Our politicians, the economists who advise them, and the journalists who report their words and deeds tell us over and over again that our country is “living beyond its means” and the government will “run out of money” unless it “balances the books”. We’re told that government spending is restricted to the amount of money…
Originally posted on The London Economic:
By Mary Mellor, Emeritus Professor, Northumbria University George Osborne’s Autumn Statement was a classic espousal of handbag economics, so named after the saint of the handbag, Mrs Thatcher. Handbag economics is the common sense of our age. Public sectors are like households, they must live within their means, balance their…
Another economist catching onto the idea of a a universal basic income. John Aziz, writing for The Week, argues that minimum wage is a flawed concept that should be replaced by a universal basic income, which solves the problem of low wages as well as getting rid of welfare benefits and the huge unproductive government…
Just finished reading Blossom by Lesley Riddoch. It’s an account of Lesley’s investigations into various aspects of Scottish life over the years and her analysis of what needs to happen to allow the people of Scotland to flourish. The topics that she covers could easily have dragged the book down into the “worthy but dull”…
This is a good video from Jon Krajack, exploding the myth that government debt and deficits are a problem. If you follow it to the end you’ll discover that without government deficits there would be no private sector surplus – no savings for you and me, no spare money for business investment. You’ll also find…
I don’t know what Boris Johnson’s IQ is but his speech at the annual Margaret Thatcher Lecture suggests that he is a spectacularly stupid little man. At the core of his speech was a celebration of Margaret Thatcher’s success in transforming Britain into “a buccaneering environment where there was no shame – quite the reverse –…
I have just ploughed my way through the first four chapters of Scotland’s Future, the Scottish Government’s white paper which argues the case for voting “yes” in next year’s referendum on Scottish independence, and outlines the Scottish National Party’s “priorities for action” should they be voted back into government after Scotland becomes independent. I confess…
Yesterday was spent attending the Radical Independence Conference 2013 in Glasgow, organised by the Radical Independence Campaign which employs the slogan “Another Scotland Is Possible”. We were a thousand strong, packed into a big room in the Marriott Hotel where we were addressed by a series of very able and persuasive speakers all of whom…
There’s a debate going on in some nerdy corners of the internet about negative interest rates, which sounds like a desperately dull thing to be wasting time on, but it could be the spark that lights the lamp that leads us out of the economic gloom into a bright and prosperous future. A negative interest…
Not only is Help To Buy stupid in terms of pumping up the housing debt bubble (as explained here), it’s also an expensive alternative to renting, according to this analysis by pricedout.org.uk. Apparently you’re better off renting than being an average first time buyer using Help To Buy.
Views From The Boatshed 