When it comes down to it ‘stuff’ doesn’t matter that much Having to clear my late father’s home recently, it became very apparent how the material focus of economics is wrong. What he had mattered for little in the end. The memories he left did. So why does economics get this so terribly wrong?
The fiscal rules we need
Funding the Future
The fiscal rules we need
I posted this Tweet yesterday: The Tweet was, I admit, inspired by a comment someone made here, but in posting it I was not just making a p...
 Economics is about the allocation of scarce respources. Money is not a scarce resource as far as government is concerned: it can create all it needs, and we require that it does so. In that case what is the obsession with monetary fiscal rules about and why aren’t we talking about real issues, like tackling poverty, poor housing and insufficient pensions?
Modern monetary theory is not a policy Some people seem to think that modern monetary theory (MMT) is a set of policy options a country might adopt. It isn’t. It’s a description of how the economy of the country we live in really works. What’s powerful about it is that it describes actually happens – and so leads to better decision making.
Why aren’t young people working? Thirty-eight per cent of young people who could work are not doing so. They’re not lazy, or indifferent. Nor have they dropped out. They just can’t fit into the machinery of conformism that modern employers demand of them. As a result, vast numbers of talented young people aren’t delivering of their best for this country.
The national debt is something to be celebrated The national debt is nothing more than the savings of people with money to spare. It’s not a threat to our well-being, it won’t bring the economy down, and it doesn’t need repayment. Our grandchildren (if we have them) are not threatened by it. That money just needs to be put to good use.
There is class warfare going on in this country now, and it is Labour waging it on the people of the UK
Funding the Future
There is class warfare going on in this country now, and it is Labour waging it on the people of the UK
Labour appears to have another disastrous new slogan. This one is ‘There is no right or left anymore. There is just right and wrong.’ It ...
It’s small, local businesses that create jobs, and they don’t seem to be on Labour’s agenda
Funding the Future
It’s small, local businesses that create jobs, and they don’t seem to be on Labour’s agenda
The Office for National Statistics has reported this morning that: Annual growth in employees
 Today’s employment news is not encouraging. We need more jobs in the UK, not just giant data warehouses that employ almost no one. Job creation almost always comes from government and small, local, businesses. Where are they in Lanbour’s priority listing, or are they just not cool enough?
The investment we need is in people Keir Starmer is inviting the world to the UK to invest here, but he’s looking for the wrong type of investment. We don’t need his ‘big ticket’ schemes that will become white elephants as we head for a world where sustainability will matter most of all. What we really require is investment in the diverse skills that the people of this country have but which need development – and there’s no sign he’s going to deliver that.
Rachel Reeves has to get her numbers right Most of the data being used when discussing the economy is hopelessly incorrect. We even have up to six figures for the national debt in the UK – and all of them are wrong. It really is time for Rachel Reeves to start publishing decent data so we can have a proper economic debate in the UK.
How late is too late? The world might already be at a tipping point when it comes to climate change and yet our leaders still seem to be in denial about the reality that we have to face. So, how late is too late when it comes to making the changes required if human life is to survive on Earth?