Pensions Insight: Why money creation by the banks is bad news for pension schemes
17 July, 2013In this article that first appeared in the April 2013 edition of the Pensions Insight, I explain why unrestrained money creation by the banks is bad news for pension schemes. With the British economy stuck in the longest recession since the 1930s, former chairman of the Financial Services Authority Lord Turner has been openly discussing the [...]
Who controls our money supply?
17 June, 2013Both the Eds, Miliband and Balls, have said that a future Labour government will have 'less money to spend' and as a consequence will have to continue the Coalition's austerity programme. But what does it mean to say there is less money available? Who controls our money supply? Politicians like 'Miliballs' do not ask these [...]
The Wilful Ignorance of Political Leaders
15 May, 2012Mr Podsnap was well-to-do and stood very high in Mr Podsnap’s opinion. Beginning with a good inheritance, he had married a good inheritance, and had thriven exceedingly in the Marine Insurance way, and was quite satisfied. He never could make out why everybody was not quite satisfied, and he felt conscious that he set [...]
15 Things They Don't Tell You About Money
29 April, 2011Inspired by Ha Joon Chang’s 23 Things They Didn’t Tell You About Capitalism (2010) (where you learn for example that the Nobel Prize for Economics is not really a Nobel Prize: it is awarded by the Swedish Central Bank). 1. Governments in full sovereign control of their currencies can create sufficient money to ensure full [...]
Banking & Public Purpose
25 March, 2011"Who cares what banks fail in Yonkers Long as you've got a kiss that conquers?" - George & Ira Gershwin, Who Cares? From ‘Of Thee I Sing’, 1932 "It is impossible to exaggerate the sheer idiocy of the financial machinery of the 2000s." - Charles Morris, The Two Trillion Dollar Meltdown, 2008 The normal rules [...]
The Money Goes Around and Around
24 February, 2011Guest Post by Ken MacIntyre Explaining the financial system "I blow thru here The music goes down and around Whoa-ho-ho ho-ho ho And it comes out here" The Music Goes Around, popular song from 1936 I was reminded of this inane novelty song when reading NEF’s description of Quantitative Easing in its latest report on [...]