I think it is worth drawing attention to the latest newsletter of the South West Mutual – a fledgling co-operative bank that is trying to establish itself as the first such institution in the UK. Those that consider we have already a Co-operative Bank are obviously correct – but not in reality – as it… Read more
Category:
Banks
What about the workers?
The fact that the HMRC thinks that the recent, proposed National Insurance rises could lead to the breakdown of struggling families means at least that somebody is thinking of them, even if, remarkably, it is only the UK’s tax authority. (Government seem to have ceased to take either workers or struggling families into account.) I… Read more
Too busy in the City – versus the advantage of local banks
There is an interesting new interview from Renegade Inc with Professor Richard Werner: Presenter, Ross Ashcroft quotes: “As the Russian Proverb goes: There is nothing more permanent than a temporary solution.” And that is Quantitative Easing (QE), which term of course Richard Werner invented. But now, more important, I’d suggest are his ideas on local… Read more
Devolving money creation
There is an interesting programme from Renegade Inc (27 minutes) with the South African, Brett Scott who is ‘an author and financial activist’. I suggest that he has various insights: First that the cashless society is definitely not for the benefit of individuals but rather for corporations and banks. Second the ‘war on cash’ is… Read more
Banks lobby hard for government money
There is an informative chart produced by Positive Money in one of their recent articles, showing the number of Treasury officials’ meetings with lobbyists by sector: Banking had more than 17% of all meetings, or more than 25% if you include the corporations (‘companies’) many of which are financial (Greensill is a good example), while… Read more
The working and shirking classes…
I thought this ‘i’ article well observed: Rather, it is symptomatic of a much more deep-rooted change in Britain, with rising numbers of home-owning aspirational voters in originally industrial areas. It is symptomatic of the detoxification of the Conservatives, with the passing decades reducing the number of people who remember the depth of hatred of… Read more
Bankers’ currency and Conservative deceptions
I enjoyed Jim Osborne‘s comment mentioning what he called “bankers’ currency”. Clearly bankers’ currency is what all currency now is. The only ‘recent’ example of currency that was not (but was in fact the Treasury’s rather than the bankers’) is the short-lived Bradbury’s. It showed that we do not actually need the bankers to produce… Read more
Banks exist to create IOUs
That is literally what banks are for. If that is why banks exist, then the next question has to be who are they creating these IOUs for? This is important because those IOUs created by the money issuing authority are of little consequence. It can issue more of them or indeed accept back IOUs at… Read more
Former Comptroller & Auditor-General to be made a peer
Sir Amyas Morse, who left office in 2019, is the first former Comptroller & Auditor-General to be made a peer since the office was created in 1866. Why is this of interest? Apart from the fact that the post takes in being head of the National Audit Office, which is something we have all heard… Read more
Keir Starmer inches towards radical finance ideas
I was certainly delighted that Keir Starmer suggested ‘Recovery bonds’ as a method – in order to, well, recover from the Covid hangover. Yes, most on Progressive Pulse know that government creates money out of thin air so never needs bonds. But others of us might like bonds in order that those savings might earn… Read more