Finding The Money is a new documentary on deficit spending, the national debt and the controversial Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) featuring economist, NY Times Bestselling author, Professor Dr. Stephanie Kelto.

Also featured in the documentary film are economists L. Randall Wray, Warren Mosler, Fadhel Kaboub, Mathew Forstater, Lua Yuille, and Pavlina Tcherneva.

Release Date

Directed by Maren Poitras, Finding The Money world premiered at Woodstock Film Festival 2023, then screened as closing night film of Green Festival of San Francisco 2023 where it won the Audience Award for Best Feature Film; and opens in select theaters nationwide and on digital platforms on May 3rd, 2024.

Synopsis

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.

“As the 2024 US election season ramps up, we will be hearing a lot about the national debt and the deficit. As soon as a question about climate change comes up, it will be followed with – “but how will we pay for it?” and “where will we find the money?” As if the US federal government were not the sole issuer of the US dollar.” commented director Maren Poitras,

She continued, “This is where the story we tell about money matters. Where does money come from? Who creates it? And who has agency over it? What are the real limits to government spending, if the limit is not how much money we can ‘find’ through taxing or borrowing? An alternative story of money will revolutionize our conception of what we as a society believe we can afford and can achieve.”

Official Trailer

Watch the official trailer for Finding The Money

Featured in ‘Finding The Money’ documentary are:

Stephanie Kelton is a professor of economics and public policy at Stony Brook University. She is a leading expert on Modern Monetary Theory, a former Chief Economist on the U.S. Senate Budget Committee (Democratic staff), and an advisor to Senator Bernie Sanders’ 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns. She was named by POLITICO as one of the 50 people most influencing the policy debate in America. Her highly-anticipated book, The Deficit Myth (2020), became an instant New York Times bestseller.

Lua Kamál Yuille: Northeastern University professor of law and business within the School of Law and the D’Amore-McKim School of Business.

Dr. Mathew Forstater: professor in Economics and the Research Director of the Global Institute for Sustainable Prosperity.

Jared Bernstein: current Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors to President Joe Biden.

Fadhel Kaboub: Associate Professor of economics at Denison University (on leave), and the president of the Global Institute for Sustainable Prosperity,

Warren Mosler: American economist and theorist, and one of the leading voices in the field of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT)

Pavlina R. Tcherneva, Ph.D., is Professor of Economics at Bard College, the Director of OSUN’s Economic Democracy Initiative, and a Research Scholar at the Levy Economics Institute, NY.

David Andolfatto: Senior Vice President, in the research division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, where he served as a senior policy advisor for James Bullard, CEO and president of the Bank.

Jason Furman:Aetna Professor of the Practice of Economic Policy jointly at Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) and the Department of Economics at Harvard University.

Olivier Blanchard: Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, and the Robert M. Solow Professor of Economics emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Peter Coy writes about economics, business and finance for New York Times Opinion

Ben Holland: current economics editor at Bloomberg News

David Dayen: Executive editor of The American Prospect

Reb. Delman Coates: Senior Pastor of Mt. Ennon Baptist Church in Clinton, MD. Founded the non-profit Our Money Campaign that seeks to mainstream the academic insights of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) to solve some of our nation’s greatest social and economic challenges.

George Selgin: Senior fellow and director emeritus of the Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives at the Cato Institute and professor emeritus of economics at the University of Georgia.