It's great to be able to share a really good MMT thread from Twitter here, written by Andy Verity, who is a BBC economics correspondent:
Economists from the left are lining up to attack Andy Verity for writing this. I hope he sticks to his guns, because he's right.
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He certainly is right. But I haven’t seen him being interviewed on the Beeb. When or where has this happened? The only ones I have seen interviewed about economics on the Beeb don’t know what they are talking about. It’s the same old mainstream narrative. How can we get him more air time? Thanks for showing this, Richard.
Brilliant thread by Andy Verity, who quite obviously ‘gets’ MMT.
Never thought I’d say that about a BBC economics correspondent
…shame his political correspondent & editorial colleagues quite obviously get neither MMT, nor even anything remotely macro. Hence their constant interviewing of totally clueless ‘economists’ such as Torston Bell.
I note that (as far as I can see) Torsten Bell is the only economist whose Tweets get attention from the First Minister of Scotland. Perhaps that helps explain her lack of understanding of what it would mean to be a currency issuing government. As we now learn, the Scottish Government is still in thrall to the nonsense promoted by the “Growth Commission”, and wishes to be a currency user for an extended period.
Torsten Bell also advised Labour’s Alistair Darling and Ed Milliband, and I’d bet he’s a favourite of Rachel Reeves and the current Labour hierarchy.
And apparently Torsten was the ‘brains’ behind Ed Milliband’s infamous Edstone. A failed spin doctor for sure. Leading economist? Not so much https://www.ft.com/content/6df3a66c-a991-11e5-955c-1e1d6de94879
That was him…
Bloody hell!
Management at the BBC won’t like that one bit.
Very, very interesting.
I’m not on Twitter (and don’t want to be) so can’t see these attacks, Richard, but how any economist on the left can attack anything Verity says in these tweats is beyond me as he’s factually correct as well as spot on with his line of argument.
I assure you they are….
MMT lacks an inherent theory of class so it must be wrong, was a line from one of them not long ago
Good grief – has the left really come to this?
Sad.
Verity has mashed up the budget like a household analogy.
The households I know that run a balanced budget are bad models, one unexpected large item of expenditure from disaster. Even smaller problems can result in them presenting as homeless, to welfare services etc. Holidays are budgeted for annually and chosen for affordability. Likewise Christmas, and family events. At the end of the year they are in the same financial position as they started it. If Verity thinks this is what successful households do, he’s just plain wrong.
We do want the UK economy to prosper – so we should not run it like the household in Verity’s brain.
Successful households go through period of using financial systems (mortgage, student loans) to overspend when needed and underspend later in life when they’ve got more income coming and their debts are cleared. That surplus usually gets spent on children (investment) and pension provision for themselves.
With respect, that’s trolling, and you know it is
Very promising, but still some inconsistency surely, using the phrase “..more older people living longer that have to be care(d) for…taxes need to be higher to pay for it”, having previously explained that taxes don’t pay for such things?
But the additional spend will likely require more tax prevent inflation
He’s with the BBC?!
Amazing.
There I was thinking that Adam Curtis was the only bright light in the Bullshit Broadcasting Corporation as all the better people had left.
BTW – you should go on iPlayer and watch Curtis’s film ‘ Trauma Zone’ about Russia up to Putin (I think – I’m watching it now). There’s no narration – just footage from the post communist period that speaks for itself.
Where was the West all of this was kicking off?
Watch it and weep.
Thanks
Given that he has explained, near the beginning of the thread, that taxes do not ‘pay for’ spending, I’m mystified by the thread that says “One of the sensible realistic things the Johnson government did was to raise taxes to pay for social care”.
He is reflecting that extra spend can require extra tax to prevent inflation
I eventually figured that – it was just that the unfortunate choice of wording would bewilder those trying to understand his message
Notable that in the few weeks since Truss succeeded Johnston certain BBC political journalists and correspondents seem more emboldened. Andy Verity is pushing that envelope. Has the post-truth bubble burst or is this freedom something that will ebb away once the current Tory leadership turmoil settles?
If it has burst, how soon until we hear the coverage and language around the economic impact of Brexit begin change? This raising of awareness (of the self-halm we are inflicting upon ouselves) will indicate a ‘preparing of the ground’ for a necessary and difficult national conversation. Denial is living the lie that is preventing us moving on.
Last year or some time I posted I had seen a BBC correspondent telling the newsreader that some considered QE did not need to be treated like ‘normal’ borrowing. I didn’t know his name at the time but Richard did and thought Andrew Verity ‘got it’.
I expect he will be, or has been, talking to other economic correspondents and feels he can state this more openly. This is hopeful. In a crisis people look for a new way of thinking.
Last night I did a series of posts on my Facebook home page explaining MMT.
I should have waited!