I spoke at an event organised by my department at City University last night on 'Labour's View of the World'. Unsurprisingly I concentrated on the economic aspects of this. These were my speaking notes. The themes will recur on the blog today and later:
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Sounds convincing to me.
Will the National Investment Bank attempt to pick winners or focus on social investments? If the former, is there any evidence that we can do that now? Or was our record in the 60’s and 70’s actually not as bad as the media suggested?
All investors make mistakes
Humans invest
There is no evidence to suggest that the state did worse than the market, which is dire at picking winners. If it wasn’t we would not be where we are now
Having read your notes and The Joy of Tax, I am supportive of most of what you say. The main reservation I have, and it is an important one, is that your proposals, even if followed over many years, would not restore the level of equality back to pre 1980 levels – and that in itself is a very modest ambition. I believe the only way Labour can gain power is by showing people the true level of inequality and promising to make a correction whilst improving the economy.
Tax is not the only way to address inequiality, of course
We also have to increase the share of wages in GDP
Increasing the share of wages in GDP would have a very modest effect. The wealth gap would still widen. Are all economists frightened to talk about the elephant in the room – the Duke of Westminster? The concentration of wealth in the hands of one person (or family) and similar people is not only utterly immoral, it stifles the economy.
Wot, no reply, Richard?
Sometimes it just comes down to time
I have tackled the issue of wealth taxation in The Joy of Tax
Fair enough, Richard. I just don’t think your proposals would be enough to change things. I believe we have to start with the wealthiest, as the Labour Party did after WW2.