Money From Nothing: Or, Why We Should Stop Worrying About Debt and Learn to Love the Federal Reserve

Robert Hockett · Aaron James

Sep 2020 · Penguin Random House Audio · Narrated by Tristan Morris

About this audiobook

A major work of financial theory and practice with immediate relevance to the rebuilding of the economy, and restoring the promise of equality

When the government decides to spend money, it simply creates the necessary funds for itself--as if out of thin air. That's how we pay for interstate highways, post offices, wars, social services, and economic stimulus packages. If it's that easy to make money...can't we all get more of it? Absolutely. And we should.

So argue financial regulation expert Robert Hockett and bestselling philosopher Aaron James in this eye-opening, irreverent, and inspiring exploration of what the dollar really is. And better still, they show how we can build an economy that works for everybody without unwanted taxes and added regulations.

In the process, we learn how disingenuous the political rhetoric surrounding inflation can be, how the demonized concept of the deficit is really just another way of tallying our collective national wealth, and how a strong central bank could free us from the abuses of private banking.

With broad historical background and ambitious yet practical institutional proposals, Hockett and James offer a new vision of public finance--people's banking for a people's economy. Armed with this new outlook, we can even stop worrying debt and learn to love a strong, accountable, and transparent Federal Reserve as a cornerstone of our democracy.

About the author

ROBERT HOCKETT has first-hand experience working at the International Monetary Fund and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and continues to consult for a number of US federal, state and local legislators and regulators. He drafted Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's "Green New Deal" resolution for the House of Representatives and officially advises her on economic policy. He is the Edward Cornell Professor of Law and a Professor of Public Policy at Cornell University, Senior Counsel at Westwood Capital (a socially responsible investment bank), and a Fellow of The Century Foundation (a think tank). He's a regular contributor to Forbes magazine, where he covers finance, economics, law and justice. He lives in Ithaca, NY.


Aaron James holds a PhD from Harvard and is professor of philosophy at the University of California, Irvine. He is the author of Fairness in Practice: A Social Contract for a Global Economy, the bestselling Assholes: A Theory, Assholes: A Theory of Donald Trump, Surfing with Sartre and numerous academic articles. He lives in Irvine, CA.