Some on the Marxist left of politics, including those of that persuasion who have now entered the Greens in England and Wales with the clear aim of pushing it in a Marxist, class warfare-based direction, have decried modern monetary theory because it "has no theory of class inherent in it". Comments by Grace Blakeley on this blog, who is one of those to whom I refer, confirm that class warfare-based opposition to MMT.
This made me think about the questions those, and others on the left, who deny the relevance of MMT should be asked. My provisional list is as follows, grouped by theme for convenience.
Core Money & State Questions
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Do you agree that the state already creates money when it spends?
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If not, where do you think the money the government spends actually comes from?
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If the government were not to spend first, how would anyone get the money needed to pay tax?
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If money is a public construct, why should the public pay rent (interest) to private finance for access to it?
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Why should a currency-issuing government ever need to “borrow” its own currency from the private sector?
Tax & Redistribution Questions
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Do you believe taxation funds public services — or does taxation mainly shape distribution and inflation?
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If you want wealth redistribution, wouldn't taxing the wealthy be more effective when spending has already occurred, and redistribution becomes a primary goal of taxation in its own right?
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If the government can cut taxes for the wealthy without asking “how will you pay for it?”, why can't it fund public services the same way?
Employment & Public Purpose Questions
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Do you think full employment is a legitimate and achievable public policy goal?
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If so, why rely on private investment decisions to deliver it rather than using the power of the state to create money to do so?
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If unemployment is a political choice, why shouldn't the government eliminate it directly, as MMT and the policies it suggests imply is possible?
Inflation & Power Questions
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Do you think inflation is caused by too much public spending, or by market power, shortages, and profiteering?
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Why does the burden of inflation control have to fall on workers, and not the corporations that raise prices?
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If inflation can be managed by taxation targeted at excess profits and rents, as MMT suggests, why insist on cuts in spending instead, as other theories suggest is necessary?
Class & State Theory Questions
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If capital exercises power through the state, shouldn't the left fight for democratising that power, as MMT suggests is possible, rather than accepting the constraints designed by capital?
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Who benefits when the left insists the state is financially weak and dependent on private markets?
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If the left concedes that money is scarce, hasn't the left already lost?
Investment & Green Transition Questions
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Do you believe the climate crisis can be solved without sustained deficit spending?
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If austerity has failed, why should the left adopt a fiscal rule that mimics it?
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Should the affordability of saving the planet really be defined by whether hedge funds approve?
Democratic Accountability Questions
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If elected governments defer to bond markets, where is democracy?
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Who should decide what is affordable: Parliament or traders?
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If the public wants better services and the resources exist to deliver them, what justifies withholding them when MMT suggests that is not necessary?
Narrative & Messaging Questions
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Why accept a narrative of scarcity when there is real spare capacity in the economy?
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How can the left “fund the future” if it keeps saying the country has “run out of money”?
The underlying question
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Why would the left adopt conservative monetary myths that limit the very changes the left claims to want?
Perhaps, more generally, you could try this list instead:
1. What do you think money is?
- Is it a finite resource, or a public tool we can choose to use differently?
2. Who should decide how much money exists in the economy?
- Democratic government, or private banks and financial markets?
3. If the government does not create the money we need, how do we earn the money required to pay tax?
- Does spending have to precede taxation?
4. If we can always find money for war, bank bailouts, and corporate subsidies, why not for hospitals, homes and care?
- What principle justifies that difference?
5. Who benefits when we treat the government as financially constrained?
- Is austerity a technical inevitability, or a political choice that serves particular interests?
6. If unemployment exists, who chose it?
- Could we instead choose policies, like government-funded full employment, that secure work and dignity for everyone?
7. Can we tackle climate breakdown without large, sustained public investment?
- If the answer is no, what reason is there to fear government deficits?
8. What actually causes inflation?
- Is it “too much public spending,” or the abuse of market power by corporations and landlords?
9. Why should the left defend the idea that the state must borrow its own currency from the wealthy?
- Is that not simply reinforcing the power of capital over labour?
10. If the state creates money, why do we pretend it can run out?
- What political projects depend on maintaining that myth?
11. Who should control the narrative of affordability?
- Hedge funds, or the electorate?
12. If the real limits are skills, labour, resources and the planet, why are we still behaving as if the limit is “money”?
Comments
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Brilliant list for sensible discussion with the 95% of the UK population.
Plus your marvellous riposte to Littlewood.
Many thanks for your work.
Thanks
Interesting how the questions are so informative
Some companies are making 40% profit if we accept that all new spending is not new money but has to be borrowed or comes from taxes then the economy has to grow in order to cover money removed from the economy by company’s profit
To me the answer would be increase taxes on large companies profits to keep the money in the economy
I think that the idea of criticising MMT /Sovereign Money Powers for lacking class struggle dimension is disingenuous.
Either because it seems to misunderstand what it is doing. To me it looks as cogent as criticising the theory of relativity because it has no class struggle inherent in it. OR -as I think you do here, Richard, it’s disingenous because it fails to see the implicit applications to and explanations of class conflict that it lays bare.
Btw, I think that calling it something like Sovereign Money Powers can help make that clear: it’s a description of the way something works; you either take cognisance of them or you hamper your own ability to engage effectively.
Can’t understand why there is an argument here. We are in a ‘class war’ in the sense that those who own the means of production -including the global corporates controlling information and politics are tightening their grip and destroying democracy in pursuit of the global sovereign corporation
https://equalitytrust.org.uk/evidence-base/money-media-and-lords/
Understanding where money comes from and that ‘anything we can actually do we can afford’ surely is necessary in order for democracy to fight back.
The argument is about the rejection of technocracy as having the power to create change for the better.
I would rework this quote from
https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2025/11/26/the-alternative-budget-we-need-the-video/
The idea that people should earn a rate of return on their money when saved in a bank in excess of the rate of inflation is crazy. It is simply a wealth reallocation as a consequence, and that is unjust, and every single one of the major Abrahamic religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, has all said so, and so have many other faith traditions as well, such as Hinduism and the Jains and others. The point is, everybody knew in ancient times that interest was a measure for redistribution; it’s time we understood it again.
If you can – YES! I do more than like it. It does of course cover more than interest – the whole business of ‘making money from money’
I m wondering whether “the left” (using a generic term to keep it simple) believe that money is created by production and not through the process of state spending. In that case it follows that it is necessary for the state to control the means of production. So they advocate the nationalisation of everything and have few other ideas. The only way to achieve that goal is via a violent seizure of power. No wonder the traditional left is going nowhere.
Taxing, Q7 – taxing when spending has already occurred – can you please clarify/confirm; does this refer to taxing wealth through existing tax system as per your Taxing Wealth Report? IE taxing income from wealth, and financial services, or transactions? Many thanks. New job training has hammered my already average brain, too much to remember!
This refers to all taxes. It’s policy choice what they are on.
Thank you
Marxist theory collapses in the face of ecological analysis because Marxists assume nature can be exploited without cost and the only question is who gets the spoils. This is clearly nonsense.
So that means Marx wasn’t a Marxist? As a Bennite/neoM sort of lefty, I’ve never heard a Green or indeed any of my socialist group (wishy washy to full Lenin) suggest such a thing! You been listening to who?
In a recent podcast, Grace Blakely was clearly espousing the loanable funds theory which was surprising.
Or just ignorant given all the evidence from central banks that it does not exist.
Excellent questions that help understanding MMT
MMT proves there is an alternative.
As my tutor once said if you want to know about a system and who has power, find out how they do money. This seems applicable to meso and macro systems.
Your tutor was right.
I think Gramsci’s ‘time of monsters’ quote is apposite. The old order is dying, the substructure behind it being brutally revealed (e.g the hidden business liaison between USA and Russia); the nature of many of the commentariat is also revealed within the limited world of the politically interested. Turbulent times, and some formulations are yet to be born (Advance UK, Christofascism imports, Your Party, power struggles to come in the Greens, Labour, Tory and probably whatever Reform becomes). Blakeley and others may come round to MMT, only time will clear the fog.