Two songs to introduce MMT for the layperson (plus a poem).

This post documents Modern Money Theory or MMT in song. It contains two songs to introduce MMT to the layperson, one by me, the other by MMT Podcast co-host, Christian Reilly. At the bottom you will find some some more photos from the 2019 International MMT Conference in Long Island New York, where Christian and I debuted both songs.

[Go back to the table of contents.. These resources were created by Activist #MMT, the podcast (Twitter, Facebook, web, please consider becoming a monthly patron). Last updated August 22, 2020.]

As a bonus, here’s a poem by first-year MMT activist Iryna Rychko, written at the 2019 conference and inspired by Geoff Ginter. You can hear Iryna speak this poem at the start of this episode of Activist #MMT (her original reading at the conference is embedded into the interview-proper):

Do you ever wonder how bold are the lies?
That exit the mouths of our “fellow allies.”
They’re paid to continue their sad little tries
in order to get us to give up our rights.

The bolder the lie, the more they will get
by saying that spending’s resulting in debt.
The debt is a ledger, just simple spreadsheets
containing decisions of wealthy elites.

I know it’s our money and now it is time
to rid of the liars and take what is mine.

Finally, here is a song written by a MMT founder Warren Mosler (with thanks for Mat Forstater). It’s really not economic, but I’m choosing to archive it here. (Mat also told me that Warren wrote a play called What’s Debt Got To Do With It?)

I Am the Very Model of a Modern Monetary Theory

I wrote this. It’s a parody of “I Am The Very Model of a Modern Major General” from Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance (1870s). It was inspired by the first subheading in this article and this fantastic performance (which contains a cameo by Linda Ronstadt and Kevin Kline).

This was recorded by the Rancocas Valley Singers (NJ) in early September 2019, with accompaniment by Roxanne Furgeson. I sing the slow verse, and my then-nine-year-old does the fast spoken monologue. There are eight people in the choir, recorded once, shuffled around, then recorded again. To make it sound bigger, the first version is placed in the left speaker, the second version in the right. Here’s the full sheet music to the parody and the original.

Link to video and an audio-only version

Spending on the world as we know it

A parody of REM’s It’s the End of the World as We Know It, written and performed by MMT Podcast co-host Christian Reilly. The “MMT reality” near the end is sung by me.