As we all know her basic thesis is that since the government occasionally invents stuff which other people then make money from all that money really belongs to the government.
You know the sort of thing. Government invented the internet therefore Google really belongs to the State. And Jeff Bezos. And pharma discoveries often come from uni labs therefore…..
So, we\’re looking for the best phrase we can to describe this idea. Along the lines of:
Newton invented gravity so NASA owes Cambridge University.
The Arabs invented the distillation of alcohol so the Scotch industry belongs to the Mullahs.
Egyptians invented beer so all beer tax should be paid to Egypt.
The Celts invented the heavy plough therefore all farmers should pay Wales.
You get the idea: what we\’re looking for is the perfect encapsulation of this very stupid idea of Mazzucato\’s.
If we find one that\’s really good it might become a t-shirt.
To start you off:
The Chinese invented paper…
all the royalties for the Harry Potter books should be paid to the National People’s Congress of the Communist Party of China.
Cro-Magnon man invented slavery so Michelle Obama belongs to the governor of Dordogne.
The term “left wing” was invented during the French Revolution, so all Socialists should be guillotined
God created Man, therefore Marianna Mazzucato belongs to the Pope.
Double-entry book-keeping was invented by a Franciscan monk, so all tax revenues belong to the Church
The number zero was invented in India therfore all your trillions are belong to the Indian equivalent of HMRC?
You know what the Romans did for us and they owed lots to the Greeks, so why not pay off all Greece’s IOUs.
There was no government when he invented the wheel
Iran’s oil was discovered by BP, therefore should be returned to the UK.
Pick any colonial topic you like. The Indian railroads. For example. Sorry Darkie “You didn’t build that.” Given who is famous for saying that line recently, I’m not sure it was so well thought through.
The Romans invented the toilet so Marianna Mazzucato is full of shit
Wernher Von Braun invented the ballistic missile on behalf of the Nazi Party, therefore all America’s ballistic missiles belong to the last Nazi party members alive (or the descendants of the last one if there isn’t one still extant). Plus NASA, the US space program and anything launched into space by it.
@ Frederick
The flushing toilet was invented by one of Queen Elizabeth’s godsons (or perhaps, for total cynics,by one of his employees). So everyone else should have to shovel shit into the fields from their gardyloos
@john77
I was not referring to flushing toilets.
In any case it was accurate enough for a T-shirt
The Ancient Egyptians invented taxation per , so Richard Murphy belongs to General Al-Sisi.
I had a Wikipedia url in there, but it hasn’t shown up.
Obama already beat you to it.
“You didn’t build that”
Obama already beat you to it.
Exactly. I wonder if he thinks this should apply to colonial-era African infrastructure?
My ancestor invented bread, so give me all your dough.
I continue to await an explanation of how any State not constituted as a corporation iscapable of owning aanything…
Ancient Greece invented democracy so all democratic governments belong to Greece, I wonder how much the royalties add up to?
What’s mine is mine and what’s yours is mine as well.
If the government hadn’t invented the birth certificate how would anyone know you were alive?
@ Frederick
OK
Mariana’s raison d’être is Google’s origins in the State, therefore Mariana belongs to Google.
Columbus was funded by the Spanish government so all of north and south America belongs, in perpetuity, to the government – the government of Spain.
–
We now know that most of human anatomy was discovered first by Leonardo but not published (partly because governments were fighting over Milan and he had to move and partly because the Pope didn’t like it. Thus all profits made by all doctors in the following 500 years are owed to Leonardo, not by the doctors, but by governments and the Pope.
She’s been proselytising again: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6309887
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