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How to Fix Democracy with Stephanie Kelton

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Since its origins, democracy has been a work in progress. Today, many question its resilience. The Bertelsmann Foundation and Humanity in Action have teamed up with Andrew Keen, author of How to Fix the Future, to launch How to Fix Democracy: a video and podcast series exploring practical responses to the threats facing democracies around the world. Host Andrew Keen interviews prominent thinkers, writers, politicians, technologists, and business leaders who enlighten and challenge us as we seek the answers to How to Fix Democracy.

In this episode, host Andrew Keen sits down with Stephanie Kelton, a Professor of Economics and Public Policy at Stony Brook University focusing on monetary policy and public finance. In this interview, she explains modern monetary theory (MMT) and clarifies some of the myths surrounding spending deficits, especially concerning the U.S. federal government’s massive debt. MMT is a change in the way the government explains its deficit, Kelton says, and is important for politically justifying big expenditures. When it comes to the health of democracy, Kelton argues, fear of contributing to the deficit means the U.S. has not been able to enact the big policies to help those left behind.