By CCN.com: The Federal Reserve released its latest educational comic book this week. “The Story of Monetary Policy” shows a world stabilized by a central bank through the eyes of an alien visitor who doesn’t understand things like “maximum employment.”
The New York Fed, who publishes the comic books, places itself as the all-important factor in things like “stable prices” and “modern interest rates.”
A local on the planet Novus takes an alien from a distant planet on a tour of the local economy. She explains that the place recently created a central bank to help with everything.
The comic attempts to explain away low-interest rates, which have discouraged an entire generation from saving money.
The comic book goes through several stages of economic health. It touches on high inflation, with characters complaining that they’re unable to buy as much with their currency as they used to.
As it turns out, however, the main character in “The Story of Monetary Policy” comes from a planet that might have Bitcoin at its heart. The figure explains that he comes from a deflationary economy, where things are very cheap, but money is very scarce.
The character concludes that his home planet should raise interest rates even higher, to make things more affordable, but the people of Novus stop him and point out that the “appropriate” action is expansionary money policy.
The comic comes at a time when liberals are floating the idea of “modern monetary theory,” vastly expanded social programs, and even universal basic income as a means to buy votes in the upcoming election. MMT is based on the notion that a sovereign nation should not worry about its debts, so long as it issues the currency they’re denominated in. Bernie Sanders’ campaign manager made waves at the end of this week by equating the federal reserve with a “stadium” that can’t run out of points.
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