There has been a series of articles on Channel Four News on the experiences of ‘The Secret Barrister’ – and of course there is a book of the same name. This illustrates the straight injustice for potentially any one of us when the state refuses to fund adequately our defence – not to mention the… Read more
Category:
Money
The Deficit Myth criticism – second try
Julian Jessop was previously Chief Economist at the Institute of Economic Affairs, which he describes as “the [we ought to know – Koch Brothers funded] educational charity and free-market think tank” – and, remarkably, he is also of ‘Capital Economics’, one of whose members has already had a first try (commented on yesterday). He has… Read more
The Deficit Myth criticism – first go
There have been a couple of reviews in the Telegraph on Stephanie Kelton’s book ‘The Deficit Myth’ – this one is from June (yes, I really don’t read the Telegraph that frequently) from regular BBC and Telegraph commentator, Roger Bootle. What is probably most interesting of all is what he admits – and then especially… Read more
Money is our Pharaoh
Every society has the illusion that its economic system is a law of nature. We no longer think that we should work for a Pharaoh, as did the ancient Egyptians, because Pharaoh was a God. In twenty first century Britain we consider we work for money. That means Money is power. Money is our Pharaoh…. Read more
The government has no money of its own?
The state has no source of money, other than the money people earn themselves. If the state wishes to spend more, it can only do so by borrowing your savings or taxing you more. It is no good thinking that someone else will pay – that ‘someone else’ is you. There is no such thing… Read more
Taxpayers’ money doesn’t exist and is in the hands of the receivers
Ministers, government and mainstream media, insist on calling government money taxpayers’ money. Indeed everyone ‘knows’ it is taxpayers’ money and that is exactly why the government has to be so careful with it – because it’s not really theirs. So indeed did one Neil Mendoza, who is in charge of distributing the £1.57 billion in… Read more
Difference between PoMo and MMT may principally be just Strategy
Having contributed to a paper which may even appear on the Positive Money (PoMo) website in due course, I wonder if I may at last be able to shed further light on where Sovereign Money Reform (SMR) differs from Modern Monetary Theory (MMT), (which I’d love to rename Sustainable Government Finance – I can hope!)… Read more
Wrong framing can often just be a subtle influence…
The headline in yesterday’s Observer was ‘NHS chiefs in standoff with Treasury over emergency £10bn’. Apparently: The row piles pressure on Sunak to find more money for the NHS ahead of his summer statement on Wednesday. The article says that, according to the NHS: “There’s a very, very significant difference between the phrase ‘the NHS… Read more
The barbarians are not at the gate but actually in charge
European ‘Coronavirus’ emergency funding for the arts (approximate figures from various sources) currently stands at: France £6.5bn, Germany £900m, Italy £221m, Spain £68m, Ireland £18m and the UK – NIL. I’m ready to bet that the UK has the largest performing arts sector of any of these countries – indeed that may well be why… Read more
The debt deception
It was announced on Friday that government debt for the first time since 1963 is greater than GDP. Indeed it might be worse because GDP is currently declining. Really that is all quite remarkable… How fortunate we are that there were people waiting in the wings with the odd billion in their back pockets –… Read more