@mmt-action.bsky.socialThe IMF calls cutting pensions and welfare "savings". Funny word for taking money off pensioners.
Tax doesn't fund spending. The Treasury isn't short of a pot. Tax banks to curb their power if you like. Cutting incomes just shrinks demand.
@mmt-action.bsky.social"We need some unemployment to keep prices down." That is the old curve talking, and it treats jobless people as a thermostat. Wrong frame. A Job Guarantee swaps the unemployed buffer for an employed one. Prices anchored, work for all. Meet the thinkers in Featured contributor.
@mmt-action.bsky.social"Mortgage rates hover" like weather. They don't. The central bank sets the base rate everything is priced off. Higher rates move income to people who already hold assets and squeeze those who need a home. That's a decision, not a climate.
@mmt-action.bsky.social"Worklessness crisis" is a jobs shortage with the blame moved onto the jobless.
The government issues the pound. It can offer every person a job at a living wage. Then "scrounger" means nothing. Unemployment is a policy choice, not a character flaw.
@mmt-action.bsky.socialFreeze the minimum wage to get young people into work? That treats unemployment as a price problem. It's a demand problem.
A Job Guarantee at a living wage offers every young person paid work and anchors prices. Nobody has to be poorer first.
@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.socialBlame Trump or blame Biden, the playbook never changes: energy prices rise, rates go up, jobs go. That is a supply problem, and slack in the labour market won't fix it.
Public capacity and provision will.
@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.social(1/5) "How will you pay for it?" You will get asked. Probably at a hustings, a branch meeting or the pub. Freezing is not a strategy. Rehearsing is.
@mmt-action.bsky.socialGermany's inflation is 3.3% and the headline shouts "crisis". It never names a cause. Prices rise at real bottlenecks, not because a number hit a spreadsheet. Find the constraint, then fund supply and public provision.
@mmt-action.bsky.social"The nation has maxed out its credit card."
Wrong frame. Cards have limits set by a lender. The UK government issues the pound, so no lender hands it a limit. The real limit is real resources, and the debt is private savings in gilt form.
Build your answer in Argument Builder.
@mmt-action.bsky.socialGas up a third and "inflation lifts." Cute. A war shock is a supply problem, not too much spending. Rate hikes and slack won't reopen a shipping lane.
Real fix: real resources. Subsidise, build capacity, anchor key prices.
@mmt-action.bsky.social"We can't afford it" is a claim, and it's usually dressed up in one of five tricks. FLICK Training teaches you to spot them in seconds. Then you can ask who actually issues the pound, and what real resources are on the table. Use it before the next pub, picket or panel debate.
@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.socialEvery pound of government deficit is a pound of surplus for someone else. Their red ink is your black ink.
@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.social"The fiscal rules say we can't." Rules written by Westminster can be rewritten by Westminster. The UK government issues the pound. The binding limit is real resources, not a rule it set itself. Build your Budget rebuttal with Argument Builder.
@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.