Our economy isn't working.

It's built on lies: the myth of growth, the myth that profit comes before people, and the myth that wealth is more important than fairness.

If we want a sustainable society, we need a new moral code for the economy.

In this video, I set out ten commandments for a just economy - principles that put people before profit, justice before greed, and sustainability before growth.

These commandments demand:

• People before profit
• Fair rewards for work
• Inclusion, not exclusion
• Respect for the earth
• Finance that serves life
• Fair taxation
• Transparency and accountability
• Measuring what really matters

This is a manifesto for a fair and sustainable economy. One we could all be proud to live in.

The audio version is here:

This is the transcript:

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Our economy isn't working.

It's built on lies.

It's built on the myth of growth.

It's built on the myth that profit comes before people.

It's built on the myth that wealth is more important than fairness.

None of these are true.

If we are to have a sustainable life and we are to meet the needs of people, what we need is a new moral code for our economy.

I've thought about this, and what I'm going to suggest is that we need ten commandments for a just economy.

Commandment 1 - We must put people before profit

Commandment one of a just economy is very simple. It is that  'We must put people before profit.'

The economy's job is to feed, house, care, and educate people, and ensure that they are safe and can live without fear from cradle to grave.

Markets are tools to deliver those goals. They're not gods. They aren't the people we have to serve, or the mechanisms that we have to serve. Instead, people always come first. People come before profit.

Commandment 2 - Don't hoard wealth

The second commandment of a just economy is  'Don't hoard wealth.'

Wealth that sits idle, outside our economy, sitting in financial markets where it's used for speculation, corrodes the society that we live in.

Rent-seeking, quite literally, by overcharging for houses, or by extracting excessive profits through the charges that monopolies impose upon us, and asset stripping through speculative activity in financial markets; all these things strip value from you and from me as working people.

What we need is shared wealth that builds strength.

That invests in our futures.

That creates the safety for future generations so that climate change can be managed.

That ensures that everybody has a chance. But instead, wealth is being hoarded away from most people in society, and we're all suffering as a consequence.

Commandment 3 - There should be fair rewards for work

The third commandment of a fair and just economy is that '  There should be fair rewards for work.'

We haven't got fair rewards for work in the UK right now. Far too many people are at work and living in poverty. They cannot make their wages cover the basic costs of living, from the rent to putting food on the table, to paying the utility bills, to ensuring that their children are clothed, that they can buy a school uniform, that they can take them away for the weekend every now and again, or even have the luxury of a holiday, and that basic other needs are met.

This isn't happening,  and our minimum wage doesn't guarantee it.

Our old age pension, the state old age pension, is even worse. It's way below the level of the minimum wage.

We haven't got fair rewards for work and fair rewards for those who've retired from work.  We just aren't putting enough emphasis on security so that work really does pay for people.

Instead, the whole focus of our economy is on exploitation, and exploitation is little better than legalised theft.

We must have fair rewards for work in our economy, or we can never have social justice. We can never beat the curse of the far-right politicians who say that all of these issues are caused by migrants or somebody else they might choose to pick upon.

We cannot have a country where people can live securely and safely alongside their neighbours, knowing that everybody has the dignity that fair rewards pay. Commandment three is very clear. We must pay fair rewards for work.

Commandment 4 - We must include the excluded

The fourth commandment of a fair and just economy is very clear. '  We must include the excluded.'

Poverty and discrimination are not excuses for people to be left on the sidelines of our society. It's unjust that this is the case now.

That so many of our rules on benefits ensure that  some of the poorest people in the UK are those who cannot work because they are simply unable to do so because of disabilities that are of no fault of their own, is completely unjustified.

And we also have to be clear that there are too many people who are prejudiced within the world in which we live. Migrants; people who have autism and ADHD; people who have sexual orientations that some people find uncomfortable; people who do not share our skin colour, whatever it might be. All of these give rise to prejudices and exclude people.

An economy that leaves people outside is a broken economy.

The only economy that can work is an inclusive economy, an economy that embraces us all as we are, that respects our diversity, our equality, and provides us with inclusivity. We must respect commandment four and include the excluded.

Commandment 5 -We respect the earth

Commandment five for a fair and just economy is that '  We must respect the earth.'

We live on one planet. It's the only one we've got. It's still the only one in the whole of the universe that we know provides the conditions for life.

Our land, our air, our water, and our biodiversity are our inheritance from billions of years of previous inhabitants of this planet.

We have been plundering that inheritance.

We have been stealing what we have been given freely by nature, and we've taken it from future generations to use for ourselves.

We've created a different planet as a consequence. A planet that is warming. A planet that is living beyond its limits, and now we should respect that fact. We should live within our means, or we risk losing everything.

Commandment five says 'We must respect the earth', and there is really no other commandment which may be as great as this one, because if we don't do this, there's nothing left for us to worry about.

Commandment 6 - Finance must serve life

Commandment six for a fair and just society and economy says, '  Finance must serve life.'

Let's be clear. Money is vital. It's important. We need it. It's useful. Let's not knock it. We need banks. We need a finance industry. We need it to work. But money is not created to serve money itself, and yet that's how we've transformed our economy.

When we have politicians who say that the  City of London and its financial institutions are the 'jewel in the crown' of the UK, they've got all their priorities wrong.

We must put finance in its place. It exists to serve the real economy; the real economy that meets our needs for housing, for care, for education, for food, for services, and all those things that entertain us.

Banks and markets are important. I'm not going to knock them and say we don't need them, but they are our servants and not our masters.  Commandment six says, 'Finance must serve life', and that's absolutely true.

Commandment 7 - Open the books

Commandment seven of a fair and just economy says, '  Open the books.'

Everything must be transparent in an economy that works.

There is no room for cheating.

There is no room for non-payment of tax.

There is no room for unaccountability.

There is no room for companies to say, "We don't need to tell you what we are doing, even though we have the privilege of limited liability that protects us from the consequences of our actions and imposes the risks on you."

We must live in a society that is transparent.

We must live in a society where there is no room for a tax haven.

We must live in a society where those with whom we trade are accountable for what they do.

We must live in a society where tax cheats are held to account.

We must live in a society where the logic is that sunlight is justice.

We need to shine a light on cheating and get rid of it because only then can we live comfortably with each other, knowing that we are all operating on a level playing field, which, just for the sake of the record, is exactly what economic theory says we need, if we are all to prosper. So there's nothing radical about commandment seven, which says 'We must have open books.' It's the precondition for a strong economy.

Commandment 8 - Make taxes fair

Commandment eight of a fair and just economy says, '  Make taxes fair.'

The first condition for making this work is to understand what taxes do, and the vast majority of politicians, tax experts, political commentators, economists, and others don't understand tax.

It's a big claim to make, but I say it entirely justifiably. Taxes do not fund the government.

Deep down, people like the Bank of England, people like the Treasury, know this, but it's a very convenient myth that they promote that the government is funded by taxpayer money, even though there is no such thing,  because that lets them constrain what government can achieve by saying that people won't pay more tax.

But the truth is, there is capacity to pay more tax in the UK economy. The wealthy have the means to pay more. Many of the wealthiest pay less in total as a proportion of their income and gains than do those on median average earnings in this country.

We have a deeply unfair tax system.

A tax system that is hardly progressive at all.

A tax system that, in some cases, penalises the poor excessively because of charges which are entirely unreasonable for everything from a television license - which is a poll tax - to the way in which VAT operates, the way in which council tax operates and various other unfair taxes, and which therefore promotes inequality and abuse.

We need a tax system that is genuinely progressive. That ensures that everybody makes a fair contribution. But that most of all, the wealthy pay the biggest share because they should, and this is entirely possible.  My Taxing Wealth Report shows how.

We could have taxes that serve the common good  of living in a society where inequality is managed so that everybody feels capable of being in touch with their neighbour. Commandment eight says, 'Make tax fair,' and we should.

Commandment 9 - Don't worship wealth or power

Commandment nine for a fair and just economy says,  'Don't worship wealth or power.'

Large companies are not sovereign. They do not rule, and yet our politicians jump to everything that they demand.

Governments should be answerable to people in this country. That's who they serve. That's what democracy is all about.  They shouldn't be literally jumping to the tune of the wealthy or the companies that the wealthy own.

Leadership means that they should be able to work out where their duty lies, and it is not with the dominant. Those are not the people they serve. They've already got enough power.  The whole point of government is to address the imbalances of power within our society and to make sure that those without are represented fairly. That's what a democracy's about.

So commandment nine says, 'Don't worship wealth or power', but do instead make sure that those who are weak and vulnerable are heard, and it's vital to a fair economy.

Commandment 10 -Measure what matters

Finally, commandment ten of a fair economy says, '  Measure what matters.' And this is really important, because unless we actually pick appropriate goals for the management of our economy, we will not deliver a fair and just economy.

GDP is not our economic God.

Growth has not delivered well-being.  We've tried it for decades, and we are in a mess. We are in a hopeless mess of inequality, injustice, climate change, and potential collapse.

GDP as a measure is no good because it values nothing that really matters. It just counts the pounds.

True prosperity is based upon community. So what we have to do is measure how we are caring, how much justice we're delivering, whether we are sustainable, and whether our communities work or not. Success is when everyone belongs, and that's what we should be measuring.

Commandment ten says, 'Measure what matters.' And what really matters is our social inclusivity.

Summary

These ten commandments summarise what is necessary for a just economy.

They put people before profit.

They put work before exploitation.

They put the earth before greed.

They put justice before growth.

That's what we need in a fair and just economy.

They are a manifesto for a good society, a good economy, a fair world, and a place where we should all want to live free from fear.

Please work in accordance with these ten commandments, because if you do, we'll end up better off.

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Note of thanks: I would like to thank commentator Cliff B, who inspired this, and I hope he does not mind that I played around with his ideas a little.

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