In this Institute of Economic Affairs podcast, Executive Director Tom Clougherty interviews Lord Jim O'Neill, former Chief Economist at Goldman Sachs and the economist who coined the term "BRICS." The conversation covers Britain's decade-long economic stagnation, examining whether the 2008 financial crisis exposed deep-seated problems or created new ones.
Great podcast again Tom. The thoughts of the Lord was informative. The absence of any definitive reasoning was astonishing from someone who had such experience. But anecdotal and gut feting were a secondary substitute and I listened carefully. However, I was left somewhat bewildered that all that experience didn’t come to the single conclusion that all growth, whether in London, Manchester or it seems Rotherham comes from money being SPENT! Surely he can see that? People who chase earnings and profit tend to SPEND where they can er…. Earn a profit! So it’s no wonder Manchester and Rotherham have a raised economy, because SPENDING has increased there! And it somehow balances out that London SPENDING has declined! Surely that is obvious?? Tom, what do you mean by ‘growth’? The Chancellor I’m sure, means a ‘higher tax take’ or an ‘ increase in tax revenue’. But what do you mean? A growth in profit? A growth in population, a growth in Spending, a growth in borrowing, investment, turnover, businesses. Business start ups or just in regional GDP. What exactly?? What I took from that interview was that if people in an area get more money and SPEND it then more possibility is found!. Conversely money not in London lowers its opportunities. In my opinion the further North of Watford you go, the more people there are watching every penny and not SPENDING which hitherto has been why the North historically has been a non powerhouse since the closure of pits, mines and the last gasps of the Industrial Revolution! London has attracted mostly all the money! And that’s why it and the South East and Home Counties have been wealthy. It’s where the money is! It’s where the Banks, wealth funds, Pension pots and every tom dick and harry with money that’s not theirs are to gamble it on any market they think they can win by! Has anyone looked at the table of Banks that went bust or had to be sold, bought or bailed out in the great depression? No not that one! The one around 2008! There’s about 50 or something. From 2007 to 2012. God they list our money! And we have had to bail them out as tax payers. But someone ended up with it! Someone profited by it all. Just think if all that money was invested in the Northern Powerhouse, what effect that would have! HS2 would have been on its way to the outer Hebrides by now. And Rotherham would be the new ‘Granite’ Valley! But never forget investment is not free! It comes with a cost, treatment plus interest and profit. The only way money is free, is when it’s SPENT! Look, I’ve said this to the IEA already, the monetary system we have is ancient. It’s the same for thousands of years. Earn and spend and hope, yes hope, it comes back around when you go back to work next week. But we can make the system work better. By ensuring money returns next week by making money be SPENT. Can’t you see, where there is SPENDING you have a botany economy. Where you have little or no SPENDING you have little or no economy. Since the decline in manufacturing in the 60s and 70s the UK has relied on the services of London to give us the economy we have now! A rubbish one!! Always in recession snd as poor as you can get with all that money in London! It’s a microcosm of the world’s storey, mega rich cohabiting with mega poor! Look at Brazil, the wealth of the beach areas and the shanty towns in the hill! The same in China, Russia, India, USA, EU, and good old Blighty! Mayfair and Rotherham! It’s not rocket science. Follow the money. Now how do we get that imbalance to balance out? Well the majority of money is held by the minority. That’s unfair undemocratic but crucially the main reason why the balance is tipped so far it’s holding us majority in thin air! That money needs to come back, freely, to those at the bottom to balance the scales. Investment is not the way as in the end they want it all back and more. Borrowing is no good for the same reason. No! It has to come back from actual SPENDING!!!!!!! That’s the only way. If you have a wealth tax, you take back a little bit, but it goes straight into the exchequer, only to go back to the wealthy as we owe them nearly £3,000,000,000,000.00 trillion pounds! So it’s a loop that never gets to the bottom. There are two groups in this world. Those who SPEND all try heir money each month, the poor, disabled and pensioners. The unemployed and yes, the unemployable!…. They SPEND all their money do contribute 100% of income to the tax system. Whereas the other group are those who don’t SPEND all their money or are so well off they may not spend any income that month. They contribute less tax or no tax at all! None! Because no tax is triggered off of money unspent or idle and unused, for months years and decades! They contribute less tax pro rata if no tax! No wonder we can’t get enough tax take! If 95% of our money is not triggering tax we are trying to run our economy on just 5% of all our money! That’s why we are skint! In recession and borrowing! We are constantly in hock to the rich holding our pound coins! Make it come back via them having to SPEND it on a monthly cycle. If we have to pay our debts, loans bills mortgages and taxes by a date why isn’t our money SPENT back to us do we are able to do it! As for benefits and pensions, double, treble them! As for benefits double them. As for the rich SPEND it back! We are narrow minded to think it’s the disabled who get too much! No it’s the rich who’s got too much!
Great podcast again Tom. The thoughts of the Lord was informative. The absence of any definitive reasoning was astonishing from someone who had such experience. But anecdotal and gut feting were a secondary substitute and I listened carefully. However, I was left somewhat bewildered that all that experience didn’t come to the single conclusion that all growth, whether in London, Manchester or it seems Rotherham comes from money being SPENT! Surely he can see that? People who chase earnings and profit tend to SPEND where they can er…. Earn a profit! So it’s no wonder Manchester and Rotherham have a raised economy, because SPENDING has increased there! And it somehow balances out that London SPENDING has declined! Surely that is obvious?? Tom, what do you mean by ‘growth’? The Chancellor I’m sure, means a ‘higher tax take’ or an ‘ increase in tax revenue’. But what do you mean? A growth in profit? A growth in population, a growth in Spending, a growth in borrowing, investment, turnover, businesses. Business start ups or just in regional GDP. What exactly?? What I took from that interview was that if people in an area get more money and SPEND it then more possibility is found!. Conversely money not in London lowers its opportunities. In my opinion the further North of Watford you go, the more people there are watching every penny and not SPENDING which hitherto has been why the North historically has been a non powerhouse since the closure of pits, mines and the last gasps of the Industrial Revolution! London has attracted mostly all the money! And that’s why it and the South East and Home Counties have been wealthy. It’s where the money is! It’s where the Banks, wealth funds, Pension pots and every tom dick and harry with money that’s not theirs are to gamble it on any market they think they can win by! Has anyone looked at the table of Banks that went bust or had to be sold, bought or bailed out in the great depression? No not that one! The one around 2008! There’s about 50 or something. From 2007 to 2012. God they list our money! And we have had to bail them out as tax payers. But someone ended up with it! Someone profited by it all. Just think if all that money was invested in the Northern Powerhouse, what effect that would have! HS2 would have been on its way to the outer Hebrides by now. And Rotherham would be the new ‘Granite’ Valley! But never forget investment is not free! It comes with a cost, treatment plus interest and profit. The only way money is free, is when it’s SPENT! Look, I’ve said this to the IEA already, the monetary system we have is ancient. It’s the same for thousands of years. Earn and spend and hope, yes hope, it comes back around when you go back to work next week. But we can make the system work better. By ensuring money returns next week by making money be SPENT. Can’t you see, where there is SPENDING you have a botany economy. Where you have little or no SPENDING you have little or no economy. Since the decline in manufacturing in the 60s and 70s the UK has relied on the services of London to give us the economy we have now! A rubbish one!! Always in recession snd as poor as you can get with all that money in London! It’s a microcosm of the world’s storey, mega rich cohabiting with mega poor! Look at Brazil, the wealth of the beach areas and the shanty towns in the hill! The same in China, Russia, India, USA, EU, and good old Blighty! Mayfair and Rotherham! It’s not rocket science. Follow the money. Now how do we get that imbalance to balance out? Well the majority of money is held by the minority. That’s unfair undemocratic but crucially the main reason why the balance is tipped so far it’s holding us majority in thin air! That money needs to come back, freely, to those at the bottom to balance the scales. Investment is not the way as in the end they want it all back and more. Borrowing is no good for the same reason. No! It has to come back from actual SPENDING!!!!!!! That’s the only way. If you have a wealth tax, you take back a little bit, but it goes straight into the exchequer, only to go back to the wealthy as we owe them nearly £3,000,000,000,000.00 trillion pounds! So it’s a loop that never gets to the bottom. There are two groups in this world. Those who SPEND all try heir money each month, the poor, disabled and pensioners. The unemployed and yes, the unemployable!…. They SPEND all their money do contribute 100% of income to the tax system. Whereas the other group are those who don’t SPEND all their money or are so well off they may not spend any income that month. They contribute less tax or no tax at all! None! Because no tax is triggered off of money unspent or idle and unused, for months years and decades! They contribute less tax pro rata if no tax! No wonder we can’t get enough tax take! If 95% of our money is not triggering tax we are trying to run our economy on just 5% of all our money! That’s why we are skint! In recession and borrowing! We are constantly in hock to the rich holding our pound coins! Make it come back via them having to SPEND it on a monthly cycle. If we have to pay our debts, loans bills mortgages and taxes by a date why isn’t our money SPENT back to us do we are able to do it! As for benefits and pensions, double, treble them! As for benefits double them. As for the rich SPEND it back! We are narrow minded to think it’s the disabled who get too much! No it’s the rich who’s got too much!