To start at the end of Positive Money’s latest article “It is promising that MMT (Modern Monetary Theory) is gaining traction in every corner. We greatly enjoyed attending both [MMT] events and have only warm expectations about working together to design a better, healthier, fairer economy.” “Positive Money (PoMo) has long advocated using public money… Read more
Posts by:
Peter May
Betrayals
There is one aspect of betrayal that is that of our current Prime Minister who, less than two months before the referendum, gave a remarkably sensible speech on EU membership at the Institute of Mechanical Engineers. On the basis of its contents she has certainly betrayed the country and probably herself, but not perhaps (yet)… Read more
Anna Soubry nails it: ‘Brexit was undefined and is undeliverable.’
Dominic Grieve spoke nothing more than the truth on Radio 4’s Broadcasting House [first major piece] when he said “there is no form of Brexit that is not hugely damaging to our country.” Indeed the side of this red bus appears far more informative than the one Johnson liked to arrive on: Grieve’s interview was… Read more
The IMF have suddenly discovered both the price of everything and the value of nothing
The FT has reported that the IMF says that “Cash-strapped governments could find a huge new source of revenues if they managed their assets more professionally” Those presumably will be the ones that the IMF was previously in favour of not just managing, but privatising. “The potential receipts, equivalent to an average of 3 per… Read more
Police not investigating the misdeeds of Leave because of ‘political sensitivities’?
I think all of those interested in the Rule of Law should look at this ‘Open Democracy’ Article here. If the Metropolitan Police really are not investigating the misdeeds of Leave because of ‘political sensitivities’ we must consider whether or not we are in a country where the Rule of Law prevails or whether in… Read more
A ‘Peoples Vote’ is, in fact, the only way out of the quagmire
I’ve discovered that a more insidious question to which Brexit provides the answer is Tate & Lyle. Prominent sponsors of the previous Conservative Party Conference, this company seems ostensibly just a public spirited part of British culture – what with all their art galleries…. Regrettably that was much more to do with the profits of… Read more
US regulatory food incompetence
Just in case anyone was subdued into acceptance of the idea that the USA food system functions well – never mind even better than the UK or EU systems, we should just take on board, that here is the world’s largest meatpacker recalling 6.9 million pounds of beef linked to antibiotic-resistant Salmonella. So input antibiotics… Read more
To which questions is Brexit the answer?
After our ‘democratic’ vote in favour of Brexit, I am still struggling to understand the question to which Brexit provides the answer. I can think of two possibilities: One is to stop freedom of movement. That wasn’t on the ballot paper but the media speaks as if it it was. That means goodbye to the… Read more
Boom in shadow banking is a stability problem
The FT is pointing out that the European Central Bank (ECB) is worried about the shadow banking boom (intermittent paywall) in Europe. Ten years after the world was rocked by an unprecedented banking crisis, policymakers are sounding the alarm about the spread of risk out of the now more regulated banks and into the “shadows”… Read more
Weimar and discovering the case against austerity
Having recently been criticised by someone who considers that the history of the Weimar Republic means that the government can never print money, and that governments should more properly follow the advice of sober bankers, I countered that the Reichstag was actually private at the time so it was not the government printing the money… Read more