As always gents. a great podcast!….But!…in the same vein as the Civil Services attempt to employ working class bricklayers to jobs normally given to graduates I implore you all to do the same!… break the mould! I can’t help it!… I find myself marking your homework after each podcast, mainly because I’d like to be there discussing these matters with you and so I find myself doing the next best thing! … critiquing your podcast as it doesn’t chime with my view, experience and outlook. It seems to me, we have a problem to solve or a job to do, like the civil service, or Banking or lawyers or graduates or politicians who are all of the same moulds, all in line with their thinking, and do unsurprisingly get the same or similar answers and observations along the same theme. I don’t mean that in a bad way, as said I thoroughly enjoy these discussions and adore the intellect and am comforted by the consensus. But, like the civil service is the same year in year out, lawyers are the same, politicians and Bankers etc etc.. I find economists also if a similar mould. People who are so knowledgeable in their field, as long as it’s in their comfort zone, not straying too far from the norm. I hear everything you say! But it’s so much of the same. In economic terms we are getting deeper in debt and to correct that the only logical path is to borrow less, we must either cut expenditure or put up taxes! It’s been the same clear and accepted result used by every thinking economist and politician alike.there are, for different reasons, certain slants as to how they all reach similar results of choice but in the end it’s the same basic ideas…. Well like the civil service, despite its critics, I happen to think we need to break that mould!… I lived post war through post rationing, and the optimistic 60s and the doldrums of the 70s and the eighties optimism and the ninety’s hope and the struggling naughtiest and beyond. A lot of my working life has been starting things, having to plan and create from scratch and later fault finding and self teaching on many subjects. And one thing I have learned is you need to think everything through! Exhaust nothing of thinking and planning. I have also had to stand in the doorstep with nothing and earn my money with just my brains to guide me. Now that’s not special, but, when I see the same thinking, the same questions and getting the same answers and it still hasn’t cured the problem, we need to think again! Out of the box and don’t be frightened to try a different approach. It’s all well and good to look at stars of the past, see how they say it should be done and think that the answers are nearby if you use that knowledge they have supplied you with. But it may be the wrong thing to do! Sometimes it’s best just to start again thinking in the present! I liken it to a car, breaking down. And the accepted and well versed thing to do is…what? Lift the bonnet? Call the AA or just ignore the lights on the dashboard and keep going!? Well no! If there is no fuel in the car it isn’t broken! It’s the type of driver who over thinks the situation. Through trying too hard to be an expert when it just needs fuel! You three all came to similar judgments…. Houston, we have a problem! … we have borrowed to fill a deficit since 2001…. 24 years! Of course we have a problem! We could see it then. I know I could!… and so did most in the Country. And yes, of course it can be tackled by cutting funds to schools, hospitals, roads, infrastructure, housing, etc. etc., and yes it can be helped with higher taxes or new taxes or new rates! I believe we left the EU because it was thought we can’t keep paying them! And each time we underfunded wages or budgets we still couldn’t make it pay our way! We tried ingenious ways to stop paying benefits, like taking people off benefits that targeted the issue to make no sense and put everyone in PIP! Why? So ridiculous questions if ordinary people who honestly explained themselves out of their benefits! What a clever idea!! …not!!!… or, instead of curing people, let’s put them on waiting lists and go from queue to queue for months on end and then let’s employ twice the surgical staff to manage those queues! What a clusterf**k! And here we are, seeing the whole system imploding with underfunding and the same thinking that no matter what cuts we have had to endure, despite everyone working so hard to do more for less, struggling with debt stress snd worry if a ever increasing cost of living, we are no further forward,just as skint just as worried and devoid of the answers we need because all are in their comfort zone reaching the same conclusion, let’s open the bonnet, tinker and try snd run it into the ground!… no! Let’s put some fuel in the economic vehicle!…you all touched on it we need growth! That illusive holy grail! How do we get growth!??… well, it’s harder now as we are in debt to the tune of nearly £3,000,000,000,000.00 trillion pounds!…and counting!… now how do you expect to grow from that minus position, with more cuts and more taxes and no borrowing?? That’s the question I am desperate for you all to debate? Austerity doesn’t work. Strangling more tax revenue from a debt ridden economy that is flat and stagnant isn’t going to work either! So stop looking! What’s the point? You all know it’s not worked, we all know it’s not worked, so let’s start again and see what GROWTH really is? …Now, expecting an economy devoid of the two things that make an economy work, MONEY and SPENDING to bring us back from the brink is delusional. Without MONEY and SPENDING there is no economy! MONEY is an exchange of work so there has to be an exchange! So to get MONEY You need SPENDING and to get SPENDING you need an exchange of work! And now I want to confuse you again with simplicity! Taxes are triggered by SPENDING! So money not SPENT or EXCHANGED triggers no tax! None!!… so let’s see what our economy is doing?… there is little MONEY ( I know that because, the tax take is insufficient and everyone says, “there’s no MONEY about”) so if there is no MONEY about then SPENDING is insufficient ( I know that because, the tax take is insufficient and people say “I have no MONEY left after bills to SPEND”) so guess what!?… we can’t SPEND enough MONEY to trigger enough tax revenue! So then the logical question must be, where is all our MONEY that we all need to SPEND to pay sufficient tax revenue? It’s certainly not in the pot of MONEY we use daily to SPEND to trigger our taxes! ( I know this because, we don’t pay sufficient tax revenue and people say “we’ve got no MONEY!”) so where is it all and who’s got it?… well apparently the BoE states there is approximately £18-19 trillion pounds out there in the aether. Yet if there is that amount surely we should be able to SPEND that MONEY in an exponential manner to bring in sufficient tax revenue to pay our way? Surely we should?? With income tax around 25% and Nic 15% and VAT and Duty and other taxes bringing it to 100% that should mean we could in theory rotate that MONEY of £18,000,000,000,000.00 trillion pounds to trigger yes, £18 trillion pounds of tax revenue! And then see it happen again next year! If so, why is it not happening? Well by deduction, and using my own God given brains, I can see it must be somewhere other than our daily pot of MONEY that we SPEND in EXCHANGE of work to trigger the taxes we need to pay our way! Yes … eureka! … our MONEY must be out of the Country being held onto by the rich! It must be them, because I know we haven’t got it! How?… because, we don’t pay sufficient tax revenue and haven’t done since 2001 and people say “there is no MONEY about!”… and of course we all know …. It had to be somewhere! So might I sarcastically suggest that, that MONEY be finally EXCHANGED back do we can have it to SPEND and trigger sufficient tax revenue so we don’t have to borrow any more MONEY , off the same rich people who we have to borrow our own MONEY back from each month since 2001!… no wonder we haven’t got it! They’ve got it all! Can you debate that? And maybe inactive the return of it all with a SPENDING POLICY!?… I’d love to listen to that debate.
As always gents. a great podcast!….But!…in the same vein as the Civil Services attempt to employ working class bricklayers to jobs normally given to graduates I implore you all to do the same!… break the mould! I can’t help it!… I find myself marking your homework after each podcast, mainly because I’d like to be there discussing these matters with you and so I find myself doing the next best thing! … critiquing your podcast as it doesn’t chime with my view, experience and outlook. It seems to me, we have a problem to solve or a job to do, like the civil service, or Banking or lawyers or graduates or politicians who are all of the same moulds, all in line with their thinking, and do unsurprisingly get the same or similar answers and observations along the same theme. I don’t mean that in a bad way, as said I thoroughly enjoy these discussions and adore the intellect and am comforted by the consensus. But, like the civil service is the same year in year out, lawyers are the same, politicians and Bankers etc etc.. I find economists also if a similar mould. People who are so knowledgeable in their field, as long as it’s in their comfort zone, not straying too far from the norm. I hear everything you say! But it’s so much of the same. In economic terms we are getting deeper in debt and to correct that the only logical path is to borrow less, we must either cut expenditure or put up taxes! It’s been the same clear and accepted result used by every thinking economist and politician alike.there are, for different reasons, certain slants as to how they all reach similar results of choice but in the end it’s the same basic ideas…. Well like the civil service, despite its critics, I happen to think we need to break that mould!… I lived post war through post rationing, and the optimistic 60s and the doldrums of the 70s and the eighties optimism and the ninety’s hope and the struggling naughtiest and beyond. A lot of my working life has been starting things, having to plan and create from scratch and later fault finding and self teaching on many subjects. And one thing I have learned is you need to think everything through! Exhaust nothing of thinking and planning. I have also had to stand in the doorstep with nothing and earn my money with just my brains to guide me. Now that’s not special, but, when I see the same thinking, the same questions and getting the same answers and it still hasn’t cured the problem, we need to think again! Out of the box and don’t be frightened to try a different approach. It’s all well and good to look at stars of the past, see how they say it should be done and think that the answers are nearby if you use that knowledge they have supplied you with. But it may be the wrong thing to do! Sometimes it’s best just to start again thinking in the present! I liken it to a car, breaking down. And the accepted and well versed thing to do is…what? Lift the bonnet? Call the AA or just ignore the lights on the dashboard and keep going!? Well no! If there is no fuel in the car it isn’t broken! It’s the type of driver who over thinks the situation. Through trying too hard to be an expert when it just needs fuel! You three all came to similar judgments…. Houston, we have a problem! … we have borrowed to fill a deficit since 2001…. 24 years! Of course we have a problem! We could see it then. I know I could!… and so did most in the Country. And yes, of course it can be tackled by cutting funds to schools, hospitals, roads, infrastructure, housing, etc. etc., and yes it can be helped with higher taxes or new taxes or new rates! I believe we left the EU because it was thought we can’t keep paying them! And each time we underfunded wages or budgets we still couldn’t make it pay our way! We tried ingenious ways to stop paying benefits, like taking people off benefits that targeted the issue to make no sense and put everyone in PIP! Why? So ridiculous questions if ordinary people who honestly explained themselves out of their benefits! What a clever idea!! …not!!!… or, instead of curing people, let’s put them on waiting lists and go from queue to queue for months on end and then let’s employ twice the surgical staff to manage those queues! What a clusterf**k! And here we are, seeing the whole system imploding with underfunding and the same thinking that no matter what cuts we have had to endure, despite everyone working so hard to do more for less, struggling with debt stress snd worry if a ever increasing cost of living, we are no further forward,just as skint just as worried and devoid of the answers we need because all are in their comfort zone reaching the same conclusion, let’s open the bonnet, tinker and try snd run it into the ground!… no! Let’s put some fuel in the economic vehicle!…you all touched on it we need growth! That illusive holy grail! How do we get growth!??… well, it’s harder now as we are in debt to the tune of nearly £3,000,000,000,000.00 trillion pounds!…and counting!… now how do you expect to grow from that minus position, with more cuts and more taxes and no borrowing?? That’s the question I am desperate for you all to debate? Austerity doesn’t work. Strangling more tax revenue from a debt ridden economy that is flat and stagnant isn’t going to work either! So stop looking! What’s the point? You all know it’s not worked, we all know it’s not worked, so let’s start again and see what GROWTH really is? …Now, expecting an economy devoid of the two things that make an economy work, MONEY and SPENDING to bring us back from the brink is delusional. Without MONEY and SPENDING there is no economy! MONEY is an exchange of work so there has to be an exchange! So to get MONEY You need SPENDING and to get SPENDING you need an exchange of work! And now I want to confuse you again with simplicity! Taxes are triggered by SPENDING! So money not SPENT or EXCHANGED triggers no tax! None!!… so let’s see what our economy is doing?… there is little MONEY ( I know that because, the tax take is insufficient and everyone says, “there’s no MONEY about”) so if there is no MONEY about then SPENDING is insufficient ( I know that because, the tax take is insufficient and people say “I have no MONEY left after bills to SPEND”) so guess what!?… we can’t SPEND enough MONEY to trigger enough tax revenue! So then the logical question must be, where is all our MONEY that we all need to SPEND to pay sufficient tax revenue? It’s certainly not in the pot of MONEY we use daily to SPEND to trigger our taxes! ( I know this because, we don’t pay sufficient tax revenue and people say “we’ve got no MONEY!”) so where is it all and who’s got it?… well apparently the BoE states there is approximately £18-19 trillion pounds out there in the aether. Yet if there is that amount surely we should be able to SPEND that MONEY in an exponential manner to bring in sufficient tax revenue to pay our way? Surely we should?? With income tax around 25% and Nic 15% and VAT and Duty and other taxes bringing it to 100% that should mean we could in theory rotate that MONEY of £18,000,000,000,000.00 trillion pounds to trigger yes, £18 trillion pounds of tax revenue! And then see it happen again next year! If so, why is it not happening? Well by deduction, and using my own God given brains, I can see it must be somewhere other than our daily pot of MONEY that we SPEND in EXCHANGE of work to trigger the taxes we need to pay our way! Yes … eureka! … our MONEY must be out of the Country being held onto by the rich! It must be them, because I know we haven’t got it! How?… because, we don’t pay sufficient tax revenue and haven’t done since 2001 and people say “there is no MONEY about!”… and of course we all know …. It had to be somewhere! So might I sarcastically suggest that, that MONEY be finally EXCHANGED back do we can have it to SPEND and trigger sufficient tax revenue so we don’t have to borrow any more MONEY , off the same rich people who we have to borrow our own MONEY back from each month since 2001!… no wonder we haven’t got it! They’ve got it all! Can you debate that? And maybe inactive the return of it all with a SPENDING POLICY!?… I’d love to listen to that debate.