Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 4 days ago
Modern Monetary Theory explains how sovereign currency systems work, but it doesn’t tell us who controls the state or whose interests state power serves. Economist Bill Mitchell suggests that a dialectical understanding of capitalism is essential for answering that question.
He and Steve discuss MMT not as a policy prescription but as a lens to dissect the capitalist state, not a neutral arbiter but an instrument of class conflict. Bill traces the motion of capital from the post-WWII “Golden Age,” which was a temporary compromise forced by a strong working class. He takes us through what he calls the neoliberal counter-revolution, epitomized by the Powell Memorandum, wherein capital consciously exercised control to reverse social gains and redistribute income upward.
The government’s “fiscal crisis” is an ideological fiction (a fetish of money) that obscures the material reality: a currency-issuing government faces no inherent financial constraint, only real resource limits.
From the erosion of labor power and the rise of think tanks to militarism, financialization, climate crisis, and AI-driven social control, Bill contends that today’s crises are not policy mistakes but the logical outcomes of capitalism’s extreme contradictions. The conversation explores why understanding monetary sovereignty is only the beginning, but reformism and electoralism are insufficient. The material conditions are driving toward a necessary rupture.
William Mitchell is Professor of Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE) at the University of Newcastle, NSW Australia. He is also the Docent Professor of Global Political Economy at the University of Helsinki, Finland, and Guest International Professor at Kyoto University, Japan.
He is one of the founders of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). His daily blog is one of the world’s leading economics blogs.
Follow Bill’s work and find his books at billmitchell.org/blog
Chapters
00:00 MMT Lens Not Hope
05:40 Neoliberalism Not Broken
10:49 Class Conflict Explained
14:43 Powell Memo Playbook
20:53 State Captured By Capital
25:36 Oligarchy And Voting Myth
30:51 Consumption Debt Control
44:00 Instability And Climate
47:22 AI And Reality Collapse
51:01 Polycrisis Final Words
56:46 Wrap Up And Support
Weaponize Knowledge with Modern Monetary Theory (MMT)
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#mmt
Weaponize Knowledge with Modern Monetary Theory (MMT)
Please help our Real Progressives efforts in spreading and become a monthly donor!
At PayPal
paypal.me/RealProgressives/25
At Patreon
patreon.com/realprogressives
Write for Real Progressives
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Visit our website:
realprogressives.org
Listen to our podcast:
realprogressives.org/macro-n-cheese-podcast
We believe all materials used in this video fall under Fair Use as defined in Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976.
Modern Monetary Theory explains how sovereign currency systems work, but it doesn’t tell us who controls the state or whose interests state power serves. Economist Bill Mitchell suggests that a dialectical understanding of capitalism is essential for answering that question.
He and Steve discuss MMT not as a policy prescription but as a lens to dissect the capitalist state, not a neutral arbiter but an instrument of class conflict. Bill traces the motion of capital from the post-WWII “Golden Age,” which was a temporary compromise forced by a strong working class. He takes us through what he calls the neoliberal counter-revolution, epitomized by the Powell Memorandum, wherein capital consciously exercised control to reverse social gains and redistribute income upward.
The government’s “fiscal crisis” is an ideological fiction (a fetish of money) that obscures the material reality: a currency-issuing government faces no inherent financial constraint, only real resource limits.
From the erosion of labor power and the rise of think tanks to militarism, financialization, climate crisis, and AI-driven social control, Bill contends that today’s crises are not policy mistakes but the logical outcomes of capitalism’s extreme contradictions. The conversation explores why understanding monetary sovereignty is only the beginning, but reformism and electoralism are insufficient. The material conditions are driving toward a necessary rupture.
William Mitchell is Professor of Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE) at the University of Newcastle, NSW Australia. He is also the Docent Professor of Global Political Economy at the University of Helsinki, Finland, and Guest International Professor at Kyoto University, Japan.
He is one of the founders of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). His daily blog is one of the world’s leading economics blogs.
Follow Bill’s work and find his books at billmitchell.org/blog
Chapters
00:00 MMT Lens Not Hope
05:40 Neoliberalism Not Broken
10:49 Class Conflict Explained
14:43 Powell Memo Playbook
20:53 State Captured By Capital
25:36 Oligarchy And Voting Myth
30:51 Consumption Debt Control
44:00 Instability And Climate
47:22 AI And Reality Collapse
51:01 Polycrisis Final Words
56:46 Wrap Up And Support
Weaponize Knowledge with Modern Monetary Theory (MMT)
Please help our Real Progressives efforts in spreading and become a monthly donor!
At PayPal
paypal.me/RealProgressives/25
At Patreon
patreon.com/realprogressives
Donorbox
donorbox.org/each-one-teach-one-3
Write for Real Progressives
realprogressives.org/submit-an-article
Visit our website:
realprogressives.org
Listen to our podcast:
realprogressives.org/macro-n-cheese-podcast
Subscribe to our Substack:
realprogressives.substack.com
We believe all materials used in this video fall under Fair Use as defined in Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976.
#mmt
Weaponize Knowledge with Modern Monetary Theory (MMT)
Please help our Real Progressives efforts in spreading and become a monthly donor!
At PayPal
paypal.me/RealProgressives/25
At Patreon
patreon.com/realprogressives
Write for Real Progressives
realprogressives.org/submit-an-article
Visit our website:
realprogressives.org
Listen to our podcast:
realprogressives.org/macro-n-cheese-podcast
We believe all materials used in this video fall under Fair Use as defined in Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976.
