I have listened to Gary Stevenson's latest video, issued this weekend, to which I provide a link below.
Several things stood out for me in what he had to say.
The first was that he now admits that a wealth tax is not the only way in which inequality in our society can be tackled and that, in practice, other taxes on income, gain and profits arising from wealth can also have a role.
This has not been Gary's position to date, and I warmly welcome the change of heart because I think it is necessary and because it makes the prospect of effecting change very much higher.
It also creates a much stronger common ground between us because we both absolutely agree that inequality is the fundamental cause of many of our problems in the UK and that government action to tackle this is essential, with taxation being by far the most effective tool available for this purpose.
The second welcome change is that Gary is thinking more broadly about what people might do to bring about change. He is doing this at the same time as my own thinking about the way in which I might write my videos has been changing. Having studied quite a number of specialist content creators and their advice on how to script the most effective videos, it is apparent that any video needs to end with a call to action. I am now going to include these in many more of my videos, and it is clear that Gary is as well.
If more than 90% of the people in the UK are going to be afflicted by the curse of inequality that Labour is willingly seeking to impose on this country, then it is very obvious that as many people as possible must begin to protest in any way that they can so that their voices are heard in opposing what Labour is seeking to do. It seems we also agree on that.
Harnessing the energy of the people that mainstream neoliberal politics and economics deliberately set out to harm is the only way that, in the end, change will happen. There is no other way it can. So, beginning that process and discussing how it can be advanced is vital. We are in agreement.
Finally, Gary discussed the failure of left-of-centre think tanks to even comprehend the issue of inequality, mainly because most of the people working in them are just too personally comfortable to ever think that such an issue matters. They prefer to focus on green issues or things like identity politics instead - which might matter to them because of their privilege, but which ignores the fact that for a majority of people, the issue of surviving in an economy set up to make that as hard as possible is their most significant issue of concern.
It so happens that this was the issue that I have spent a lot of time considering in the last week - precisely because I witnessed an NGO spectacularly failing for this reason last week and probably wasting considerable resources as a result, all of which caused me considerable concern and even stress. I still do not feel able to write objectively about that as yet, but I will. The abysmal failure of the left and its think tanks is too significant an issue to ignore, however uncomfortable it will make some and however unpopular it might make me for saying so. Gary tackled this at about 12 minutes in. I will be doing so soon.
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Thanks for your work on this, it clarified for me all the issues around so called “wealth taxing”, and I can now articulate to others why such an approach is a bad move and will likely backfire among voters given the amount of admin and stress it will heap on nearly everyone. That taxes on the incomes is simpler, cheaper and impacts people only at the right income levels.
I also agree with your point about centre left thinktanks coming over as wonkish and out of touch when obsessing about green and identity issues at a time when people are being crushed by inequality and the highly conservative British establishment’s seemingly insatiable need to crush and grind down its fellow citizens. Depressingly, we saw it again yesterday.
These issues are important – in the case of climate change critically so – but we leave the arena open to the malign influences of the opaque rightwing thinktanks if we do not address people’s kitchen table cashflow first. Those thinktanks will grab that issue with glee, and will absolutely blame everyone else except their own policy prescriptions for the plight of the poor. Starmer and Reeves have completely fumbled the potentially era ending opportunity provided by the explosion of the Truss/IEA agenda in 2022. Indeed it feels like they’re blindly carrying it on.
If we want people in lower income brackets to care about huge issues, you cannot escape confronting the problems they face as soon as they wake up each morning. No amount of catastrophising about global problems – however justified – is bigger than the daily catastrophe of not being able to pay bills, or switch the heating on, or feed everyone in the household adequately.
Dammit I’m so frustrated.
Join the club….
Hi Richard,
Thankyou for your hard work explaining money and politics.
I have a question which hopefully you can answer.
Regarding MMT . How would Keynes idea of a Bancor for international transactions fit in?
Would using such a currency negate MMT? Stephanie Kelton seems to think MMT does not apply to the Euro but recent events seems to show this is not true?
Sorry that’s more than one question
David
MMT is harder to fit for country without its own currency
So it is harder to apply to the EU
But Bancor was always a basket of currencies – something quite different
This post excites me!
Questions that we all have to ask…
What is my sphere of influence? (My family, work colleagues, profession, neighbours, blog, church, fellow hospital patients, community association or the corporation I own/run? (Everyone is of equal value in this struggle, even if we feel insignificant. We all matter and we can all do something)
What are my particular gifts, skills, opportunities, resources, enthusiasms, passions contacts, experience? Even just sharing your personal story has enormous value and may persuade an “influencer” to change their mind and their actions.
Who can I influence? A lot of ordinary people and/or a smaller number of powerful people? Some powerful people read this blog. Maybe they are getting worried. They should be. “We are many, and they are few.”
What language do my particular personal audience speak, and do I understand THEIR story, their experience their grievances?
What do I WANT to achieve and what CAN I achieve?
What matters most, right now, and what is secondary?
Who wants the same, and can I support them so that we can both be more effective?
What might it cost me, and am I prepared for that?
Which is more important to me, a quiet life, or a clear conscience & a better world for me and my neighbour?
What am I going to do TODAY to make a difference, with what is available to me? Because, no matter who I am, I can make a difference and the good people do win in the end.
Thanks Richard for your activism but also your willingnes to reflect. You are inspiring others and you are beginning to turn the tide. People who used to be certain are beginning to doubt. People who used to be confident are beginning to worry. Now we can begin to feed some truth into the space, and begin to get a hearing.
KUTGW!
Thanks Robert
Some positive feedback helps right now
“They prefer to focus on green issues or things like identity politics instead – which might matter to them because of their privilege, but which ignores the fact that for a majority of people, the issue of surviving in an economy set up to make that as hard as possible is their most significant issue of concern.” – THIS! This is why the far right are making strides in the political spectrum right now! The far right, although lying, are appealing to the poor. Of course the climate is important, but if people’s lives are already so shit, why would they care about the future? As for identity politics, it always misses the main root cause of inequality – money/class/wealth.
We need politicians who have experienced real life in this country, we then might get some equality improving policies.
Thanks Richard as usual 🙂
Thanks
I was hoping that Collective, the new, mass-membership political party of the left in the UK, might take up the mantle of the Left.
I like that you don’t have to belong to a specific party, recognising that people have many views, some shared, some not. Starmer has destroyed the values of the traditional Labour Party, I just wish that Collective would organise themselves more quickly.
https://we-are-collective.org/
Thanks for that Mr Tresman.
I have taken part in a 4 person collective for 6 years. Egos are left at the door. We find interest in how each of us takes a different angle/view of a problem. We arrive at commonly held positions – obvs expressed slightly differently but the trajectory is the same. I suppose in some ways we embody the old “thesis, antithesis, synthesis” process much beloved by Marxists. It works for us. I will investigate the collective more closely (prepare to be assimilated! resistance is futile etc .. 🙂
Ian, here in Southport we have set up an independent party- Southport Community Independents, for exactly that purpose. There are a number of other such groups also in progress around the country, all under the Collective umbrella, and supported by Assemble, which helps organise public get togethers of local people to have input into what we are doing.
We have lots of ex-Labour members but also former LibDems and Greens.
We are hoping we are one of the acorns
Thank you, Richard.
I am glad that Gary and you highlight the “failure of left-of-centre think tanks to even comprehend the issue of inequality, mainly because most of the people working in them are just too personally comfortable to ever think that such an issue matters”.
From my work on regulatory and trade policy, let me add that some, perhaps many, but not all see these “gigs” as stepping stones to the Commons (or Lords if older) and /or corporate ESG and multilateral agency roles. Insider sympathisers and I joked that the think tank types would get a nose bleed if they had to work outside SW1.
I m working on a longer post on this, knowing Huw unpopular it will make me.
Thank you, Richard.
I should have added that other career options include being assistant to MPs and, pre-Brexit, MEPs. It feels like an eco-system to produce / feed what has been called the think tank, NGO and charity complex and the Labour right.
Some go to Save The Children and Unicef, for international exposure, and make them partisan. Mum used to volunteer for them and got fed up with wannabe MPs on the make AND on the take. An example of Blairites damaging reputable bodies: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-43162223.
I parted company with them long ago
My suspicions eventually proved correct in that case.
I should have added that the think tanks need upsetting.
Aurelien has written and talked about how, especially the US ones, often make things worse, including in the former Yugoslavia, where he was assigned after the transition to democracy in South Africa.
I think this might be right
I agree with the comment on “failure of left-of-centre think tanks to even comprehend the issue of inequality”….but,
what I see in Brussels is revolving doors from NGOs into the Commision/EP/Council and back again. The attitude of the 3 institutions with respect to the energy price shock was mostly performative – wringing of hands, its all terrible & then farting around for two years to produce a non-reform package.
Meanwhile these ultra-utlra-well-paid people (do think north of Euro8000 per month & minimal taxes) shared trams and buses with people who struggled to meet their energy bills. & when I talk to them (people in tyhe institutions) – there is a total & complete detchment from the reality lived by the people that surround them (& yes there are exceptions – emphasis – exceptions). Point, it ain’t just the “left-of-centre thinks tanks” it is the assorted edifices that provide input into the policy development/legislative process. & when one, as an engineer, tell’s em “well that won’t work because of xzy reality” they just ignore you.
There is more to come on this issue – I am so fed up with the “do gooders’ whose only interest is in preserving their jobs
This is the point I am trying to make every time I mention the word “omnibus”.
My neighbours are mostly “white working class” and I am fed up of politicians who blow dogwhistles to get their votes but haven’t got a clue about their lives, and have a cynical contempt for them and their values. I choose to live here, and am glad I do, its a great neighbourhood.
I don’t distinguish between Farage, Starmer, Reeves, or many left wing or green groups, in that respect.
Given my church experience over >50 adult years, I also see many parallels between the “die, you heretic, get ye into the outer darkness” of fundamentalist religion, and the “die, you ******” – insert your favourite ideological trans-sectional insult here – terf, toff, traitor, trot – take your pick. (For further details see “The Life of Brian” and the Judaean People’s Liberation Front/People’s Liberation Front of Judaea ideological spat).
If we are beginning to get past that, then I am hopeful. But it will be a long battle.
It will be…
Let’s cut to the chase. Chancellor Merz of Germany (a Conservative) has just won his critical vote in the Reichstag. He has eliminated the, until his historic vote, sacrosanct rule of government in Germany, the Schuldenbremse (debt brake – the fiscal rules). What does this mean? In the crisis we are all in throughout Europe, both economic and defence, of which Germany is a critical part, Merz has seized the day. Germany is now going to invest €1Trn (Trillion) in the German economy (€500Bn), and defence (€500Bn); and he will not rely on markets for this money – he will increase the National Debt. The illusion has been broken.
I do not know enough about Merz as a politician or Chancellor, but I can say this; he “gets it”. He understands the base issue. He didn’t consult Trump, or the neoliberal economists who have led Germany (and Britain) to a catastrophic dead-end.
Starmer doesn’t “get it”. Reeves doesn’t. Labour doesn’t. The Conservatives don’t. The British public doesn’t. All Britain has to offer are Fiscal Rules that have relentlessly destroyed us over nearly two decades; or has Starmer visiting the Oval Office, to kiss Trump’s ring.
And we are going to solve our economic problems by saving £5Bn from disabled claimants, of all people (and we still do not know who it affects, how it will be achieved, or what it will cost); and the saving doesn’t arrive until 2029. So what did Kendall give us yesterday? No facts, and a ropy four year forecast. Do you want to know what difference all this puff will make to Government expenditure?
In 2024-25, Total Government Expenditure (TME – see OBR, IFS) is £1.28 Trn (Trillion). £5Bn therefore represents 0.39% of TME – it doesn’t even register as a rounding error in a forecast; but actually it will be less than that, because Kendall has said £1Bn is being spent now (estimate), to put people back to work, and an unspecified amount for DWP re-assessments by professionals (typically medical staff – and think on this; if medical staff are doing this, what work are they not doing in order to do reassessments?). Kendall’s tatement was bereft of facts. We do not even know the numbers involved (but around 3.6m people may be affected); and we do not even know if the saving will be Net, or Gross (so the £5Bn, may prove to Nil, or actually lose money). This policy will be expensive and resource demanding to implement; therefore much of the additional Government expenditure will be up-front, and the uncertain saving is four years out. Is this really where Britain should be investing its money and political capital, first. See Germany, compare; and weep.
It says a lot for the deep failure of British politicians, that faced with a £1.28 Trn TME; you start by looking for savings from misapplied benefits among 3.6m people, among whom are to be found the seriously disabled, and all for amounts so small they scarcely register as a forecast rounding error; and save nothing immediately.
Act one: Tier the Central Bank Reserves (a standard practice in the ECB and Bank of Japan, this is not some mad theory), and you can guarantee saving £7Bn minimum, perhaps significantly more, from today, and every year going forward; at zero cost to implement. And that is just the start. Then you start looking at marginal tax reliefs………….
Thanks John
Much to agree with
Thank you, John.
Merz is from BlackRock.
I don’t disagree with the plans, but wonder if this is a way of funnelling money to his former employer.
The Greens, advised on such matters by an ex Goldman Sachs employee*, have supported and would like to join a CDU led coalition judging from noises made as the SPD led coalition crumbled. *Not to be confused with the ex Goldman Sachs employee leading the AfD.
A very powerful post Mr Warren. Introducing a note of levity –
which ring fof Trump’s do you think he kissed.
(since this is a family orientated blog I will expand on this question).
That’s v interesting!
As Germany is in the Eurozone under the ECB, and doesn’t have its own fiat currency or own central bank, it’s even more significant.
What is the mechanism for finding the money? (I’m not disagreeing, just trying to learn, so I can talk about it on the omnibus.)
Oh how I would love to hear a UK politician asked about this on air! (Dream on, RobertJ!)
Read Deutsche Welle (a German national broadcaster), “€1 trillion impact: What easing debt brake means for Germany”. It appears it will be through loans, increasing National Debt from 62% to around 90%.
€500Bn is being raised for the military (principally the Bundeswehr); and €500Bn as follows: “Germany has significant infrastructure problems. Roads, bridges and railroads have been worn out over decades, with little attention paid to maintenance. There is also an urgent need to modernize energy and water infrastructure, telecommunications, schools, universities, and hospitals. At the same time, the country’s digitalization is lagging behind, and the conversion and expansion of climate-neutral energy infrastructure is also far from complete.
Article 143h will be added to the Basic Law, stipulating that €500 billion in debt may be raised over the next 12 years for investment in infrastructure. Of that amount, €100 billion will go to the federal states for their infrastructure and €300 billion to the federal government. The remaining €100 billion is earmarked for climate protection. The draft bill also stipulates ‘additional investments to achieve climate neutrality by 2045′”.
The state of infrastructure sounds familiar to us in Britain. Europe and Britain have been sleeping the sleep of the dead since the Berlin Wall fell.
But at least they have now realised they need to act
Check you email for subscription. I have no idea where that sentence came from! I didn’t write it!
Centre left institutions have been abysmal pretty much everywhere. It is probably why I have never worked for one. No one has the stomach to see up close their own values completely fail.
While climate change is a century long challenge, no one loses sleep about it at night. 100 years are difficult to think about. Being jobless, struggling to keep a roof over your head, hunger, etc. All the basic necessities are what we worry about. Once these are met, then we can expect more sympathy about our legitimate concerns of climate.
As I’ve got older, I find that I do some funny things. Never being really demonstrative and self conscious I used to keep my own counsel.
For example I cry when I hear Beethoven, Schubert or Jimi Hendrix for example – no idea why. I’m just moved that’s all. My son finds it a bit embarrassing when we go and see a concert.
I’ve begun to be haunted by places in my local area where I used to take the children and experience a real sense of having lost something – a passing, even though both teenagers are alive and are doing well.
But the other day I watched the C4 report on The Sudan – a conflict that has not been widely reported and I don’t know……………….
I looked at what was happening to these people and I felt ashamed. They had nothing. They were eating rats and leaves. But kept their mud huts spotless. And the dignity………………not fighting over money, or fashion, or cars. They just wanted to live and have a little food.
So what if I build ‘affordable’ housing? All that will happen is that someone will want to buy it in the mistaken belief that they have made it or are achieving something but actually leaving us short of such homes in the circle of chaos we think is acceptable.
‘
I looked at this place on the screen and thought ‘Fuck all this – that’s where I need to be – right there – trying to do something about that’.
I’m 60 in December, have a creaking knee and and dodgy circulation in the other leg.
Do you think that someone would have me and send me there to try and do something useful for once?
I need a cause I can believe in so badly.
Swan Lake does it for me every time 2nd act (or driving over the hill down to Freshwater west on a bright day).
In terms of doing stuff, if you want to make a difference – organise some community energy. As you know, I’m happy to help any & all on the tech side.
Sudan – terrible situation & my heart goes out to the poor devils there, but apart from charitable donations – there ain;’t much I can do – too hot, too many bullets, and ultimately it needs a political solution.
I think energy more realistic at 60
PSG – Mike is helping me with our village Community energy project.
I’d be very happy to share what we are learning – Mike knows it all on the tech side.
Ask Richard to connect us if you want.
Hanging on to this, as a practical thing which will make life easier for everyone in our village – is keeping me sane right now. And it is easy on the knees…
I have a full-time job that is very demanding on my time; I volunteer at my local rugby club to run an annual rugby festival and to maintain the clubhouse. I don’t live in a village. But when and if I retire, there are options I am sure.
Looking at the Sudan though, some of our problems are just self-inflicted nonsense. Eating rats and leaves, facing rape don’t seem self inflicted to me.
First world problems are most of what we have.
Is it Louis Vuitton or Gucci today?
I’m glad to see a growing pivot away from identity politics by the Left. It was meant well but has been weaponised by the Right as a means to portray themselves as the downtrodden victims and to conceal their prejudice. Look at Trump’s attack on DEI in the States. It also gave corporations a way to virtue signal while picking our pockets. The Left needs to focus on labour organisation again, and inequality. Identity politics won’t be required if we tackle that. People will be less likely to hate each other if everyone has security and money in their pockets. Tackling the rich and their control of society will also allow us to tackle green issues as well.
Agreed
Fascism almost always has an element of victimhood ( to be avenged -an excuse to manifest the anger and violence)
In Italy is the lack of territorial gains post WW1
Germany, stab in the back defeat, Versailles and War Guilt clause, Great Inflation and loss of savings
USA with the KKK Civil war , Enfranchisement of the Black population, power of Jews and Catholics, Yanks (Northerners )
Spain -Communism, liberal values as a threat to landowners and the church (among other things )
I’ve nothing to add but just have to say that both Richard’s post and all the comments hearten me and give me hope
We don’t talk enough about the overlaps between climate action and improving the lives of ordinary people. Proper home insulation and heat pumps could significantly reduce energy bills, as could solar panels. In some cases district heating, combined heat and power or power islands might also help. Cheap, reliable and frequent public transport would reduce outgoings for many people, especially in rural areas. Better cycleways would reduce pollution and household expenses, and improve health too. Another improvement would be getting rid of ‘felt tip’ zone planning regulations, which should allow more people to walk or cycle to work.
The cool thing about such initiatives is that they all gain approval from two or more activist lobbies. A true win-win.
I would recommend the left of centre think tank Commonweal to readers of this blog whilst supporting independence for Scotland their positions have universal applications.
I like them
An exception to almost all my comments on think tanks
Higher taxes on (higher) incomes and profits will help address inequality.
I suspect that the sheer scale of the under-taxation of said income and profits over the last 45 years, is such that taxes on wealth will also be necessary. Perhaps through punitive, unavoidable taxes on death.
Albeit there may be no measures that can lawfully stem capital flight.
Please read the Taxing Wealth Report.
Richard – Just sharing a link to an episode of a podcast in which Gary S debates and challenges his opponent in case you missed it.
I also think it’s time for you to start a podcast yourself and invite guests like Gary, S Kelton, Steve Keen, Danny Blanchflower, D Neidle, and lots of other people that have similar and different/opposing views so that you can tackle some of the utter madness, debate/challenge and basically argue.
In my view you should seriously consider and factor in how you can exploit the new wave of media organizations that are not anchored to big media conglomerates and which are very successful in attracting large audiences. Whether we like it or not, they are driving public opinion and thought leadership especially for the younger generation. I repeat my suggestion for you to start by contacting Mehdi Hassan.
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/stevenbartlett-123_were-trying-something-new-on-the-diary-of-activity-7308396979963777024–i1r?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAALh4o8BtKgR7-PJIrPXoBnRLcFd3sJNAD0
If you like debates and are interested in the sound of this one, here’s the link to watch: https://youtu.be/4yohVh4qcas
We’re trying something new on The Diary of a CEO today.
We’re hosting our first-ever economic debate with two brilliant, but completely opposing minds: Daniel Priestley and Gary Stevenson.
Daniel is a self-made millionaire and entrepreneur who believes capitalism drives success. Gary, a former Citibank trader turned economist, argues that without wealth redistribution, inequality will break the system.
They disagree on everything and in this conversation, no one holds back.
We cover:
– Why millionaires are leaving the UK…
– How the next recession will be worse than our last?
– What the media and government isn’t telling us about the economy…
– The truth about taxing the rich!
– How the middle class is collapsing?
and so much more!
Two experts, two completely different realities. Who will you agree with?
This debate gets heated, and trust me – You don’t want to miss it!
Let me know your thoughts after
Watch the full episode now by searching The Diary of a CEO Daniel Priestley Gary Stevenson on YouTube, or check the link in the comments that I just posted.
Captions are auto generated
Thanks
Noted
I also know I am finite and that is very frustrating.
Dale Vince and ‘Patriotic Millionaires’ want fair taxes.
Dale Vince was a disgrace on Sky the other night, supporting benefit cuts.
I have told him never to come asking me for support again.
And Patriotic Millionaires call for a wealth tax – which I suspect they know cannot work. How much of this is grandstanding then?
With inflation being somewhat lower, could increased borrowing from markets in concert with increased bank of england loans be used to fund improving public services, social housing, and more generous welfare provision, etc.? It is unfair that wealth does not get taxed as much as income in terms of the rate but wouldn’t it be better to borrow more (and to lower top rates across the board) to raise living standards for those at the bottom whilst minimising capital flight and other attempts to avoid paying tax etc. Thanks.
That would be possible
But the Bank of England could also lend directly
Thanks, I’ve followed Gary’s content for a while but worry its not nuanced enough to be practical.
That is true
Gary Stevenson’s ‘Tax wealth, not work’ is an excellent slogan.