By Karen Petrou
Progressive Democrats have recently touted modern monetary theory – i.e., that deficits don’t matter – to press social-welfare spending. Similarly dismissive of deficits, the Trump Administration and many Republicans now cotton to giant trickle-down individual tax cuts. But, deficits do matter not just for fiscal hawks, but also for equality advocates. A new IMF study takes an unprecedented look at U.S. public wealth since 1946, concluding that lots less public wealth undermines the ability of fiscal policy to alleviate economic downturns. Continue reading “Public Wealth and Private Worth: The Inequality Impact of Deficit Spending”