Finding the Money / Film School Radio interview with Director Maren Poitras

FINDING THE MONEY follows American economist Stephanie Kelton on a journey through Modern Money Theory or “MMT”. Kelton provocatively asserts the National Debt Clock that ticks ominously upwards in New York City is not actually a debt for us taxpayers at all, nor a burden for our grandchildren to pay back. Instead, Kelton describes the national debt as simply a historical record of the number of dollars created by the US federal government currently being held in pockets, as assets, by the rest of us. MMT bursts into the mainstream media, with journalists asking, “Have we been thinking about how the government spends money, all wrong?” But top economists and politicians from across the political spectrum condemn the theory as “voodoo economics”, “crazy” and “a crackpot theory”. FINDING THE MONEY traces the conflict all the way back to the story we tell about money, injecting new hope and empowering countries around the world to tackle the biggest challenges of the 21st century: from climate change to inequality. Filmmaker Maren Poitras tackles the fascinating linked concepts of taxation and debt by foregrounding the work of an underdog group of American economists including Stony Brook professor Stephanie Kelton. With a radical shift in thinking around a concept dubbed Modern Money Theory, Kelton provocatively asserts new hope for democracies around the world to tackle the biggest challenges of the 21st century. For more go to: findingmoneyfilm.com