可以决定问题如何得到解决或是否得到解决。

When the French engineer, Ferdinand de Lesseps, was picked to build the Panama Canal, he saw it as another excavation problem as his Suez Canal had been.

当法国工程师费迪南德·德莱塞普斯被选去修建巴拿马运河时，他认为这是另一个开挖问题，就像他的苏伊士运河一样。

But Egypt was flat and Panama had a mountain.

但埃及地势平坦，而巴拿马则有山。

When the United States took over the job, John Stevens, who was put in charge, saw it as a railroad problem.

当美国接手这项工作时，负责人约翰·史蒂文斯将其视为铁路问题。

The biggest task was to move ninety-six million cubic yards of rock and earth, as fast as the fifteen giant steam shovels cut them out of the mountain, from the Pacific side of Panama to the Atlantic side for building a dam and raising a lake that would be part of the canal.

最大的任务是将 9600 万立方码的岩石和泥土从山上挖出来，速度与 15 台巨型蒸汽铲一样快，从巴拿马的太平洋一侧移动到大西洋一侧，以建造一座水坝并修建一个湖泊，该湖泊将成为运河的一部分。

Developers and promoters of MMT have seen their task as a teaching problem; explaining how America’s sovereign money system works to those who still believe that money is a scarce commodity that restricts what the country can do.

MMT 的开发者和推广者将他们的任务视为教学问题；向那些仍然相信货币是限制国家行为的稀缺商品的人解释美国的主权货币体系是如何运作的。

Their assumption has been that when more people, particularly political leaders, see that scarce money is not a true constraint, a new world of possibilities will open up for building a brighter future.

他们的假设是，当更多的人，特别是政治领导人，看到稀缺的资金并不是真正的限制时，一个充满可能性的新世界将为建设更光明的未来而打开。

But what if those who seem impervious to the new knowledge are resisting because they see very clearly how it can lead in directions counter to their interests?

但是，如果那些似乎对新知识无动于衷的人因为清楚地看到新知识会导致违背他们利益的方向而进行抵制，该怎么办？

Evidence that they have wanted to keep money scarce and under their control goes back at least a hundred years.

有证据表明，他们想要保持资金稀缺并处于他们的控制之下，这一点可以追溯到至少一百年前。

(And longer if you consider the Civil War.)

（如果你考虑内战的话，时间会更长。）

In The Money Makers: How Roosevelt and Keynes Ended the Depression, Defeated Fascism, and Secured a Prosperous Peace , the historian, Eric Rauchway, tells how Keynes saw that under the terms of the treaty ending World War I, Germany had no chance of rebuilding the healthy economy it would need to become a stable democracy.

在《赚钱者：罗斯福和凯恩斯如何结束大萧条、击败法西斯主义并确保繁荣和平》一书中，历史学家埃里克·劳奇韦讲述了凯恩斯如何看待根据结束第一次世界大战的条约条款，德国没有机会重建成为稳定民主国家所需的健康经济。

He proposed that Germany should float a large bond issue.

他建议德国发行大规模债券。

Seventy percent of the proceeds would be used to pay the victors reparations, ten percent would be used to retire outstanding German bonds, and twenty percent would be used for rebuilding the country.

收益的百分之七十将用于支付胜利者的赔款，百分之十将用于偿还未偿还的德国债券，百分之二十将用于重建国家。

The bonds would be made attractive to investors because Britain, France, and the U.S. would underwrite them.

这些债券将对投资者有吸引力，因为英国、法国和美国将承销它们。

England and France agreed, but Woodrow Wilson did not.

英国和法国同意了，但伍德罗·威尔逊没有。

His letter rejecting the proposal said that Congress would not approve of the proposal and that reconstruction should be funded through “the usual financial channels”.

他在拒绝该提案的信中表示，国会不会批准该提案，重建工作应通过“通常的财务渠道”提供资金。

Rauchway’s research turned up the fact that the letter was written by Thomas Lamont, a J.

劳赫韦的研究发现，这封信的作者是托马斯·拉蒙特 (Thomas Lamont)，一名 J.

P.

P。

Morgan partner who was helping Wilson.

帮助威尔逊的摩根合伙人。

In short, the banks wanted to dominate and profit from funding Germany’s recovery.

简而言之，银行希望占据主导地位并从为德国复苏提供资金中获利。

As a passing note, those who oppose MMT because money printing by the Weimar Republic led to its runaway inflation, probably don’t know that the catastrophe resulted from actions by their banker counterparts a hundred years ago.

顺便说一句，那些因为魏玛共和国印钞导致通货膨胀失控而反对现代货币理论的人，可能不知道这场灾难是一百年前银行家同行的行动造成的。

Rauchway goes on to tell how bankers fought Roosevelt and his New Deal for the rest of his life.

劳奇威接着讲述了银行家们如何在余生中与罗斯福及其新政作斗争。

Two of his major economic accomplishments were ending the use of gold for international settlements, and having the U.S. Treasury take over and manage this country’s currency.

他的两项主要经济成就是结束在国际结算中使用黄金，以及让美国财政部接管和管理该国的货币。

Both were keys to ending the depression and winning World War II which he saw was coming before he became president.

这两件事都是结束大萧条和赢得第二次世界大战的关键，他在成为总统之前就预见到这场战争即将到来。

MMT promoters are continuing Roosevelt’s fights and I commend Rauchway’s book to them.

现代货币理论的推动者正在继续罗斯福的斗争，我向他们推荐劳奇威的书。

From what I have read, MMT promoters have not discussed the role of banks very much.

据我了解，现代货币理论的倡导者并没有过多讨论银行的作用。

But the number of dollars they create by making loans is many times greater than the number of new dollars the government creates by paying out more than it takes in with taxes.

但他们通过贷款创造的美元数量比政府通过支付多于税收而创造的新美元数量要多很多倍。

Banks see large government public funding operations as competitors.

银行将大型政府公共融资业务视为竞争对手。

Except when they needed bailouts, banks have fought government intervention in what they thought of as their economy for more than a century.

一个多世纪以来，除非需要救助，否则银行一直在与政府干预它们认为的经济进行斗争。

This will continue until the next recession when they may get in trouble again and will be in weak positions to bargain.

这种情况将持续到下一次经济衰退，届时他们可能会再次陷入困境，并且在讨价还价方面处于弱势地位。

Until then, fighting them is probably not a good use of MMT promoters’ time.

在那之前，与他们作斗争可能不是 MMT 推广者时间的最佳利用方式。

Many explanations of MMT include arguments with economists who have opposing views as if their views could be changed.

对现代货币理论的许多解释都包括与持有相反观点的经济学家的争论，就好像他们的观点可以改变一样。

But the case for MMT is being tried in the court of public opinion and there is no judge.

但现代货币理论的案件正在舆论法庭审理，并且没有法官。

The opposing economists are acting as counsels for Wall Street, banks, and other big money interests.

对立的经济学家正在充当华尔街、银行和其他大资金利益集团的顾问。

It is not in their natures or job descriptions to abandon their clients and agree with the MMT challengers.

放弃客户并同意 MMT 挑战者的观点并不符合他们的本性或工作描述。

This is particularly true where the clients have deep pockets and have helped the counsels get to where they are today.

当客户财力雄厚并帮助律师达到今天的水平时尤其如此。

Books and dissertations are waiting to be written on how money has contaminated academic freedom and open discussion of economic issues on their merits.

关于金钱如何污染学术自由以及如何公开讨论经济问题的书籍和论文正在等待撰写。

If the preceding is correct, how should MMT be seen, and how should it be promoted?

如果上述正确，那么应该如何看待MMT，又应该如何推广它？

I think of MM as an enabling, leadership tool for situations where resistance does not prevent its use.

我认为 MM 是一种有利的领导工具，适用于阻力不妨碍其使用的情况。

If early experiences are successful, it should be expanded where the political cases can be won.

如果早期的经验是成功的，就应该在能够赢得政治诉讼的地方进行推广。

Thus, I see MMT as a political problem, both for those who promote it and those who resist it.

因此，我将现代货币理论视为一个政治问题，无论对于那些提倡它的人还是那些抵制它的人来说都是如此。

Others may see it differently, and there should be brisk discussion of alternative views.

其他人可能会有不同的看法，应该对不同的观点进行热烈的讨论。

In the second part of this series, we will consider where this view can lead.

在本系列的第二部分中，我们将考虑这种观点的走向。