Uploaded August 2016 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago

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Professor L. Randall Wray discussing the intellectual precursors to Modern Money Theory. Beardsley Ruml was the Chairman of the New York Federal Reserve, and wrote after WW2 that taxes are not necessary to fund government spending, but rather serve other purposes, such as adjusting the income distribution or changing behavior.

You can read Ruml's article here: constitution.org/tax/us-ic/cmt/ruml_obsolete.pdf

See the whole video here: youtube.com/watch?v=-KRi9nF8BiA