If only politicians understood double entry
The argument then becomes but there’s always the other side of the ledger in any transaction – which is obviously true. We want to do things that make a profit – a real profit that is, the outcome, the result, is worth more than the use of those same inputs put to other use. That’s value additive and it’s value we consume, it’s value that is our real income and so on. We want the things we do in hte world – our consumption of resources like land, labour capital and so on – to be value additive.
Where Spud’s argument goes wrong is that he thinks government spending is that value additive solution. The reason he goes wrong here is:
worth more than the use of those same inputs put to other use
It’s not that “solving child poverty would be nice” it’s that perhaps leaving that cash in the pockets of investors might get us free energy – fusion say. You know, maybe something better? Leaving investors alone to get on with things did, after all, bring us free telecoms. 2 billion do now gain free telecoms from WhatsApp after all…..
If the general case of this isn’t already known as the Politician’s Fallacy it should be.
The Politician’s Fallacy being, surely:
“These are the benefits of my scheme, these are the costs of my opponent’s scheme, vote for me.”
I find every aspect of Richard Murphy utterly repellent already without the frankly sick-making thought of his involvement in double entry.
“Spending money on relieving child poverty would have a massive impact upon the lives of a million children, and their parents or carers.”
Yet we seem to have more kids receiving free school meals than ever.
“Spending money to improve education very obviously has a long-term benefit in terms of the outcomes that those children will deliver for us all in the future.”
So, what’s the data on keeping kids in school until 18? What’s the estimated debt to be written off from degree courses?
“Spending money on health care gets people back to work.”
But around half of NHS spending is on retired people.
OT but bears writing about:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/08/anti-israel-fanatics-are-leading-britains-cultural-industry/
AKA – The Self Culling of the Left Wing Luvvies.
The result of boycotts of cultural festivals because of their sponsers’ supposed connections with various unpopular activities. ie Israel, fossil fuel industry etc etc
Which is where we get into WGAF? territory. 98% of people don’t give a monkey’s about the arts. So the luvvies need all the publicity they can get. And where’s a good source of publicity for luvvies? The festivals. So by boycotting the festivals they’re shooting themselves straight between the eyes. Maybe we’ll even see the festivals fade away. Can’t happen soon enough. More power to their elbows. Support luvvie self defunding. You may never hear about that 600 page novel crafted around the discrimination suffered by the racial group of the author’s choice, that play about a trans-sexual couple’s struggles in the Australian Outback, or the poems of a lesbian disabled Somalian Muslim woman. And won’t that be a fekkin’ relief.
He just gets off on spending other people’s money. The post hoc reasons he invents don’t matter.
@BiS: its great that they are going after sponsors of so called cultural events. Because when they’ve driven them all away for not being ideologically pure enough, who is going to fund these things? No-one, so they’ll all just fade away. No more lefty authors w*nking each other off at literary festivals, no more DEI versions of plays and operas, no more art exhibitions of the contents of someone’s handkerchief. We’ll be left with what the general public actually want to part with money for, which is sports, music gigs, panto and a few very traditional versions of the classic operas, classical music and plays.
That’s funny coming from a guy who clearly demonstrates his lack of understanding concerning double-entry bookkeeping once per week, if not more….
His grift is eternal – the post above that one ‘Why aren’t politicians talking about the ‘Joy of Tax’ is as shameless as any I have seen.
Grikath nails it. He frequently misunderstands accounting concepts, including double entry. The conclusion, fuelled by his refusal to renew ICAEW membership is that his qualifications were obtained by questionable means and he actually isn’t an accountant at all.
For decades I’ve advocated that all school children should get free meals at school. So glad for Lord Spudcup to explain that the simplest way to get this is to impoverate the entire population.
bis, Jim,
Sorry to disappoint but the great and good will always find ways to dip in to our pockets for their own ends. This thread isn’t satire, here’s a flavour:
@Western Bloke – “Yet we seem to have more kids receiving free school meals than ever.”
That’s because we have changed the rules. Currently, all children in reception, year 1, and year 2 in England are entitled to free school meals. Merely being of a particular age is no indication of poverty. There is provision of free school meals for all children under 11 in London. Should we conclude from this that London is the most impoverished area of England?
If Rocco’s scenario doesn’t include a barbed wire wrapped giant dildo & a furious male gorilla I don’t think I’ll bother.
@BiG: Not to be confused with the politicians’ syllogism:
Something must be done.
This is something.
Therefore, this is what we must do.
@Jim
“We’ll be left with what the general public actually want to part with money for, which is … panto…”
OH NO IT ISN’T!!
(In my defence, that was an open goal.)
OH NO IT WASN’T!!
I did an online search for double entry and found some surprising videos, some of which even featured triple entry.