Taxing banks to "offset" war costs? Tax doesn't refill a pot. The state spends first, tax destroys money after. The case for a bank levy is curbing windfalls on reserves.
@mmt-action.bsky.social
@mmt-action.bsky.socialTaxing banks to "offset" war costs? Tax doesn't refill a pot. The state spends first, tax destroys money after. The case for a bank levy is curbing windfalls on reserves.
@mmt-action.bsky.social"Tax raid" makes the Treasury sound like a burglar short of cash. Wrong. Tax doesn't fund spending. It removes money and cools demand. Tax banks for excess profit and market power, not to fill a hole that doesn't exist.
@mmt-action.bsky.social0.1% growth, "ahead of Healey's first Budget". As if the Budget is a test of whether the sums add up.
Wrong. Westminster issues the pound and needs no growth to fund anything. The limits are workers, materials and capacity.
@mmt-action.bsky.socialDeveloping countries aren't trapped by "hefty borrowing costs". They're trapped by debts in currencies they can't issue. Dollar debt is a real constraint. Pound debt isn't, for the UK.
@mmt-action.bsky.socialTesco and Costa want the state to subsidise hiring young people. Odd, given the state runs a labour market that keeps them unemployed.
A Job Guarantee at a living wage sets the floor. Firms compete with it. No begging at No 11.
@mmt-action.bsky.socialThe IMF praises Britain's plan to shrink the deficit, then forecasts growth to "edge down". Odd, that.
A deficit is private sector income. Cut it and ours goes too. Westminster issues the pound. The limit is real resources, not a target.
@mmt-action.bsky.socialCouncils don't have a "Send debt" problem. Children have a support problem.
Councils use the pound. Westminster issues it. It cleared £5bn, then let the gap refill. The need is real. The scarcity is a choice made in Westminster.
@mmt-action.bsky.socialFuel duty doesn't fund the spending. It's a lever the Treasury chooses to pull. Pulling it during a supply shock hits van drivers for nothing. Scrap the rise. The real limit is refinery capacity, not a pot at the Treasury.
@mmt-action.bsky.socialA £35bn "challenge" is a rule the Treasury wrote itself. Not a law of nature.
Westminster issues the pound. The real limits are workers, energy and capacity, not a spreadsheet.
Funny how the rules bind hardest on hospitals.
@mmt-action.bsky.socialThe real work of fiction: that the chancellor must "find" £35bn before spending it. The UK government issues the pound. The limit is real resources, not a hole in a spreadsheet. Deep cuts would be a choice, not arithmetic.
@mmt-action.bsky.socialFarmers ask how they finance the crop. Wrong problem. Seed, diesel and labour are real. Money isn't scarce for Westminster, which issues the pound. It can underwrite growers. It chooses not to, then calls the result the market.
@mmt-action.bsky.socialDebt relief treats the symptom. The disease is borrowing in a currency you can't issue.
Rich countries that issue their own currency ride out bond tantrums. Poor ones borrow dollars and pay for the panic.
The fix is not charity.
@mmt-action.bsky.socialShein outsells Asos and we're told it's a customs loophole. Cute. The loophole is thin pay packets that can only stretch to £8 tops.
Westminster issues the pound. It can fund decent wages and a Job Guarantee.
@mmt-action.bsky.social"Unlock billions" makes it sound like a vault. It's a timetable. Westminster issues the pound, so the £39bn waits on an election, not a bank balance. Housing associations are ready to build. The real limits are builders and land, not cash.
@mmt-action.bsky.social"Credible to markets" is a strange test for the government that issues the pound. Gilt yields are a policy choice, not a verdict. The Bank sets rates and can buy gilts. The real limits are resources and inflation.
#MMT #UKGreenParty #Economics #UKPolitics #UKEconomics
Source: Guardian Business
@mmtuk.bsky.social(1/5) The UK Green Party has just passed a motion replacing fixed fiscal targets with a functional framework: fiscal space is real resources, not arbitrary debt limits. That's MMT in practice.
@mmt-action.bsky.socialBond yields are soaring because central banks raise rates, not because debt is too high. Austerity will deepen shortfalls. Why is the currency issuer letting interest costs spike instead of anchoring rates?
#MMT #UKGreenParty #Economics #UKPolitics #UKEconomics
Source: Guardian Politics
@mmt-action.bsky.socialSpend more than £1bn to "help" frames public provision as a budget constraint. Real question: why isn't energy publicly provided or subsidised at source? A currency issuer doesn't ration help. It builds capacity.
#MMT #UKGreenParty #Economics #UKPolitics #UKEconomics
Source: Guardian Politics
@mmt-action.bsky.social"Britain can't afford £10bn", wrong frame. A currency issuer asks what real resources and manufacturing capacity exist, not whether the budget balances. That's the actual constraint worth debating.
#MMT #UKGreenParty #Economics #UKPolitics #UKEconomics
Source: Guardian Politics
@mmt-action.bsky.socialWage theft disguised as a supply-chain story. A currency issuer can fund public energy capacity and anchor wages through the Job Guarantee. It chooses to let workers absorb inflation instead.
#MMT #UKGreenParty #Economics #UKPolitics #UKEconomics
Source: Guardian Business