Season 1 · Episode 384
Coughing up for the young doctors
Why the government needs to pay-up and save the NHS. But do they have other plans?
Debunking Economics - the podcast · Steve Keen & Phil Dobbie
January 3, 202431m 34s
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Show Notes
The UK government has been refusing the pay demands of young doctors in the UK who held a series of strikes in 2023. Their argument is that pay has been declining in real-terms since 2008. Unless pay catches-up there will continue to be a drain of new recruits, which will impact patient safety and put undue pressure on those left working in the NHS. Steve Keen says the government’s argument – that there just isn’t the money – ignores the ability for sovereign nations to create new money. There’s an argument that if you create too much it will create inflation, but that applies more to the generation of excess demand for goods and services. Nobody chooses to go to hospital. So, is the government’s end-game to destabilise the NHS and force more private health provision, so less of the cost appears on their balance sheet?
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