Dear John,
Thank you for reading my essay, and your comment.
In order for the public, on net, to save, the government must run a deficit, or print money. Currently, most of this money is going to the wealthy, since most of the public has been unable to save, due to rising living costs and stagnant wages. They are being repressed by the oligarchy, financially.
An entire society cannot save money. It is a fallacy of composition. It is contractionary in the present, as society saves, and inflationary when the society dis-saves. (Does this affect production? An interesting question.) The point being that money is indeed not a commodity. As the MMT-ers argue, it is just keeping score.
Raising the interest rate is, I think, mostly useful for slowing the velocity of money. But, since money is debt, it also affects the quantity.
I think the only way for a community to gain control of its resources, and its money, is through a strongly progressive tax system. This will discourage excess accumulations of capital, and also help conserve resources, since it decreases the discount rate of those resources. That is, future resources have a higher present value. Someone who owned some forest, for instance, with a flat tax might have it clearcut, taking all the income at once, whereas, with a progressive tax, he would be more likely to just cut a portion of it, and save the rest for income later.
This to be combined with a modest rate of inflation.
You have given me something to think about. Thank you.
Charles Gregory St Pierre