In his eighth "Letter From the Cape", economist Bill Mitchell, co-founder of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) answers one of the great economic mysteries, if the Australian federal government can never run out of Australian dollars, why does it tax us? The rest of the show is a dog's breakfast. But then, it is the fifth Friday. Show NotesExcerpts from a panel session: Do we need ‘big’ government?held at the Adelaide Festival's Writers' Week, in March 2023Broadcast Wed 22 Mar 2023 at 8:00pmhttps://www.adelaidefestival.com.au/events/2023-writers-week/big-the-role-of-government/Panel chair: Paul Barclay from ABC Radio National.Panelists:Richard Dennis -- economist and Executive Director, The Australia InstituteAlan Kohler -- financial analyst at ABC NewsWayne Swan -- former Federal Treasurer with the Labor Party, notably during the GFCExcerpts from House Question Time, 22 June 2023Theme MusicPleading Ignorance, by Ed Kuepper, from the album Starstruck.https://edkuepper.com/Additional AudioToo Many Things, by Ed Kuepper, from the album Starstruck.Quiz Show Background Music Loop with changesby Alexander Bluhttps://orangefreesounds.com/quiz-show-background-music-loop/The song is permitted for non-commercial use under license “Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)”Ride To The CityExzel Music Publishing (freemusicpublicdomain.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/