ZEN and the Art of Modern Money

I’m expanding an earlier essay into a short, book-length piece I hope will be useful in the unfolding public debate about MMT.

我正在将之前的一篇文章扩展为一篇简短的、书本长度的文章，我希望对正在展开的关于现代货币理论的公开辩论有所帮助。

The piece will utilize the “operation” of a “diagram-machine” to illustrate how our modern money system actually works.

该作品将利用“图表机器”的“操作”来说明我们现代货币体系的实际运作方式。

My hope is that it will be accessible and easily understood by people who have a genuine interest in MMT, but little time or patience to delve into its operations and implications.

我希望那些对 MMT 真正感兴趣、但没有时间或耐心去深入研究其运作和影响的人们能够轻松地理解和理解它。

I’m posting the narrative here at NEP for comments and suggestions.

我将这段叙述发布在 NEP 上以征求意见和建议。

Efforts to keep things simple and focused on basics might lead to some errors, or important omission—which I’d like to avoid.

努力让事情变得简单并专注于基础知识可能会导致一些错误或重要的遗漏——这是我想避免的。

The diagram-machine, itself, I’m still working on—but I think the narrative, for now, can be followed (and evaluated) without it.

我仍在研究图表机器本身，但我认为目前的叙述可以在没有它的情况下遵循（和评估）。

Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) has burst into public awareness with a surprising message most people find hard to comprehend or believe:

现代货币理论（MMT）凭借一个大多数人难以理解或相信的令人惊讶的信息突然进入公众视野：

The U.S. government can afford to spend a lot more dollars to achieve public benefits and collective purposes than our current political-economic narrative tells us is possible.

美国政府有能力花费更多的美元来实现公共利益和集体目标，这比我们当前的政治经济叙述告诉我们的可能性要多得多。

The result has been a back and forth of claims and counter-claims.

结果就是索赔和反索赔的来来回回。

Mainstream media and political-economic leaders tell us MMT is “hogwash” and a formula for economic disaster.

主流媒体和政治经济领导人告诉我们，现代货币理论是“废话”，是导致经济灾难的公式。

America, they say, will become like Venezuela!

他们说，美国将变得像委内瑞拉一样！

Modern Monetary advocates tell us that a sovereign nation which issues its own currency can never fail to pay any bill that is denominated in that currency.

现代货币倡导者告诉我们，发行自己货币的主权国家永远不会不支付任何以该货币计价的账单。

Consequently, America can afford to undertake much larger expenditures for the public benefit than is currently imagined or calculated.

因此，美国有能力为公共利益承担比目前想象或计算的大得多的支出。

Naysayers respond: this prescription is just “printing money”—it will destroy trust in America’s credit and lead to the hyper-inflation and political corruption of a banana republic.

反对者回应：这个处方只是“印钞票”——它将破坏对美国信用的信任，并导致香蕉共和国的恶性通货膨胀和政治腐败。

Much depends on the outcome of this economic debate: Are we—or aren’t we—able to provide universal health-care for all Americans?

很大程度上取决于这场经济辩论的结果：我们是否能够为所有美国人提供全民医疗保健？

Are we—or aren’t we—able to provide universal pre-school day-care and early childhood educations?

我们是否能够（或不能）提供全民学前日托和幼儿教育？

Are we able to provide our high-school graduates with debt-free secondary educations or technical training?

我们是否能够为高中毕业生提供无债务的中等教育或技术培训？

Are we able to provide a job-guarantee—with a living wage—for every citizen who is unemployed by private commerce?

我们是否能够为每一位因私营商业失业的公民提供工作保障（包括生活工资）？

Can we invent and build, fast enough , the new energy systems, infrastructure, and ecological interventions necessary to mitigate and adapt to the coming climate change?

我们能否足够快地发明和建造缓解和适应即将到来的气候变化所需的新能源系统、基础设施和生态干预措施？

And to accomplish these goals, is it true that America must become a “socialist” state with dramatically higher taxes and ever-expanding, intrusive bureaucracies?

为了实现这些目标，美国真的必须成为一个税收大幅增加、官僚机构不断扩张的“社会主义”国家吗？

How can we answer these questions?

我们该如何回答这些问题呢？

How can we know who is telling us the truth?

我们如何知道谁在告诉我们真相？

How can we know if America does, or does not, have “enough money” to effectively address, in a decisive way, the big, unfolding challenges of our times?

我们如何知道美国是否有“足够的资金”来以果断的方式有效应对我们这个时代正在出现的巨大挑战？

Unfortunately, most Americans have little interest or time for delving into and understanding the underlying topic of monetary economics.

不幸的是，大多数美国人没有兴趣或时间去深入研究和理解货币经济学的基本主题。

Instead we must rely on talking-heads, poorly explained economic jargon, and intuitive memes that often hide reality rather than explain it.

相反，我们必须依靠谈话者、解释不清的经济术语和直觉模因，这些模因往往隐藏现实而不是解释现实。

This book is an effort to change that.

本书就是为了改变这一现状而做出的努力。

It’s important to note at the outset that MMT does not propose a “new” monetary system, but simply that we truly understand the monetary system we are using every day.

首先需要注意的是，现代货币理论并没有提出一个“新”的货币体系，而只是让我们真正了解我们每天使用的货币体系。

My goal, in the following pages, is to illustrate how that system actually operates—and to do so in a way that can be quickly grasped and understood by anyone—using their own power of observation—who is willing to dedicate thirty minutes of focused attention to the task.

在接下来的几页中，我的目标是说明该系统实际上是如何运作的，并且以一种任何人都可以快速掌握和理解的方式进行操作，使用他们自己的观察力，只要愿意花三十分钟的注意力集中在该任务上。

To facilitate this “short-cut” to the heart of something (the American monetary system!) that’s so dry, convoluted, and tedious most people don’t even want to think about it, we’ll build what I call a “diagram-machine”—a dynamic diagram we can “operate” and tinker with to observe and understand its workings.

为了促进这种“捷径”到达某些事物（美国货币体系！）的核心，大多数人甚至不想考虑它，我们将构建一个我所说的“图表机器”——一个我们可以“操作”和修补以观察和理解其运作的动态图。

It will be a highly simplified version of the real economic “machine” that is operating behind the scenes in our daily lives.

它将是我们日常生活幕后运行的真实经济“机器”的高度简化版本。

Running this simple diagram-machine through a few basic operations, I hope, will reveal the basic mechanisms of the real machine—and, in doing so, will make clear what MMT wants us to truly see and understand.

我希望，通过一些基本操作来运行这个简单的图表机器，将揭示真实机器的基本机制，并且在此过程中，将明确 MMT 希望我们真正看到和理解的内容。

And if MMT can be generally understood and accepted by the American public, the unfolding and crucial debate over the future of American society can go forward in a more rational and constructive manner.

如果现代货币理论能够被美国公众普遍理解和接受，关于美国社会未来的关键性辩论就能以更加理性和建设性的方式向前推进。

So, let’s begin!

那么，让我们开始吧！

It will be useful to start with an overview of the diagram-machine’s purpose and how, in general, it achieves that purpose.

首先概述图表机器的目的以及一般情况下它如何实现该目的将很有用。

The most important parts of our machine are the Combustion Chambers, and the “fuel” that circulates through these chambers that enables it to operate.

我们机器最重要的部分是燃烧室，以及在这些燃烧室中循环以使其能够运行的“燃料”。

The “fuel” our machine uses is money.

我们的机器使用的“燃料”就是金钱。

When money (fuel) flows into either of the two Combustion Chambers, something happens : goods and services are produced and consumed.

当金钱（燃料）流入两个燃烧室中的任何一个时，就会发生一些事情：生产和消费商品和服务。

These goods and services—and the consumption of them—are the sole purpose of our machine-diagram.

这些商品和服务以及它们的消费是我们机器图的唯一目的。

In other words, the purpose of the diagram-machine is to produce what the American people—individually and collectively—need to live their lives (and pursue their happiness) in relative safety and comfort: food, water, clothing, houses and apartments, electricity and fuels, cars, buses and highways, law enforcement and courtrooms, education, medical care and medicines, Givenchy luggage and chocolate eclairs, etc. All these things are produced and paid for in the Combustion Chambers via the exchange of money—and then are “consumed” by the American people in the pursuit of their happiness.

换句话说，图表机器的目的是生产美国人民——无论是个人还是集体——在相对安全和舒适的情况下生活（并追求幸福）所需的东西：食物、水、衣服、房屋和公寓、电力和燃料、汽车、公共汽车和高速公路、执法和法庭、教育、医疗保健和药品、纪梵希行李箱和巧克力泡芙等。所有这些东西都是在燃烧室中通过货币兑换和支付来生产和支付的。然后被美国人民“消费”以追求幸福。

The money (fuel) for these exchanges in our diagram-machine is fed into the Combustion Chambers from two different sources.

在我们的图表机中进行这些交换的资金（燃料）从两个不同的来源送入燃烧室。

Spending source #1 is a bank account in the Private Banking system.

支出来源#1 是私人银行系统中的银行账户。

(Our machine has two of these.) Spending source #2 is the U.S. Treasury Reserve account at the Central Bank of the Federal Reserve.

（我们的机器有两个。）支出来源 #2 是美联储中央银行的美国财政部储备账户。

After an exchange takes place in the either of the Combustion Chambers—producing and allocating goods and services—the money (fuel) flows out of the Combustion Chamber and into another private bank account, ready to be used again.

在任一燃烧室中发生交换（生产和分配商品和服务）后，资金（燃料）从燃烧室流出并进入另一个私人银行账户，准备再次使用。

That’s the basic operation.

这就是基本操作。

And the net result of the operation is that needed or useful goods and services are produced and consumed by the American people.

运作的最终结果是美国人民生产和消费所需或有用的商品和服务。

In operating our diagram-machine, what we want specifically to observe is how (and when) the fuel that runs the machine is produced.

在操作我们的图表机器时，我们特别想要观察的是运行机器的燃料是如何（以及何时）产生的。

One of the central mysteries of our current political-economic debate is whether there is “enough” money to accomplish our collective goals—or, as it’s often framed: “That’s a nice idea, but how can we pay for it?”

我们当前政治经济辩论的核心谜团之一是是否有“足够”的资金来实现我们的集体目标，或者，正如人们经常提出的那样：“这是一个好主意，但我们如何支付费用？”

The first thing you’ll notice when we go to the next page—“Parts and Pieces”—is that our diagram-machine doesn’t have a gas-tank!

当我们进入下一页“零部件”时，您会注意到的第一件事是我们的图表机器没有油箱！

What we want to observe and understand is how the machine, itself, produces the gas it needs to fuel the Combustion Chambers.

我们想要观察和了解的是机器本身如何产生为燃烧室提供燃料所需的气体。

It is this understanding that is the essence of what MMT wants us to “see.”

正是这种理解才是现代货币理论希望我们“看到”的本质。

To help us observe this, the components of our diagram-machine have been given a “fuel flow-meter” showing three different tallies: (1) a beginning tally, (2) a change, and (3) an end tally.

为了帮助我们观察这一点，我们的图表机的组件配备了一个“燃油流量计”，显示三个不同的计数：(1) 开始计数，(2) 变化，以及 (3) 结束计数。

We’ll keep it simple, but it’s important to take the time to follow along and keep up with the tallies—to observe how the fuel is flowing in the machine.

我们会保持简单，但重要的是花时间跟进并跟上计数 - 观察燃料在机器中的流动情况。

Our diagram-machine is a very simplified version of the real machine that runs our economy.

我们的图表机器是运行我们经济的真实机器的一个非常简化的版本。

Even though the real machine is an enormous, sprawling complexity, its logistics are driven by a few key parts, components, and operations which are, in themselves, relatively simple mechanics—though they might well surprise you!

尽管真实的机器是一个巨大的、复杂的系统，但它的物流是由一些关键零件、组件和操作驱动的，这些零件、组件和操作本身就是相对简单的机制——尽管它们很可能会让您感到惊讶！

If we can see how these key parts and components operate, individually and in concert with each other, we will have a surprisingly robust understanding of the entire grandiose and bewildering operation—enough of an understanding, at least, to form a useful opinion of what the machine can, or cannot, be expected to accomplish.

如果我们能够了解这些关键零件和组件如何单独或相互协调地运作，我们将对整个宏伟而令人困惑的操作有令人惊讶的深入理解——至少足以对机器能够或不能完成什么任务形成有用的意见。

As illustrated, our diagram-machine consists of four major components.

如图所示，我们的图表机器由四个主要组件组成。

The first two components produce and direct the fuel (“money”) that powers the machine:

前两个组件产生并引导为机器提供动力的燃料（“金钱”）：

The second two components are the “combustion chambers” in which the fuel is converted to work that accomplishes the goals of production and consumption for American Society:

后两个部分是“燃烧室”，燃料在其中转化为功，实现美国社会的生产和消费目标：

Within the Central Bank we have the following subcomponents:

在中央银行内，我们有以下子组成部分：

Connecting these components and sub-components are flow channels through which fuel (money), or things related to money, flow.

连接这些组件和子组件的是燃料（金钱）或与金钱相关的事物流动的流动通道。

That’s our diagram-machine.

这就是我们的图表机器。

Simple as it is, virtually all the realities of America’s modern money system can be observed and understood by operating it.

尽管很简单，但实际上美国现代货币体系的所有现实都可以通过运作来观察和理解。

So, let’s see if we can start it up!

那么，让我们看看是否可以启动它！