Government (Singapore's included) doesn't pay for anything. It passes taxpayers money back to them in the form of services. Some of which they should provide, some not.
Thought I just might although don't have much time for reading beyond day to day market movements and books I currently possess. Then I read this review and it struck a cord with me, that you no doubt will feel differently:- Vangel Vesovski 1.0 out of 5 stars Misses the point... Reviewed in the United States on November 10, 2010 Whether you will like this book or not depends on where you stand or what type of mind that you have. If you are on the left you will love the book and might want to consider buying it, even if it will lead you further astray and will support your bias. If you are on the right you will hate the book but may consider buying it because it will give you something to point to when you argue just how clueless the left is about economics, even as you hang on to your own mythology. If you are a libertarian do not buy this book because it is full of errors and foolish statist arguments that, at best, dispense one set of myths by providing counterarguments that comes from another. Although Quiggin is not a bad writer and can be interesting at times, his economic ideas are not very convincing and neither is his book. My doubts about the book surfaced early on when barely 25 pages into the text Quiggin slammed Hayek and Mises and suggested that Keynes had a better explanation of the business cycle theory. It does not take long that Quiggin prefers Keynes' failed ideas to those of the Austrian School, which predicted the Great Depression, the collapse of purchasing power after the link to gold was severed, the stagflation of the 1970s, the IT bubble, the housing bubble, and the credit collapse. I must confess here that the purchase decision was my own fault because I was already aware of Quiggin's past misrepresentations the Austrian School and his weak grasp of economic theory. My general optimism that people are capable of learning got the better of me so I decided to spend a few bucks and get the book. I clearly made an error. Whether you make an error in purchasing this book depends on where you stand and what kind of mind you possess. Good luck.
I have always thought It is better to think for yourself than let others do your thinking. What do you think?.
Seriously, I would rather live in the US, with all its problems, than in any other place, including Singapore.
Indeed I did! I always appreciate someone recommending a book to me, but please don't insist that I read it. I'm sure you feel the same way. I found Quiggin's book an especially fun read because of his great sense of humor. I suppose that's a reason why it has made it onto reading lists in university economics courses. I found it to be an exceptionally well written and well documented critique of economic fads that although presumed dead and buried keep rising from the grave.
Ha ha, Even though Quiggin's book doesn't have to do with MMT economics, it still greatly pleases me that you know who Bill Mitchell is! Very few here will. (Did I have something to do with that perhaps?) He is of course one of a handful of major contributors to the withering criticism of our entrenched and damaging misunderstandings of money and banking economics. This complete overhaul of wrong thinking has occurred in stages over about the past 100 years. Others who figured prominently in this achievement would include, but not be limited to, Knapp, Lerner, Minsky, Wray, Mosler, Bell (now Kelton) and quite a few others.
Actually I didn't hold onto to the link (though it might be in an recent email newsletter buried in a trash folder, I'll try to find it) that Bill Mitchell is quoted within and had some new thoughts on MMT that I found interesting. But you really give far too much credit to those who overhauled "wrong thinking". Economics is called the dismal science for a reason and it is ever evolving and rehashing. Not just the part you disagree with.