Mitch Daniels: Modern Monetary Theory, debunked everywhere except among government big-spenders
Mitch Daniels is the president of Purdue University, a former governor of Indiana, a former director of the Office of Management and Budget, and a co-chair of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. He recently wrote an opinion piece for The Washington Post, an excerpt of which is below:
The Piltdown Man hoax, about finding the “missing link” between humans and apes, escaped exposure for 41 years. Phrenology had a similar run of credibility; even some widely respected scientists thought the contours of a person’s cranium could be “read” for what it said about intelligence and character. Lysenkoism was around long enough that, to his eternal disgrace, the proponent of the bizarre theory of plant heritability got his name attached to it.
Blatant bogosity — to employ a college roommate’s useful coinage — is no guarantee that a preposterous idea will die quickly.
These days, transparent nonsense can be shielded by tribalism or the groupthink of “elite” opinion. If a notion is convenient enough in justifying a preferred outcome, it can survive despite mountains of evidentiary, or just common sense, refutation. Think of imaginary stolen elections or defunding police in an era of exploding crime.
Read the entire piece here.
Published works by members or staff of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget do not necessarily reflect the views of all members or staff of the Committee.
