To do this Jeremy Corbyn must revisit and vigorously shake his people’s QE “money tree”. This could pay for real economic activity on the ground via decentralised infrastructure projects to make the nation’s 30 million buildings energy efficient, ensure a shift to localised renewable energy, and the building of local transport systems.
…
Older people with significant saving should be offered “housing bonds”, paying, say, 3% interest to help fund a massive council and affordable homes programme.
Why borrow if you’ve the magic money tree?
Plus, of course, inflation is 2.9% (?) you’re offering 3% interest and the magic money tree will drive inflation higher.
Can’t see it being all that great a deal myself.
Remember, kids, bonds have been redefined as “not borrowing”, even though they are indeed borrowing in every sense of the word…
I instinctively distrust any solution with “massive” in the sentence….
And anything involving creating a NATIONAL body and advocating decentralisation in the same sentence.
Speak for yourself, matey, if someone was offering me 3pct I’d bite his arm off.
Yes, no need to borrow if you have magic money…
If you do have to borrow, 30 year gilts at 1.7% would be a cheaper way to do it – although they would be unlikely to stay at 1.7% in the scenario envisaged….
I instinctively distrust any solution with “massive” in the sentence….
People should stop listening to massive bellends like Richard Murphy.
3%Savings 65/75 (Gilt)
UK Bank Rate
Date Changed Rate
Mon, 10 Mar 1975 10.2500
Mon, 17 Feb 1975 10.5000
Mon, 10 Feb 1975 10.7500
Mon, 27 Jan 1975 11.0000
of course corbyn can shake the magic money tree as vigorously as he can in a figurative sense. Luckily he’s not in power to wreck the economy. I know the electorate is as thick as pigshit but surely even they must have doubts – free money – sounds too good to be true??.
Plus who would trust corbyn enough to invest in his bonds – no doubt investors would be identified as the rich and part of the 5% he said he’s going to fuck over.
I’ve heard the Crybyn’s growing 2 magic money trees on his allotment and he’s using a goose that lays golden eggs to guard them.
I suspect that there’s a large segment of the population who believe it is all as easy as Spud, Corbyn et al propose, and that the reason that nobody’s done it yet is that they’re cruel heartless Tory bastards acting purely out of spite.
How else can you keep your boot on the face of “Teh Poorz” while enriching your friends in the banks than by refusing to shake the easy money down from the magic tree?
And every single economist and economics department in the world (except Murph, Piketty etc) is in on the deal.
i presume that one of the reasons the guardian et al are keen to reduce the voting age to 16 is that the only way that they believe corbyn can win is to gerrymander the vote with loads of young people with no life experience at all who have been the recipient of the magic money tree all their life (pocket money from parents) and see no reason that it shouldn’t continue ad finitum.
Moqifen – Agreed, but I firmly believe that Corbyn can win even on the existing franchise. The electorate genuinely wants to believe that we are richer than we are, but that the horrid 1% have stolen our share from us. They want to believe that increasing taxes will have no effect on the behaviour of those they’re levied on.
By the time we have our next election, everyone under 40 will have had it dinned into them that the evil Tories are homophobes, who hate women (because of the DUP). The economic think tanks will be jumping up and down about the headwinds from Brexit, pretending that they mean that there’s not much difference between Labour and the Tories really. Presto – the hard left is in control for the first time since the seventies and all the achievements of Thatcherism are undone in a few years.
There is a black comedy in the overlap between people who’ve been whining for the past year that Brexit voters were wicked, elderly, poorly educated economic illiterates and those who want to make leftie-Trump PM. Small comforts, I guess.
colin hines whose qualifications unbelievably seem even less than the spudotollahs on economics. I particularly like A Green New Deal: joined up policies to solve the triple crunch of the credit crisis, climate change and high oil prices What high prices ?
@charlie suet – i hope to god that you are wrong
With the current showers in charge of the tories, who haven’t been able to put to bed Brown, Milliband and Corbyn after 13 years of labour and a national bankruptcy, I worry that Charlie Suet will be proven right.
abacab
I can’t read your comment without it making very clear that very large parts of the population simply lack any sense of intuition.
I can sympathise with the fact that large numbers might lack knowledge or understanding of various issues, hey we’re all sometimes guilty of that, but it actually points to something much deeper.
Of course, for all the RoR points that Tim accurately raises, we know Murf does mostly understand – but it’s all politics to him, Murf’s measure of success is simply convincing followers, not accuracy.
@PF – Of course, for all the RoR points that Tim accurately raises, we know Murf does mostly understand – but it’s all politics to him, Murf’s measure of success is simply convincing followers, not accuracy.
I’ve met him. you are wrong. he does believe this stuff. Sure he loves the cock stroking of the contributors on his blog but it only enforces his belief in himself.Look how child like he acts when someone disagrees with him.
“Can’t see it being all that great a deal myself.”
A “deal”implies agreement: I don’t suppose “older people” would be offered any choice in the matter.
Moqifen
If you’ve met him, and you’re convinced he really does believe all he writes, then – I’ll obviously defer to your better understanding.
My only minor experience in that regard was an e-mail exchange some years back, in which – when I pointed out something patently wrong and misleading (in an article) – his somewhat dismissive response was “it’s all politics”!
Which has slightly steered my perception? Perfectly happy to accept that I’m wrong..:)
monoi
“With the current showers in charge of the tories, who haven’t been able to put to bed Brown, Milliband and Corbyn after 13 years of labour and a national bankruptcy, I worry that Charlie Suet will be proven right.”
This is interesting in that context:
https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2017/06/next-labour-moderates/
If you can’t access it, a key comment I’m referring to is:
Ie, directly from a horse’s mouth (along with some other comments in there from other Labour MPs)?
Essentially Labour MPs worrying that they lost but are busy congratulating themselves on a win, whereas May “won”, but already the Conservatives are looking to “recover” from that?
abacab
Free trade, neoliberalism etc have been advantageous to the vast majority of people but many don’t realise or understand . Of those few who are disadvantaged, they all know it and are keen to let everyone know.
Responsibility for this is on many levels, including politicians and educators.
PF:
“I can sympathise with the fact that large numbers might lack knowledge or understanding of various issues, hey we’re all sometimes guilty of that, but it actually points to something much deeper.”
What is that “something much deeper”?
For me, it’s that a universal franchise plus welfare will destroy liberal democracy. Assuming we want to keep some welfare provision, the franchise has to be restricted or liberal democracy will collapse into authoritarianism. So… If you have been claiming certain benefits for more than six months, no vote…If you are employed directly by the state, no vote. If your frontal lobes are under-developed – ie you are under 25 – then no vote.
Of course, such reforms will never happen. The notion that we can never be too democratic will persist and spread. To crudely paraphrase de Tocqueville, democracy, like wine, is a good thing; but, like wine, you can have too much of it. I fear liberal democracy is doomed.
“I fear liberal democracy is doomed.”
Inclined to agree with you there, Theo. Question is, what would replace it? Our friends on the left are under the impression – some sort of worker state. Deep socialism. But, racking my brains, I can’t actually recall any developed economy going in that direction. Communism’s the fate of undeveloped economies. Developed, democratic societies abandon democracy for a slightly different destination. Germany, Italy, Spain….
Entirely logical, of course. The haves are not going to give up what they have lightly. And the haves do have a lot of power & influence. So their reaction to revolutionary socialism is the security of a strong leader to sort the problem out.
Wonder who the UK’s one would be?
bis: well, none of the current lot. Thatcher was the nearest. I dunno who has the ruthlessness to ramrod the cabinet and castrate politically troublesome backbenchers. And Lords.
abacab,
“I suspect that there’s a large segment of the population who believe it is all as easy as Spud, Corbyn et al propose, and that the reason that nobody’s done it yet is that they’re cruel heartless Tory bastards acting purely out of spite.”
If the Lounge of the sailing forum I read is anything to go by then you’re right. Those are supposed to be mature, free spirits, who opose Govt intrusion in to their hobby/pastime/sport especially if it comes in the form of licensing and attendent regulations.
Yet I’m constantly having Spud quoted to me as an authority on politics and economics. During the election the anti Tory diatribes were quite remarkable, ok some of them deserved, but they were actually pro Corbyn as opposed to anti politics.
I fear that it’s going to take a rerun of the 70s, or worse, before we can get some sense in to the general population. Having retired a year ago I’m just about to have a discussion with my IFA about the best defence against inflation and socialist robbery. Sadly Mrs BiND won’t move abroad but that doesn’t mean my retirement savings can’t.
“I’ve heard Corbyn’s growing 2 magic money trees on his allotment and he’s using a goose that lays golden eggs to guard them.”
Brilliant – but I don’t fancy the goose’s chances after the money trees have been harvested….
Charlie Suet: the hard left is in control for the first time since the seventies
Do you mean in the 1970s in the UK, Charlie?
They were in control in Comecon countries and in other Soviet proxies like Ethiopia but Wilson, Heath and smiling Jim Callaghan were heading governments here which were not remotely hard left.
You mean we have yet to experience a hard left government?
Darn, all those people who thought Labour were hard left turn out to be wrong…
“older people” with savings.
Was not the Nazi party partly funded by Jews (later demised) with significant savings.
Will there be a final solution for ‘older people’>