I was sent this video to review by its creator this week. I know who he is.
I offered comments to him, but also asked if I could share it here.
Presume that this is something like the half hour documentary that you would like Panorama to produce on wealth taxes, and give it a view over the weekend. In think it's worth it.
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Would you please pass on to whoever the presenter is my thanks and appreciation for an extremely insightful and thought provoking video? It is presented in a commendably restrained manner which added to its impact. I, like you, were born at a time when inequality in the UK was at its lowest level in history. I can remember just how that felt (call it the zeitgeist if you like). This video spurs me on to do as much as I can in the limited years left in my life to try to reverse this corrosive neoliberal agenda which has fuelled this surge in wealth inequality. It has always been my belief that one of the main purposes in life is to leave this world in a better place than when I entered it. We have a hell of a task on our hands. However I believe that our generation can make an important contribution by lending our experience and expertise to the younger generation to help them in the fight ahead. There are clear signs that the tide may be turning with the likes of you, Patriotic Millionaires, Dale Vince and Gary Stevenson and others gaining traction. May be all is not lost. I am considering writing on the housing ‘crisis’ based on my forty five years or so experience in planning because the neoliberal narrative being pursued by Rachel Reeves is false and will be ineffective.
What a good way to start the weekend! I’m looking forward to your Bold Politics interview by Zack Polanski. His one this week with Grace Blakey was encouraging.
Thanks
I have drawn your comment and others to the creator’s attention.
That was the best half hour I have spent in a long time. Thank you
Very good. The presenter looks familiar …
Super video, really enjoyed it. Does that made me a saddo?
No!
Excellent. Hits every nail smack on the head.
¿Are not the mechanisms already in place for taxation?
It seems the mechanisms for enforcement are mis-aimed or diminished.
Keep writing …
You mean?
Time and effort used in receiving and considering this offering, with its detailed, verifying inputs, were very well used!,
a realistic approach – very thoughtful and well put together – thank you
This video makes me so sad in that it continues the misbelief that “taxes are required before government can spend on the little people”. That rich people are a necessity of the system that we live in so government can collect their money to spend on the wellbeing of the masses is reinforced by this well meaning but ignorant presenter. It will not work as those in charge NEVER willingly give up their privilege without it being taken from them. They will oppress and beat down the little people using their wholly owned tweedle-dum or tweedle-dee governments and enormous divide and rule propaganda services.
While ever the many fail to understand that the net money/savings in their possession is only there because it has come from government as monopoly issuer of the currency. That net fiat money always remains the property of its issuer, the government, even when in possession of the wealthy.
This message is totally antithetical to what Richard is trying to achieve via an MMT understanding. I would like to tax the obscenely wealthy out of existence but not on the basis that the government must have their money before acting for the common good. The message should have been tax the wealthy in order to:
(i) Reduce wealth and income inequality to make for a fairer society as somewhat existed in the early post-WW2 decades;
(ii) Reduce the power and influence of the wealthy over the decisions of government; and
(iii) Make banking, which is the licensee of government, a public utility to serve the common good instead of a private profit extracting parasite upon society.
More of the same Gary Stevensoning isn’t the answer.
The presenter understands MMT, I know.
He also understands the need to reach an audience, 99% of whom do not understand MMT
Be ridiculously purist if you like, but all you will do is harm any chance of progress we have by alienating people. Why would you want to do that?
The presenter provides no inkling of understanding MMT in his spiel. Playing by the rules that are set by the orthodoxy/vested interests on the basis of a false understanding of monetary operations is just what they want the heterodoxy to do.
I don’t see it as a purist position because truth and reality matter.
You will note others disagree with you.
Go and waste time elsewhere please.
You clearly missed the bit where he touches on sovereign currencies. Only touches on admittedly, but it’s there. I suggest you watch it again
Just finished watching it and I think it’s excellent. I’m now a subscriber and have shared it. It’s clear he does understand MMT but, as you say, 99.% don’t
Brilliant and honest presentation. I follow Gary Stephenson and have learned so much. The problem started with Thatcher and has escalated from there. I watched the sell off of council houses in Glasgow. People on low incomes living in council houses saw a chance to get on the’ housing ladder’… but there was a price to pay as an army of men employed by the council ..plumbers .joiners , electricians who serviced all these properties… lost their jobs. But that was acceptable ….because people wanted to buy a house at a very low price… Some would probably never have been able to afford a mortgage..like my parents ..and on their low income they considered renting from the council
( Glasgow Corporation.. east end of Glasgow) the most sensible thing to do ( if you couldn’t afford the rent that month you didn’t get thrown out)……different story with a mortgage..as many found out. Suddenly here was a chance for those on low incomes to actually buy and own property! And in a short time you could sell it at a profit. Tough if you wanted to just rent..and of course no new house builds.Thatcher was clever. And look where we are now…
I think he is right but for one point which this blog has been instrumental in shaping my view on. Taxing wealth is just not the most practical or effective way of tackling inequality. Similarly, although the wealthier are also more likely to be older, I still think it is better to focus on wealth inequality rather than correlations like age.
Besides inheritance tax increases, the Labour Government of 1945 didn’t need to tax wealth to achieve greater equality. That was the result of taxing income on wealth at the same rate as taxes on work and could be much more easily achieved if the government had the guts to do it. Incidentally, if we do factor in age, they did make people contribute before they could get a larger state pension in contrast to today’s triple lock but whether or not that was fair in the circumstances (a lot of would be recipients in the early 1950s fought in the trenches) is debatable.
Excellent!
I could nitpick – there’s a lot he could improve, and its quite dense, with not all the graphics fully explained, but he should be encouraged for a high quality production. He’s done a coherent comprehensive demolition job on arguments against taxing wealth.
He clearly DOES get MMT (his comments on the national debt and sovereign currency make that clear).
He could improve the variety/expression in his voice, but I like his tone – he sounds quietly, reasonably angry at the status quo and so he should be.
I’m impressed.
A lot has been packed into this film, I had to pause to read the screen at times, and found the chapters headings useful. Covered a lot of ground well, eat your heart out, Panorama! Thatcher guilty as charged, and her henchmen. A bit of a shame that the trope of the boomers drawing up the ladder was used – more nuance would have been helpful. 1/6 of pensioners live in poverty and most people over 60 will have young people they are concerned for, and many of us can see further than that.
Loving the ambition! Well structured and I felt the graphs where well used to present evidence. My attention was held throughout. More Jimmy than Garry or Richard ; )
Brilliant!
Keep going with the videos.
Well done (whoever you are!)
A very strong argument. You packed a lot in, so you might consider breaking it down into shorter videos of impact.
Andrew Sayer (author of Why We Can’t Afford the Rich, 2014, Policy Press)
That as a good book.
There are several shorts in that video!
Excellent, it’s good to see younger generation folk producing this stuff. The more the merrier.
Cogent, well-researched, and well presented. Good luck. 🙂
I agree with everything in this video, unfortunately there are currently no political parties that are ever likely to be in a position to implement such policies. Perhaps in my dream of an independent Scotland we would be left wing enough to lead by example and show our english comrades what can be acheived. Unfortunately that too is a dream as I sadly don’t see that happening in my lifetime.
Hang on….
I’m an auld impatient bugger. LOL.
🙂