You want electrified train services? I promise they can be funded

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As the FT noted overnight:

Business leaders are demanding that the government boost infrastructure spending in the north after it scrapped or reviewed projects that were part of the Northern Powerhouse plan.  Two lobby groups representing thousands of companies have each written letters to ministers calling for an end to the north-south divide in investment in rail and road networks.

Chris Grayling, the transport secretary, cancelled the electrification of part of the Midland main line to Sheffield and said in July that a promise to run electric trains from Liverpool to Newcastle might also be broken.

There is, of course, an easy way to fund these schemes. As a backstop it is people's (or green) QE, which I explain here.

But if it was linked to People's Pensions (also see here) in the first instance people would have a secure and reliable way of providing for their retirement whilst making their present day a lot better. It's a winning combination. And it's not rocket science either.

What's bizarre is that something so logical, so cost effective, and so economically compelling has never happened. But that's because it does not pay for the finance sector. And that's all you need to know about why we have not got the economy we need or want.


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