Amid the COVID-19 panic, it has hardly been noticed that Carphone Warehouse went bust, with 2,900 people losing their jobs. Its co-founder, David Ross, is of course the billionaire that Boris Johnson claimed paid for his luxury holiday to Mustique, whereas Ross claimed he only organised it. Who actually paid is one of those Johnson peccadilloes, like the promotion of Jennifer Arcuri, the Garden Bridge fiasco, the Guppy conversation over beating up Stuart Collier, the Russian Influence report, the question of how many children he really has – I could go on rather a long while here – which will be discreetly downplayed by the state and media nexus.
Ross, like Branson and so many others of the “entrepreneurs” that we are taught to worship, came from a very wealthy background and had the great advantages of capital and connections to boost him up the ladder. To be fair to Ross, unlike for example Philip Green, there is no suggestion that he made his fortune from Carphone Warehouse by systematic asset-stripping. What he did do, which is typical of capitalism today, is with the other directors systematically and legally remove capital as it accumulated from the company into their own personal bank accounts. In the long term this left Carphone Warehouse unable to restructure and adapt to changed market conditions, which it needed to do, as its High Street model failed for reasons unrelated to the current health crisis. Ross also had illegally used his shares as collateral for £162 million of personal loans, for which this major Tory party donor has inexplicably never been prosecuted.
Ross had inherited a very large chunk of shares in, and the chairmanship of, Cosalt Ltd, a maritime supplies company. It went bust with £70 million debt and a £50 million pensions deficit, which ruined the lives of many employees and ex-employees. Inexplicably, after it went bankrupt its best assets were sold by the administrators Price Waterhouse at a knockdown price to… major Tory Party donor David Ross. Who thus made money from his own family company going bust and its pensioners being shafted.
Inexplicably, major Tory Party donor David Ross was not disqualified as a director of other companies by the Insolvency Service when Cosalt, of which he was a chairman, went bankrupt.
About 7% of Ross’s wealth would pay the entire Carphone Warehouse staff being made redundant for a year. That of course will never happen because it is absolutely contrary to the model of capitalism currently operating, in which the ultra wealthy view companies as sources of short term wealth extraction and feel zero connection to the workforce.
There is room to be congratulatory of Rishi Sunak’s active interventionism in the face of the economic crisis caused by the reaction to coronavirus. Many of his interventionist measures are very good, in particular in subsidising wages. It has been rightly and widely noted that to date there is not enough to support those self-employed in the gig economy, while to rely on universal credit to support anybody in crisis is plainly insufficient. But I am here more concerned with the larger macroeconomic measures. Quantitative easing as ever will merely push more money into the financial institutions for them to looad into financial instruments of zero real economic benefit.
The vast bulk of the £330 billion business bailout will find its way in huge tranches into mega-companies. The airline industry has already requested £7.5 billion, to give just one example. That is a series of simple large cheques for an overstretched civil service to write. I strongly suspect that the loans to small businesses, started today, will be slow and bureaucratic and difficult to access. They will be subject to bank interest – the bankers always win – which for a period will be paid by the taxpayer. Many of these measures when you analyse them are in the long term more transfers of money from the taxpayers to the banks.
It has been widely noted that money is suddenly magically available which was denied to industrial strategy and to the NHS for decades. But do not be fooled; this is not a conversion to Keynes by the Tories. In bailing out the airlines, Branson is not going to be asked to put back one penny of his personal wealth, and nor is David Ross nor any of the other billionaires. Those who have made vast fortunes in our ever-expanding wealth gap are not going to be asked to put anything back into the companies or system which they exploited. Massive state subsidies will predominantly go to the biggest companies and benefit the paid agency of the bankers. You and I will pay. The taxpayer will ultimately pick up the tab through what may prove to be another decade of austerity imposed as a result of another transfer of wealth from us to banks, financial institutions and big companies. The small and medium companies which will go to the wall – and a great many will – are going to provide rich pickings in a few months time for the vultures of the hedge funds and other disaster capitalists.
It is fashionable to write articles at the moment stating the Government has discovered the value of socialist intervention. I suspect history will show that nothing could be further from the truth.
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“The airline industry has already requested £7.5 billion, to give just one example. ”
They’ve been using their profits to buy back shares instead of squirreling money away for a rainy day.
Staying on the airlines, the taxpayer will be left to foot the bill in the collapse of Thomas Cook, to the tune of £156 million quid, a low end final estimate.
Think of this for a minute, the banks got a whopping £500 billion pounds bailout in 2008, yet this, by far a more serious event sees a £330 billion pounds aid package.
Its patently obvious that business and profit comes before saving lives.
Reading tip, for the US version of this list:
https://mattstoller.substack.com/p/stop-the-coronavirus-corporate-coup
CNBC reported that hotels want $150 billion, restaurants want $145 billion, and manufacturers wants $1.4 trillion. And the International Council of Shopping Centers wants a guarantee of up to $1 trillion. The beer industry wants $5B. Candy industry wants $500M. The New York Times reported that “Adidas is seeking support for a long-sought provision allowing people to use pretax money to pay for gym memberships and fitness equipment.” Gyms are of course closed. Meatpackers want special visas so they can undercut wages of their workers, and importers want to stop paying duties they incurred for harming domestic industries for illegally dumping products into the U.S.
“They’ve been using their profits to buy back shares instead of squirreling money away for a rainy day.” No. Over 90% of US companies in the last few years have been using profits to buy back stock *instead of investing it in their companies thus creating jobs and adding to the economy*. In the case of Boeing, and others who have been bailed out in the past, this was done with taxpayers’ money. Given that no one except the shareholders benefits, this is straightforward theft. It must never be allowed to happen again with public money. The practice should be illegal, since it is one long process of asset stripping which hollows out the company eventually, with very little benefit to the economy, and every time they run into trouble, they ask for a bail out. It was made illegal following the Wall Street crash, and remained so right up until Bill Clinton made it legal again.
What makes you think that Boeing investing would have been a good thing for anyone? Why would we want them to develop even more shitty planes that nobody wants to buy?
Maybe the planes the did develop wouldn’t have crashed…
Frankly, what a stupid reply. The model I have outlined is not confined to the aviation industry, or Boeing, so you miss my point before going on to make it perfectly, with astonishing cognitive dissonance: their planes don’t fly, because they modify existing ones, badly, rather than investing in their industry. See how that works? And whilst you appear incapable of extrapolating the business model from a single example and extending it to the 90% of corporations I’ve referred to, nevertheless, it is so.
So what do suggest Craig
Invite players like Ross/Branson/Green in for a little chat, & give them the MBS treatment ?
Alex Salmond Not Guilty on all 14 Charges – Legal System seems to work fine
Somehow I don’t think Craig is going to write a whole string of enthusiastic blog posts about that…
Thanks to Craig for keeping us in the loop.
No matter he’ll find something else to yatter on about, he must have gained some faith in the jury system and the public’s common sense.
Salmond found not guilty of all charges.
Bloody Brilliant. HEADS MUST ROLL
I am very pleased.
This sisterhood in Scotland must be ruthlessly exposed.
Many women in Scotland supported Salmond.
Yup! Yup, Yup, Yuppity Yup. Ad infinitum. Start at the top.
Bloody hell, astonishing, and as you said heads must roll for such an appalling catalogue of ill-advised decisions by many at the highest levels of the judicial and political and cs system, including the ‘procurators fiscal’ involved in promoting such self-evidently spurious charges. Some of the prosecution ‘witnesses’. complainants must be called out for their appalling deficits of integrity and for collusion and conspiracy
.
On the other hand, it vindicates jury trial.
For what?
AS cleared in Scottish high court, well done Scotland & Craig
Huh, what did Craig do? He just spent a whole week writing that it was all a stitch-up.
And that’s what the jury thought too – a state-sponsored stitch-up!
We’ll never know, because one of the many – ahem – advantages of having a jury as the decision maker is that they don’t have to explain themselves to anyone.
Whatever the reason, the jury didn’t believe a word of it. Thank God these matters are not left to the judges who are part of the corrupt system that brought these absurd charges.
Just to themselves , they sit and discuss their view with the other jurors
Not much of a stitch up if they forgot to nobble the jury.
Kempe…Hah! Well spotted.
cheers!
Watt
It was an attempted stitch-up.
Sickened your mince Martinned 🙂
🙂
It was a stitch up but a majority of jurors refused to collude with it. Imagine what would have happened if Salmond was an ordinary pleb.
Not much of a stitch-up, then.
Making false allegations to a court is legal?
Alex Salmond cleared!
A bad day to bury good news.
I think you put that rather well. ;O)
Well done. Alex! Well done, the jury!
I hope Alex sues the arse of certain members of the MSM.
Great news!
Your’re right on that one Margaret. Some of the dropped quotation marks as headlines were appalling
Do you hear that Guardian?
The reporting before and during the trial brazenly flaunted the contempt of court acts. I hope action is taken, but won’t hold my breath.
The sensationalist, selective and slanted presentation of the most salacious aspects of the testimony in the MSM was a disgrace. The failure to give much more than a modicum of coverage to the defence case made sure that the general public was given the impression of overwhelming guilt.
Flaunted should be flouted!
The Guardian is running the Salmond acquittal very begrudgingly in a small slot with plenty of innuendo about not proven. In contrast alongside is a big non story about Putin and maybe a delay in a vote to change the Russian constitution. That rag gets worse and worse and more pathetic by the week.
The Guardian – gaslighting its loyal readers every day. Throwing those who shine a light like Assange under the bus. Ugh…
Stop being a loyal reader then. They do not answer to censure, so your only option is to withdraw your custom.
awesome result. Thanks Craig for your excellent reporting, I can feel an interview coming up soon on RT or from AS himself.
was it by nem com Billy Brexit?
Great news re alex
Alex’s side of the story — now!
I don’t think it will be long
“Speaking outside court after his acquittal, Mr Salmond told journalists: “As many of you will know, there is certain evidence I would have liked to have seen led in this trial but for a variety of reasons we were not able to do so.
“At some point, that information, that facts and that evidence will see the light of day.””
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-52004285
The quote goes on;
“At some point, that information, that facts and that evidence will see the light of day but it won’t be this day, and it won’t be this day for a very good reason”
That to me sounds like the lawyers are going to be kept employed.
He is talking about the Corona virus as being the reason now is not the time.
The Salmond acquittal is good news for the Scottish judiciary, it actually works. Benchers down south should take note and put their stinking house in order. We can refer now only to corrupt English justice. Reaction from Nicola Sturgeon should be interesting; perhaps she should get the Augean cleaners in.
One of them might need to run the hoses over her first………
NS was in a no win situation
Support AS and be portrayed as obsessed with Scottish independence and a supporter of a criminal let’s face it the BBC STV the newspapers and radio found him guilty before the trial during the trial and will do after the not guilty verdict
Stay neutral and Scottish independence supporters berate her for not supporting AS
Staying neutral was the appropriate thing for a first Minister to do where legal proceedings are concerned. As clear as day.
All you have to say is: ‘As First Minister it would be entirely inappropriate to comment on judicial proceedings still to take place. All I can say is that I hope that I can be proud of the Scottish Judicial System in saying when all proceedings are over that it reached a just verdict after all parties had been given the chance to present evidence to a judge and jury.’
No-one can argue with that. Well, they can, but they will look mighty stupid if they do.
“It is fashionable to write articles at the moment stating the Government has discovered the value of socialist intervention” – leading with that, I can only agree. Comment sections of newspapers. social media etc, seem to be showering the government with praise.
Those who are have completely forgotten 10 years of austerity and the huge transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich. Are they unaware that all the cost of this money “suddenly” made available, comes with strings attached and will ultimately be paid for by the taxpayer?
Socialist intervention at the expense of the working class has been going very well indeed since 1976.
I am no fan of Branson. I can’t stand him. But it needs to be pointed out that even if he wanted to bail out or nurture his employees, the fact is that Virgin Atlantic is roughly 50% owned by Air France and KLM and a further (roughly) 30% is owned by Delta Airlines. While that doesn’t get Branson off the hook, you must be scrupulously fair in these matters. No-one knows who has the power to be responsible for the welfare of employess of any airline, because the ownership of them is a very complex business.
Let me say again that I cannot stand Branson. Guilt is not black and white. There are nuances.
“No-one knows who has the power to be responsible for the welfare of employess of any airline, because the ownership of them is a very complex business”.
How very convenient for those who are not looking after the welfare of airline employees. I am sure that state of affairs is quite coincidental.
The Dutch and French governments each own 14.3% of Air France/KLM. Do you think that that should affect the likelihood (or form) of a bailout? And should it?
Yes it is convenient and I’m not avoiding that truth. But it is worth pointing out the the supposed bogey men among those who are vilified by popular judgment are often misidentified. Nowadays you need a forensic nose for who owns what in order to arrive at the real culprits. Though it is unlikely it might just be that Branson (and I again express that I can’t stand him) tried to persuade majority shareholders to do the decent thing.
Quite a few prominent “heros” in the corporate world get by with positive reports in a media that is too lazy or too complicit to identify the real bastards. It is always important to study reports in depth before arriving at conclusions. (And for the last time, I cannot stand Branson!)
Branson is still a majority shareholder in all his business enterprises so he should be well and truly on the hook still.
I’m not sure you’re correct re: KLM/AirFrance – the deal fell through and Virgin Group still owns a 51% share in Virgin Atlantic.
They are planning an extended joint venture, but of course no-one’s flying anywhere now.
https://www.businesstraveller.com/business-travel/2019/12/03/sir-richard-branson-to-retain-control-of-virgin-atlantic/
Yep, nothing more certain than that this public health crisis would be used to funnel yet more public money into the groaning accounts of the plutocrats. Well done on being the only public figure with the marbles to condemn the laughable fit-up of Alex Salmond.
Salmond referred to facts that we must all know (probably ones that Craig knows but darent say for now, or maybe not) that they will see the light of day at a later date.
Now we know for sure, why Sturgeon et al wanted rid of Salmond, now begins a fight for the heart and soul of the SNP, and ultimately independence, Sturgeon and her nefarious acolytes must be toppled and removed from the SNP.
Even now in victory Salmond showed his statesmanship by telling the gathered together press to look out for each other during these very difficult and trying times.
Post Covid-19, we’ll await Salmonds return to the political fold, and the unseating of those who stand in the way of Scottish independence.
Agreed. This is good news for the more radical in the SNP who desire to see independence back at the forefront of SNP/SG policy. Where it always should be, unlike in recent times. Time for action, not words.
The simplest interpretation of evidence that was denied the Court was the texts (16 I think) sent to a defence witness. Before the Prosecution objected, the implication was that the texts were incessant attempts at badgering the witness to enter the conspiracy. Why did the Judge find in favour of the Prosecution? Collateral evidence?
Perhaps the judge can be asked, before her retirement, preferably!
You don’t know that RoS…
NS and AS are not enemies , there will be no battle for control of SNP , I’m sure NS will make a statement showing her pleasure that AS found not guilty
Meh, I’m not feeling the love here:
https://twitter.com/GrayInGlasgow/status/1242143912652922881
(Tweet with part of her statement attached.) Compared with Joanna Cherry’s statement, I’d have said NS’s is positively frosty. And ‘neutral’ is a bit of a strange stance to take about a former mentor and friend. Sorry terrence I just can’t see how Nicola Sturgeon could not be involved in some capacity (she lied about when meetings took place) and with a public statement like this, there is not going to be any friendly make up. Power corrupts, absolute…
English/British nationalist media desperately disappointed Alex Salmond is acquitted. All the MSM smears didn’t work. Now the English/British nationalist media are desperately trying [for the millionth time] to say the SNP is doomed. Hilarious.
I’m curious. To take the BBC as an example, since that’s as mainstream as it gets, what is it about this report that suggests it is “disappointed” that he was acquitted?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-52004285
Also, I’m not sure how you’re accusing the English media of being biased against Salmond and against the SNP at the same time. In this case I’d think it’s pretty much one or the other.
They hate them both. The Beeb are too metropolitan parochial to be aware of any of the nuances, and too ignorant to care. Anyway your mince is sickened, and I love it!
“what is it about this report that suggests it is “disappointed” that he was acquitted?”
Have you forgotten all the bbc reports during the trial and all the quotes of the prosecution reported as fact?
@Stonky: That sounds about right.
@Alisdair Mc: No, but that’s not the question I asked and not the point Doug made.
Martinned,,,,that’s where you are wrong , AS and the SNP are not enemies , NS and AS are not enemies , the SNP was infiltrated by British nationalists six of them who proceeded to try and frame him , the other three were civil servants in the Scottish government they also took part .
Neither SNP nor NS can stop people bringing charges
The law controls that
You should take note of that in England
I think the female caucus might be doomed.
But I suspect that if Salmond comes roaring back to the forefront, then the Nationalist cause will be once again reinvigorated.
Much as I would like to agree with your first point. I fear that will not be the case, Photos of skimpy bikini-clad women are being shown even as we speak. Anonymity has its advantages!
Where’s the crime in skimpy, bikini-clad women?
Nothing untoward in that, unless AS was snorting coke off their belly, eh?
Were these skimpily dressed women coerced to be skimpily dressed or were they strippers entertaining the First Minister?!
Do enlighten us as to their significance….
Sarah Smith really is appalling at hiding her rampage prejudice. I take pleasure in her clear discomfort.
But even this evening the appalling Sarah Smith doesn’t fail to deliver. On PM she said AS had proved his innocence. You could almost taste the gall in her voice. As any proper journalist would
know, the presumption is of innocence. It’s the prosecution that failed to prove AS’s guilt of the charges. AS had to prove nothing. Hope her bitterness ruins her evening meal.
Doug mate, you guys are doing a pretty good job of tearing your party apart. Talk of Sturgeon being MI 5 and the like. LOL.
ALEX SALMOND CLEARED OF ALL CHARGES!
Great result Alex.
Thanks and well done Craig
Cleared of all but one. One remained Not Proven.
Rhys, Not Proven is an acquittal and is legally identical to Not Guilty.
Why on earth does it exist if it identical to Not Guilty?
I thought Guilty meant ‘yer dun it!’
Not Guilty meant ‘yer didnae do it!’
Not Proven meant: ‘we thunk ya dud it, but we kannae prove it!’
Obviously I was wrong….
Arrogance of the Scottish legal folk? They decided to bring in the guilty/not guilty verdicts but couldn’t quite let go of their own verdicts (previously proven/not proven) so kept half of it – making things even more confusing than before, which was the original point (apparently) of changing it! There will be some legal niceties associated with it (those I don’t know), but the outcome of not guilty and not proven is the same.
@Martinned – March 23, 2020 at 16:14
Yes, you are indeed curious. As in strange, surprising, odd, suspect.
The QE magic money tree only exists for the city, the rich, bankers etc. It isn’t there to be shaken by or for the plebs. Osbourne, Cameron and Theresa May all made that perfectly clear, sadly an awful lot of uninformed British people believed them and continue to vote for the Tory spivs. This, along with a compliant media, is why change is so hard to make happen not just in the UK but all over the West. If people really understood how all the cards where stacked against them in almost every facet of life, and that no matter how hard and long they work they will always end up getting screwed over by the state, maybe they would no longer have the blind faith in capitalism that they appear to have.
Gerald Fords dog
” continued to vote for them ”
No. . The Tories placed one of their longest serving Thatcherites in charge of the electoral system , and another Thatcherite in charge of Facebook. Knowledge is power.
Between them they secretly and safely changed regular non voters to Tory, and found out what lies to tell the active voters.
Hundreds of thousands of votes were stolen. Millions were drawn to Tory lies. The blame is on the liars, not the people.
As we enter Pompeii, all of our private lives will be cast in digital lava. The decision of our government to intrude its nose into our private lives through digital technology is trespass in every sense of the word.
The way somebody behaves when they know they are being controlled is very different from how they behave otherwise.
The a utility of our government to subvert our political will through metadata has shaken our politics to death because only one side is doing the spying and manipulating, the fascist side.
When we had a Labour government under Blair and Brown who continued and strengthened state espionage and disregard of the people’s political will, invading countries etc, we as an electorate abandoned Labour because they had abandoned the people. Why would people vote for a party that had betrayed their trust to the core?
At least with the Tories you know they ALWAYS lie!
Absolutely wonderful news about the dismissal of the attempted stitch up of Alex Salmond. The acquittal would not have happened without Craig’s forensic examination of the ‘evidence’ and his analysis of the witness statements. Well done.
A very silly thing to say Mary.
You’re right, Mary.
Mary and Laguerre
You are both right.
Jack
Sometimes it just takes one person quietly explaining an alternative view, to open the door to reality.
My own view is that both the judge and the prosecution, who spend their whole lives in courtrooms, realised very early on what a clock and bull story the charges were.
Imho Craig was shown the door because his presence and his excellent reporting might have appeared to have influenced the court.
In reality judge, prosecution defence and jury could all see the case stunk . What Craig did was to warn us not to believe the MSM, for which I am eternally grateful.
The MSM now have many legal questions to answer.
Why did they try to manipulate a court of law?
A lot of resignations at owner and CEO level should now be called for.
Ask Craig if he agrees with what Mary said and how that would look legally. Very stupid claim to make.
Dear Craig,
Please can you stop misleading your readers by claiming that taxpayers pay for anything.
If that were the case, we would have all had a massive, emergency tax bill to pay last week, in order for the Govt to be able to spend the extraordinary amounts that they have committed.
I checked my postbox again this morning, but nope…not a dicky bird from HMRC. How strange. What’s going on?
What’s going on is that the Government will spend these extraordinarily huge amounts by instructing the Bank of England (which, far from being “independent”, is wholly owned by HM Govt, in the name of the Treasury Solicitor, and does precisely whatever the Chancellor tells it to) crediting the reserve accounts of the banks of the recipients of this extra spending, just as it does every day, in the normal run of events. To be fair, there will be some extra zeroes, which might take a fraction longer to type.
There will be absolutely no recourse whatsoever to any “funds” from the Treasury, HMRC, or even the Chancellor’s fictitious “War Chest”, before this takes place, a) because that’s not how it works, and b) even if that *were* how it worked, as we know that the amounts the Govt intends to spend, in addition to its normal day-to-day expenditure, far exceeds any amount that has already been paid in taxation – and, in the absence of anyone receiving any of those massive, emergency tax bills mentioned earlier, there would be no “taxpayers'” money there to pay for it!
A few diehard mainstream economists, and economic commentators, have muttered something about it being paid for by “borrowing” – but borrowing from whom??? The private corporate sector is in free-fall – it doesn’t have the funds to bail-out sovereign governments!
On the contrary, it’s down on its knees, begging them for handouts!
It’s true that some investors have been, and will be, running away from equities – which is no surprise – and will be seeking the safety of Govt Bonds (even at a paltry 0.1%, or negative yields), so will be begging govts worldwide to issue “debt”, so that they can stash their savings securely – but this is an *effect* of the collapse, and not because soveriegn governments *need* their money.
Besides which, QE is being rolled out again, now up to the tune of £625bn – but did anyone get a tax bill to pay to the Treasury before the BoE could spend another £200bn on buying back Gilts on the secondary bond market? Of course not – the BoE will create that money, as usual, at a keystroke.
Taxation, such as it is, will occur automatically as taxes are imposed on each initial and/or subsequent transaction as the extra money circulates through the economy in the usual way – but this is currency that is *removed* form the economy, effectively destroyed by the reserve drain that takes place at the BoE when taxes are paid, and doesn’t pay for anything. At all.
In the end, every penny that gets spent, will eventually return to the Treasury in taxes anyway (apart from what’s saved, which will find its way into Gilts, i.e. the deficit. If it ever does get spent, some of it will be taxed, etc…).
We all need to get this, because unless and until we do, once the crisis is over, we’ll be faced with both the government, and the neo-liberal mainstream (economists and media), insisting that we undergo *yet another* period of extreme austerity, “in order to pay back the (now humungous) deficit”.
This *cannot* be allowed to happen; as a nation we owe it to ourselves to understand how our money system works, so that the Thatcherite myth – that the government doesn’t have any money of its own, but only what it can raise by borrowing and taxation – can be finally destroyed, and the power of a sovereign government as monopoly currency creator to spend for the public good is curtailed not by how much money it has at its disposel (which is effectively infinite, as we can now see – thanks, Rishi!), but instead by the limits of *real* resources in the economy (labour, materials, energy, land, etc… to include doctors, nurses, face masks, hand sanitiser, and ventilators, as we can now see – thanks CoVid19!).
Let’s please all learn from this crisis, and not go back to the old neo-liberal economic status quo ever again; that’s the only good that will come of this.
#LearnMMT
@MrShigemitsu That’s a beautiful debunk of the “taxpayers pay for anything” myth. I hadn’t spotted you posted here until now, but have read your many excellent contributions to Bill Mitchell’s blog.
If you permit me, I’d like to pass on your comments to a “Modern Money Scotland” group – would that be OK?
Any lectures by Stephanie Kelton are good, she explains things quite clearly, here is one posted on Prof Murphy’s blog – a great introduction to the principles:
https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2020/01/18/the-deficit-myth-stephanie-kelton/
Everyone needs to read and understand the above comment. And if there’s any bits they don’t understand, re-read them until they do. No excuses. No skimming over bits. No applying half-known common-sense “truths” about what money is where it comes from. Read it until you either understand it fully, or can come up with a properly coherent argument for why any of it isn’t true.
As Mr S says, society is too far down shit creek to get this wrong again, so if you think you lie anywhere on the progressive side of politics you need to start getting this right.
PS. I meant Mr S’s comment, cross posted with George Gordon. Not that’s there’s anything wrong George’s comment either!
I might have to take silence from Mr S as permission. Your points above are well made – read, read again and digest.
Are you aware of Mr S having a blog? All I’ve seen are his comments on other peoples’ blogs. If he has a blog, I’d like to communicate with him
I’m flattered George SG, yes very happy to be quoted!
I don’t have a blog, but would refer anyone keen to learn more about MMT to Bill Mitchell (billyblog), Stephanie Kelton, Warren Mosler, L Randall Wray, … indeed any of the core MMT economists, all of whom have blogs, twitter, and, in some cases, fb accounts too.
Mitchell and Wray have published books, Kelton has a film in production, and Mosler has online publications available too.
I’m heartened by the support from you and Michael Berks here – but I would be delighted to get Craig on board with MMT; it offers the roadmap out of the neo-liberal woods we in the UK have been trapped in since 1976, for anyone truly committed to escaping them.
Thanks Mr S, I’m aware of the excellent folk you mentioned, and have books by Mitchell and Mosler – signed by both in person in Edinburgh. Hopefully Stephanie Kelton’s book, out in June, will put another (final hopefully) nail in the coffin of neoliberal economics. More power to your elbow getting Craig on board!
Nice to see some welcoming responses to your many comments here Mr Shigemitsu. The one I copied to our Modern Money Scotland group was appreciated and is being shared widely.
Are we going to pay via hyper inflation of all goods?
10 more years of austerity for the offshorers benefit to come.
Hey ho bring on the lockdown.
@Nevermind,
That’s a good question. When too much money chases too few goods and services then inflation is a risk.
The general rule of thumb is that when there is unemployment (genuinely defined, not Tory fake “employment”, and massaged figures) then there will be the fiscal space for non-inflationary spending, and the UK has been a prime and deserving candidate for massive extra public spending in the last decade as a result – though sadly not forthcoming, due solely to Tory ideology.
However, this is a far more complex scenario now that the CV crisis is upon us, because the supply side is also affected, which means that the supply of goods and services may not match demand. Of course demand is likely to be curtailed as well, except for essentials and medical equipment, but we will know more as events unfold.
But for now money desperately needs to be directed towards individuals, families, and businesses in order to stave off a Great Depression – the medium to long term consequences for inflation are a secondary concern; people eat in the short term.
Mr Shigemitsu
Thank you for your clear explanation.
Having a heart attack teaches one another salutary fact , that the brain works on oxygen. I really am not joking when I say that your clarity of knowledge and explanation will save me wasting brain resources and therefore oxygen .
I see now it is oxygen, not money, that is going to be in critical shortage now.
Not a peep of congrats from Sturgeon to Salmond on her twitter. Says a lot I think.
https://mobile.twitter.com/NicolaSturgeon?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
Yes, it says that she’s a bit busy with other things. Give it time…
Aye – she’s a bit busy with her legal team preparing her defence …. she knows what will happen next.
Either that or she’s sitting round a lit candle holding hands with her hermaphrodite friends singing Kumbaya,
First Minster, sorry i meant English Establishment Plant Nicola Sturgeon seems to be suffering from the anxiety disorder ”selective mutism”
She’s made a statement, part of which is attached to this tweet:
https://twitter.com/GrayInGlasgow/status/1242143912652922881
And I think that does say it all. Not exactly joyous congratulations.
An excellent analysis of the Car phone case.
On the trial I will adapt Lincoln to say that “” The best way to deal with a dishonest prosecution is to insist that there needs to be evidence that a crime has been committed. “6
Sorry, off-topic but justice has been done Alex Salmond found not guilty. SNP needs a close look at itself.
Never mind about the Boris bashing but very well done for Alex Salmond. Now all you have to do is rescue Julian Assange from the Neo-Cons and trans Atlantic grovellers, of whom I suspect Boris is not one. Unfortunately they will never let Julian near a jury.
Theophilus
Yesterday ar 20.30 Boris Johnson finally and thankfully abandoned his post election upper crust drawl and addressed us I thought with great humility about how we should proceed from here. I think the prime minister ister has fairly and squarely assessed the crisis and has shown himself willing to use his levers of power. No sign yet of of anything for the just managing or poor.
I agree with you that now is not the time to battle with Conservatism. They just need to get their heads round what means to have no savings a d no way of paying back the loans WE have incurred. It makes no difference if I support house insulation and heat pumps or HS2 pink elephants if I sit at home unable to work, and soon unable to breathe.
Winter is cold. Do we need a reminder?
We need to spend our time thanking God for all the uncountable blessings we all take for granted and pray for physical and mental strength, forgiveness and for cure.
Every cure is from God, internal or external.
There is no immunity to this virus. But plasma from survivors has been shown to give others immunity.
So there is hope for both an internal and external cure.
Anybody who thinks profiteering from this situation is a good idea is surely damning themselves on the eve of their own death. Rather a strange behaviour.
I agree. This from Reuters –
LONDON (Reuters) – Julian Assange’s lawyers will apply for his release on bail because of the risk of contracting coronavirus while in prison, Wikileaks said on Monday. The Wikileaks founder is being held at a prison in London on an extradition warrant for publishing classified information about the Iraq and Afghan wars.
“On Wednesday, 25th of March, Julian Assange’s lawyers will make a bail application at Westminster Magistrates Court,” Wikileaks said in a statement.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-assange/julian-assanges-lawyers-to-apply-for-bail-citing-virus-risk-idUSKBN21A2T9
Am I the first:
O/T but:
“Alex Salmond acquitted of all sexual offences charges” – “Former Scottish first minister says he intends to pursue those he claims fabricated the allegations”
https://www.ft.com/content/074614ce-6d17-11ea-89df-41bea055720b (FT, paywall)
Clearly not, nevermind, outstanding news.
Curiouser and curiouser.
This new ‘coronavirus bill’ makes for disturbing reading. It gives the police the power to ‘detain’ anyone they ‘suspect’ ‘indefinitely’. Knowing how police always abuse any powers that are bestowed on them e.g. terrorism act, spurious ‘section 36’ arrests and strip-searches under drugs laws this should scare us far more than ‘coronavirus’.
In England, amidst the clash of arms, the laws are not silent. They may be changed, but they speak the same language in war as in peace. It has always been one of the pillars of freedom, one of the principles of liberty for which on recent authority we are now fighting, that the judges are no respecters of persons, and stand between the subject and any attempted encroachments on his liberty by the executive, alert to see that any coercive action is justified in law.
[…]
I know of only one authority which might justify the suggested method of construction. “When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less.” “The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.” “The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be the master, that’s all.” After all this long discussion the question is whether the words “If a man has” can mean “If a man thinks he has”. I have an opinion that they cannot and the case should be decided accordingly.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liversidge_v_Anderson#Dissent
Phili,
it surely scares me a lot more than this coroney baloney. Regular, albeit new, ‘flu with ice and a slice!
The verdict reflects well on the jury system but the extraordinary thing is that the trial took place at all. The evidence of crimes seems to have been almost non-existent. Perhaps the Establishment’s cunning plan was not to jail Salmond but to tempt the SNP leadership into a course of action which would inevitably lead to the splitting of the SNP with, one suspects, a majority of the Parliamentary Party going one way and the mass of supporters another. A feminist version of the anti-semitism charges against Corbyn- equally unfounded but equally difficult to prove to have been so.
What comes next? Friends of Scots independence will be hoping that it is a bold move to separate. The Establishment will be smirking as it weighs the possibility of the First Minister, and spouse, who one suspects has been more than a minor player here, seizing the hour.
Wait, the “Establishment” in that conspiracy theory is not the SNP??? You are aware that the SNP have been running Scotland non-stop since 2007, right?
Yes – that’s what I think. Independence won’t solve anything; the `Establishment’ will be the `Establishment’
I seem to remember a time – not that long ago – when the Westminster government was packed full of Scots – and a fat lot of good it did.
“You are aware that the SNP have been running Scotland non-stop since 2007, right?”
Running Scotland’s whole economy? Scotland’s foreign policy? Scotland’s defence? Scotland’s broadcasting? Scotland’s membership of the EU?
I noticed that the highest incidences of Corona seems to be in the richest areas of Europe, like Milan in Italy, Kensington and Chelsea in London. And celebrities and politicians are getting it round the world. Of course, I wouldn’t know which of the UK’s plutocrats are going to get it.
PS. For all I know, many of the rich in Italy (or London) who are succumbing might be older citizens with lower resistance.
London is likely to get a lot because it was a huge transport hub, with tourists coming from all over the world (including presumably from Wuhan, Italy and other places). It also has extremely high population density, it has a huge commuting population absolutely jam packed into trains and tubes and it has a culture of pubs, clubs and discos where people cram close together.
I would frankly be amazed if you saw too many rural Welsh sheep farmers getting CoVid19. Their normal problem is actually social isolation, rather than the need to self-isolate.
But once again, we have to project London and its needs onto the whole country, when huge swathes of rural areas with very low population density have absolutely no need to shut down like London might need to do.
The time is rapidly approaching when London must learn that it is not the be all and end all of the whole UK and, if it cannot, it may need to hermetically sealed form the rest of the UK. Call the M25 the new border and no Londoner can leave London.
Sound something the rest of the country would vote for?
Yeah agree when there’s an inch of snow in the Home Counties in winter, you would believe the world is about to end listening to the London centric media. I think it’s why outside the M25 and larger cities people are more relaxed although not ignoring it.
YES!
Re Salmond
https://bylinetimes.com/2020/03/20/the-trial-of-alex-salmond-marmite-man-inappropriate-but-not-criminal-jury-told/