Ann Pettifor: Debtonation

Prospect magazine’s April 14, 2018 edition ignited a debate between orthodox and heterodox economists. It also included a page titled: In my contribution I tried to explain the nature of money. Not sure I succeeded. Anyway, here it is: “Unlike the prices of bitcoins or gold, the price of money is not determined by the market forces of supply and demand. That’s because money is not a commodity, but a social construct: “a promise to pay” to quote Joseph Schumpeter. So money’s price—the...

This piece appeared in the London Observer on Sunday, 4th March, 2018 By asserting the policy of “monetary radicalism and fiscal conservatism”, Osborne and his colleagues ensured that those responsible for the crisis benefited from the Bank of England’s quantitative easing programme, which inflated asset prices largely owned by the more affluent. Simultaneously, the Conservative government, aided by Orange Book Liberal Democrats like Danny Alexander, used austerity to shift the burden...

This piece appeared in the London Observer on Sunday, 4th March, 2018 By asserting the policy of “monetary radicalism and fiscal conservatism”, Osborne and his colleagues ensured that those responsible for the crisis benefited from the Bank of England’s quantitative easing programme, which inflated asset prices largely owned by the more affluent. Simultaneously, the Conservative government, aided by Orange Book Liberal Democrats like Danny Alexander, used austerity to shift the burden of the...

This was published on the PRIME site on the 25th February, 2018. Britain is led today by deeply divided political parties. Our leaders have many policies, but no inspiring vision for Britain’s future – either within, or outside the EU. As President Roosevelt once famously said: “where there is no vision, the people perish”. The peoples of the European Union do have a vision – the pursuit of peace and stability across the continent on the basis of European values (including the maintenance...

This was published on the PRIME site on the 25th February, 2018. Britain is led today by deeply divided political parties. Our leaders have many policies, but no inspiring vision for Britain’s future – either within, or outside the EU. As President Roosevelt once famously said: “where there is no vision, the people perish”. The peoples of the European Union do have a vision – the pursuit of peace and stability across the continent on the basis of European values (including the...

Early in February, a leading Brexiteer MP (Jacob Rees-Mogg MP) delivered a Daily Express petition to No 10 calling for an end to “foreign aid madness” – an event that gathered virtually no publicity. Why should it have? Jacob Rees-Mogg knows very little, and cares less about international development. The story died. A new element was needed to inflame opposition to Britain’s foreign aid budget. Thus began the search for a six-year old OXFAM sex scandal, which fitted the framing of ‘foreign...

Early in February, a leading Brexiteer MP (Jacob Rees-Mogg MP) delivered a Daily Express petition to No 10 calling for an end to “foreign aid madness” – an event that gathered virtually no publicity. Why should it have? Jacob Rees-Mogg knows very little, and cares less about international development. The story died. A new element was needed to inflame opposition to Britain’s foreign aid budget. Thus began the search for a six-year old OXFAM sex scandal, which fitted the framing of...

This time with a link to the You Tube version of the RoundTable. Money for nothing – should everyone get a universal basic income? Would it, as some believe, encourage prosperity? Or have the opposite effect? Ann Pettifor in a TV discussion with David Foster of TRT World, Matt Kerr of the Scottish Labour Party, Sam Demetrium of Adam Smith Institute and Robb Lugg, a Trades Unionist – on 7th February, 2018. Related Posts

This time with a link to the You Tube version of the RoundTable. Money for nothing – should everyone get a universal basic income? Would it, as some believe, encourage prosperity? Or have the opposite effect? Ann Pettifor in a TV discussion with David Foster of TRT World, Matt Kerr of the Scottish Labour Party, Sam Demetrium of Adam Smith Institute and Robb Lugg, a Trades Unionist – on 7th February, 2018. Related Posts

The Economist had a piece  on Britain’s tax base in its 25th January edition. It begins with a reference to Denis Healey’s speech to the 1973 Labour conference, in which he promised that tax increases  would be met with “howls of anguish” from everyone, not just the rich. As it happens, I have been reviewing the record of Labour Chancellors this last week. With the exception of Hugh Dalton, they were all financially orthodox, and almost all resorted to raising taxes and cutting government...