There are some great mainstream economic podcasts that I enjoy, such as Odd Lots and NPR’s Planet Money. They cover interesting topics and are very well done production-wise.
However, several times I have wanted to rant about basic mistakes but never bothered.
But just listened to this otherwise interesting Planet Money podcast –
February 24, 2021 Bond Voyage “The government used to be afraid to borrow too much money. Today, it borrows hand over fist. And it’s … fine?”
And yet there is never a mention that nothing has actually changed since the 1990s, that the US Gov can always set the base rate at zero and control all rates across the entire yield curve.
This simple understanding that reality-based Macro (such as MMT) has made clear for decades now undermines the entire “drama” of the podcast.
What are these people reading??
They still act as if sovereign bond rates are somehow market related.
It is just so behind the times and based on such misunderstanding of basic macro, it is frustrating to see otherwise good podcasts make such basic mistakes and provide disinformation.
They could do so much better.
Clint Ballinger 