# 12: The UK Treasury: Servant or Master?
“Whichever party is in office, the Treasury is in power”- Harold Wilson (UK Prime Minister 1964-1970, 1974-1976) Why is the Treasury, actually a government department, so powerful and prestigious? How much influence does it have on the policies of UK governments? And, has its influence been beneficial, or highly damaging in recent decades? Let’s have …
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#11 Where does UK Government money really come from?
(Image by fancycrave1 from Pixabay) This is a guest post. In it, Professor Richard Murphy (read his excellent blog here) explains very clearly everything you need to know about how money is created by governments. And why it’s important for all of us to understand it. Longer than most of the posts in this blog, …
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#10: ITN Squalid Housing Scandal Reports- what’s behind it?
“Housing scandal: ITV News uncovers widespread problems with leaks, damp and mould in tower blocks across UK” ITN report, 01.04.2021. Pic: sodden carpet in Franzoy’s flat (ITN) “To prevent electrocution, the fridge has been unplugged for more than three months.She has no light in the bathroom, her sofa has been destroyed along with many of …
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#9 Why is the (Budget) Deficit a Myth? And why does it matter? Stephanie Kelton makes it clear.
If you think economics is terribly complex, full of jargon and charts, dull and boring, only for professional economists-this book will change your mind. It will open your mind and make you understand how governments and their finances really work. As opposed to what we’ve all been persuaded to believe since around the 1980’s, which …
#8 The “National Debt” …in two minutes.
“Out of intense complexities, intense simplicities emerge”. W. S. Churchill. Imagine that you personally own, outright, Britain’s largest bank, and you are legally entitled to put any credit figure you choose in your own account. Would you really go out and actually borrow any money from anyone? Of course not. But, you are aware that …
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#7 Paying for the Covid Economic Crisis?
At the present moment, when it’s clear that the imminent economic crisis resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, will need a massive financial intervention by the UK government to avert a catastrophe, a lot of people are worried about how the cost of this will be met. And, what long-term effects that will have. So, it …
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#6 Austerity: A choice,not a necessity.
Photo: Pixabay.com Imagine a doctor, who is treating a patient for anaemia, deciding to reduce the person’s food intake. Pretending this will be good for him, and will allow him to recover. Accusing his previous doctor of reckless mis-treatment, wasting the hospital’s resources. Think that would never happen? The year is 2010. Following the …
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#5 The rigged housing market
It has been reported that if the rise in the cost of housing over the last 30 or so years was the same for everything, a loaf of bread would be £10, a litre of petrol £13, an oven ready chicken £50. Imagine the outcry, rioting… but many seen to just accept with resignation the …
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4. “Who’s afraid of the Big Bad National Debt?” The reality of deficit and debt.
We hear TV news, the papers, and politicians bleating on about “the National Debt” and “The Budget Deficit” a lot, don’t we? And, as we all know what it’s like to have debts to pay, we worry about it. We think, “how is the country going to pay for…..?” “Our children will be burdened with …
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the pound in your pocket 