by David Youngberg, DC Clothesline:

I typically write about 20 letters of recommendations a year. Writing all of those isn’t easy, in part because most are due at the same time of year. To make matters worse, every student wants a strong recommendation, but few students deserve one. Sometimes I get a request for a strong recommendation and have to say no.

It seems mean on my part. My letter can get a student into their preferred school, putting them on a good path that will affect them for the rest of their life. And it doesn’t cost me anything to write a strong recommendation: I just have to add the phrase “I strongly recommend…” to the letter.

Of course, it’s not so simple. If I gave more strong recommendations than I have strong students, my recommendations, strong or not, would mean nothing. Even if it doesn’t physically cost me anything, I’m reputationally bound by the constraints of reality.

Modern Monetary Theorists (MMTers) should take note because this is an area they have a lot of trouble with.

The Boundless World of MMT

Much like I can create as many strong recommendations as I want, Modern Monetary Theory notes that a country has a god-like power to create its own currency. Therefore, they argue, countries that control their own currency shouldn’t bother budgeting. Budgeting is for us mere mortals.

The theory turns out to be little more than a recipe for hyperinflation, but that didn’t stop Stephanie Kelton, Bernie Sanders’s senior economic advisor, from sending out this tweet:

The carpenter can’t run out of inches
The stadium can’t run out of points
The airline can’t run out of FF miles
And the USA can’t run out of dollars