The Modern Monetary Theory revolution will not be televised

We live in extraordinary times. Revolutionary times. The upstarts, originally marginalized and dismissed as irresponsible, suddenly see their radical ideas embraced. The holders of power shift, first imperceptibly and then all at once, to the side of the revolutionaries in the streets.

I refer, of course, to the takeover of the Washington establishment and consensus by adherents of the Modern Monetary Theory, aka MMT, of economics.

A quick refresher: MMT begins with the principle that governments that control and create their own currency, like the United States, never have to worry about defaulting on excessive government debt. Taxes do not have to match spending now. Or ever. Borrowing and money creation can always fill the gap between spending and taxation.

Also, inflation is not such a worry as classical economists thought because slack in labor markets and in production capacity dampens prices. The goal of policymakers, therefore, is not to dampen inflation but to stimulate the economy and reduce the slack. Do this carefully and — voila! — no inflation.

We have been fooled and distracted by the idea — the wrong idea — that democratic socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders and New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have brought MMT to the forefront of policy making.

The revolution of radicalism over conventional economics has triumphed because Donald Trump is our first MMT president.

Mainstream theorists are signaling their worry, but they are too late. You know something is happening to threaten mainstream economics when N. Gregory Mankiw publishes, as he did in May, “A Skeptic’s Guide To Modern Monetary Theory.”

If you don’t know Mankiw by reputation, he’s the ultimate avatar of conventional economic thinking. Harvard professor. Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under George W. Bush. And the author of the textbook Principles of Economics, which college students use in introductory courses.

Mankiw is the Michael Jordan of classical Keynesian economics. A starter and first-round pick on