Social Security trustees have once again sounded the alarm about the program running out of money. In reality, the federal government has infinite dollars. As former Fed chair Alan Greenspan admitted, “There is nothing to prevent the federal government from creating as much money as it wants and paying it to somebody.” Federal spending is […]

On a recent podcast, Elon Musk and Senator Ted Cruz discussed Musk’s “bombshell” discovery that the federal government had “magic money computers” that could issue payments from “nothing”. To anyone who has spent little time thinking about how money is created, this might seem astounding. In fact, money has always been created from nothing. Throughout

If you think the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is saving some of your hard-earned tax dollars, then you don’t understand money. The federal government, being the issuer of the U.S. dollar, creates new dollars from thin air every time it spends. It does this by using a computer to mark up the size

Republicans in Congress are proposing cuts to many programs that benefit Americans: Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, etc. They cite the national debt, currently over $34 trillion, as the reason we must reduce that debt. If we don’t, they’ll say, we’ll leave an overwhelming burden for our grandchildren. You might share that

Lacking action by the U.S. Congress, Social Security and Medicare will face funding shortfalls within the next ten years. Both parties claim they won’t cut the programs, but their past “reforms” to strengthen them have been cuts under different names: raising the eligibility age, taxing benefits, limiting COLAs, etc. Social Security’s OASI (old age and

Congress is currently debating ways to “save” Social Security and Medicare. As has been reported repeatedly, the programs’ trust funds will soon be depleted. Should you be concerned? Absolutely, but not in the way you might think. Social Security and Medicare comprise two trust funds each. The former has the Old-Age and Survivor’s Insurance (OASI)

The U.S. national debt has surpassed $30 trillion. Should we be worried? Like many people, I used to view the national debt the same way I viewed my personal debt. My household can borrow only so much money before we get into trouble. If we’re unable to make payments on time, we could get hit

Here’s an excellent talk by Bill Mitchell about how most progressives fall into the trap of using neoliberal framing, usually without realizing it. He also gives some examples of how to change the conversation to avoid that trap and to make positive change more likely.

Here’s an excellent editorial from Raúl Carrillo & Jesse Myerson on the myth of “taxpayer money”. When it came to explaining money, Margaret Thatcher was either a doofus or evil. I don’t think she was a doofus.