Ep 51: Amber Griego: The job guarantee transformed a desert into the Land of a Thousand Wineries (plus kindness)

Welcome to episode 51 of Activist #MMT. Today I talk with fourth-year MMT activist and nursing assistant, Amber Griego (Twitter/@realityisralph). Amber is a co-founder of an organization called Beyond the Spectrum (@BT_Spectrum), or BTS. BTS produces a short weekly video, highlighting important and influential tweets regarding Modern Money Theory, written by academics and laypeople alike. I‘m happy to have been included in several of their videos since they began in January 2020. Amber grew up (and still lives) in a highly conservative part of Washington state, despite personally having strong progressive views. She was home-schooled and even though she says there are large swaths missing from her education, she still graduated with honors after taking the Washington state exams. Just as I was, Amber was politically woken up by Bernie Sanders in 2015. In addition, because one of those missing swaths happened to be economics, discovering modern money in 2017 was a relatively quick and painless transition. Her breakthrough came from Rocco Million (Twitter/@RoccomillionMMT), who at the time did regular livestreams for the online activism group, Real Progressives. Amber considers kindness to be of paramount importance, which is partially influenced by her experience as a nurse, sitting at the deathbeds of hundreds of elderly patients and witnessing the last breath of many. Just as different styles of patients prefer different styles of nurses, different styles of listeners and learners prefer different styles of speakers and teachers. Despite being told by some so-called allies that "kindness won't get you far," the truth is that all styles are needed. When you are presented with someone you can't reach, your job is to pass them off to someone else with a more appropriate style for that person. Finally, Amber's geographical region was particularly affected by the job guarantee, or more specifically, the New Deal. Her area was originally a desert but in the 1930s and 40s, was permanently transformed into what is now called the Land of a Thousand Wineries. It is currently under the management of the Army Corps of Engineers. Although she doesn't consider herself an artist, Amber expresses her learning through memes, videos, and other graphical forms. Some examples of her work can be found in the show notes. Amber's work: videos https://imgur.com/Wv8nk3D.jpg inspired by Stephanie Kelton, artwork by Amber. https://imgur.com/FOgOycj.jpg https://imgur.com/d6HS9fA.jpg https://imgur.com/EJC25KO.jpg https://imgur.com/7H2KYFK.jpg https://imgur.com/aDzxCyT.jpg https://imgur.com/lNShx6O.jpg https://imgur.com/dGjwKJY.jpg https://imgur.com/eJ1i1Rk.jpg Amber's work: videos https://youtu.be/gOQuJ8c0tyc Link to video https://youtu.be/M-t0EAjzbzY Link to video https://youtu.be/LyIwZjahXMo Link to video https://youtu.be/S2tN5w4F_nU Link to video https://youtu.be/BvuooV4lMgg Link to video https://youtu.be/kcjbQl4B8cM Link to video #LearnMMT For an overview of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) with many reliable sources to learn more, here is a good place to start: My large set of resources containing many expert sources, layperson tutorials, and people and places to follow. On Facebook, the pinned post on Modern Monetary for Real Progressives contains a wealth of information. Please become a monthly patron of Activist #MMT We shouldn't have to beg, but we do have to beg. So it's not *that* we beg, but *who* we beg. I am choosing to beg you, my listeners, to financially support this show. For even a dollar a month, you'll get exclusive patron-only content and updates, highlighted by around four-days access to every episode, before they're released to the public. However, you'll also get super-early access to several episodes, weeks, and sometimes even months in advance. To be clear, however, all episodes of Activist #MMT are free, for all, forever. Patrons only get the opportunity to hear them before the public. Take a listen. If you like what you hear, please consider becoming a monthly patron of Activist #MMT. You can start here: https://www.patreon.com/activistmmt. ✌️, ❤️, and #MMT 🦉