FINDING THE MONEY

Can a new economic theory revolutionize our ability to tackle the climate crisis?

An underdog group of economists is on a mission to instigate a paradigm shift, by flipping our understanding of the national debt — and the nature of money — upside down.

With a ‘debt ceiling’ debate and threat of default taking over headlines for the past six months in the US, many people find themselves asking – what is the national debt anyways? And why would the issuer of the US dollar ever need to borrow US dollars in the first place? With the enormous challenges of climate change and humanely caring for people on the horizon, the biggest obstacle presented is usually the question: ‘But how will we pay for it?” and “Where will we find the money?” According to Stephanie Kelton, face of the new economic theory known as “Modern Monetary Theory” or MMT, those aren’t the right questions to be asking a currency issuing nation. She asserts ‘Finding the money’ to pay for public priorities is never actually the problem — but real constraints are — namely real resources, labor, and inflation.  

Director: FINDING THE MONEY received the Audience Award at DocLands film festival DocPitch 2021, and was selected for Big Sky Pitch, Hot Docs Deal Makers, and DOC NYC Round Tables in 2022. She is Associate Producer with Codebreaker Films, on Enemies of the State (TIFF 2020) and Reality Winner (2023). Originally from the California Bay Area, Poitras has a background in environmental science and agriculture from UC Berkeley.

Special Guest: Maren Poitras