Debunking Economics - the podcast

Economists seem conditioned to think that we need to suffer before an economy can get back on track. They argue an economy can’t grow if there is a large amount of accrued government debt. That the economy needs confidence to grow, and the confidence won’t exist the government owes a lot of money. Phil suggests to Steve that confidence and the private sector’s a willingness to invest are two staple requirements for economic growth. A government deficit will also help, but does it really help in terms of the growth in the money supply as much as private borrowing? And isn’t a growth in the money supply essential to growth? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s clear to just about everyone that we won’t reach the climate targets set out in the Paris agreement. It was a pipe dream even before President Trump  v2.0 came along. The various COP summits, which rely on agreement from everyone, are nothing more than gabfests. They are a COP-out. This was recognised in a paper this month from the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, entitled ‘The Climate Paradox: Why We Need to Reset Action on Climate Change’.There are some sound observations, says Steve, but it doesn’t go far enough. It doesn’t recognise is the mismatch between climate scientists and economists. Climate scientists believe global warming could ultimately be an extinction level event, he says, whereas economics see it having a relatively minor impact on GDP.  The more we listen to the economists the more likely the climate scientists will be right.There’s one positive takeout from the paper though. It recognises that we need breakthrough solutions. But that’s likely to come from high cost, high risk investment. Who is going to pay for that? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A key policy area of Modern Monetary Theory is the idea of a job guarantee. There might be a limit to available resources, but the labour force should always be employed. It helps the economy and it’s good for the individuals and for society. But Phil wonders how practical it is. If there’s an economic downturn can the government miraculously conjure up worthwhile jobs? Steve says it was less of an issue in the 50s and 60s when a higher proportion of the population worked for the government. Perhaps a return to those days would mean less extremes in the ups and downs of the economy and less need for a job guarantee. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why is it, that whilst there are an increasing number of billionaires on the planet, the rest of us are no better than we were decades ago? Young people can’t get on the housing ladder, there’s an increasing waiting list for health services, schools are short of money and tertiary education, once free, leaves students with a lifetime of debt. Except for the very rich, of course. Cahal Moran says more economics students are questioning what they are being taught in lectures and examines what’s really happening in his Unlearning Economics You Tube channel. He joins Steve and Phil to talk about his new book ‘Why We’re Getting Poorer’. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The standard excuse for why states fail is the rampant printing of money. That certainly doesn’t help, but it’s often the symptom not the cause. In most cases states fail simply because the government isn’t in control. Take, for example, Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, Somalia, South Sudan. Burt Phil asks Steve whether recent warnings on bond markets show that government debt can place the economy in a precarious position. Take the Liz Truss disaster budget. Or Trump’s swift reversal on tariffs in response to a rising cost of government debt driven by fears of a severe economic slowdown. Are there warning signs of states that are close to economic collapse? And is Trump creating many more of them in small dollar-dependent nations who relied on a trade surplus they can no longer achieve without starving the population? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 1944, at Bretton Woods, 44 countries agreed to make the US dollar the world's reserve currency. This decision inflated the dollar's value, making American exports expensive and imports cheaper. Donald Trump is now addressing this imbalance with tariffs on countries with high trade surpluses. Steve suggests that adopting Keynes's proposal for a neutral Bancor currency might have been better, while Phil wonders if it's time to reintroduce it, perhaps calling it “Trump” to appeal to the President’s ego. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s clear that President Trump lied to the American people about his reciprocal tariffs. Many of the countries he is imposing tariffs do not impose anywhere near those numbers on imports from America. As Phil points out, some countries, like Cambodia, that sell cheap goods to the US don’t buy from the US because they can’t afford to on their low wages. You can only have trade equalisation if you have similar income levels.Steve takes us through the formula that was sued to calculate these ‘reciprocal’ tariffs. The only resolution to the issue, says Steve, is a new currency for international trade. An idea the Americans knocked back at Bretton Woods. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s often the easy excuse on how to fix the problems of wealth inequality - just tax the rich more. Former trader turned YouTuber economist Gary Stevenson argues regularly that it’ll fix a lot of the problem. He’s right that the wealthy own assets and the richer they become the more the price of those assets increases. Take land as an example. The government is on a push to build more houses to benefit lower income earners. But who owns the land those houses will be built on? The rich? So, who wins from the demand for more land? Gary’s argument is if you tax hard enough the rich  will be forced to sell assets which will bring the price down. Steve’s less convinced, simply because the uber-wealthy have always found a way to avoid taxation. But he thinks the argument also ignores (or isn’t aware of) the fact that government deficits create money. Perhaps the focus should be ore on where that deficit spending ends up. Maybe we should get Gary on the podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s likely that many countries around the world will face import tariffs in retaliation for imposing a value-added-tax on American goods sold in their own country -  alongside other goods, taxed equally, that are not from America. As Steve outs it this week, “What tortured brain cells have communicated to other tortured brain cells to make a proposition that VAT on imports from America is discriminatory”.Still, it looks like it might happen. And how do you resolve that situation. Do you get rid of a value added tax? Phil asks whether that could be a good thing. It’s unfair, complicated, bureaucratic and easily avoided. Would we all be better off with a transaction tax? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Are we kidding ourselves when we talk about an energy transition? Sure, we are using more renewables than ever before, but the planet is also using more fossil fuels than ever before. Phil asks Steve whether part of the problem is that we pout faith in incumbent energy companies managing that transition. The way BP and others have switched focus back on fossil fuel exploration shows how ill-conceived that expectation was. But, irrespective of who drives the transition, is it too much to expect that we will leave energy untapped. If renewables provide a new source of energy, won’t we just use up more energy, because the more there is the greater the productivity, the better off we are.Watch the video of the podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArfsehlKMo8&t=2s Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Donald Trump is doing everything he can think off to improve the US economy. Tariffs, cutting government spending, bringing manufacturing back home, accessing more resources and lowering the cost of energy. Will it work? And, if it does, Phil wonders whether there’s a ceiling to how far the US economy can grow. Or does it grow at the expense of other countries/ In other words, Phil wants Steve Keen to explain what happens as the US, the world’s leading economy, tries to heighten its supremacy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In a recent podcast Phil suggested that bringing manufacturing home to America won’t necessarily create jobs, because most factories will be automated. They just need one man and a dog, he said. The man to turn the machine on, and the dog to make sure he doesn’t touch anything else.That touched a nerve with Brian Hanley has spent his life refining manufacturing processes. The key ingredient suggests, is people. Elon Musk was the latest to try the lights out approach and realised it didn’t work.Instead, if the US wants to succeed with a competitive manufacturing sector, it needs to look to post-war Japan. Workers were an integral part of the refinement and adaptive nature of manufacturing processes, in part  because of the company-based (rather than industry-speciifc) union structure. Listen in to find out how Japan’s adaptive approach is what’s needed if the US is to develop a successful manufacturing sector.Two books related to this, that Brian says should be required reading or every economist:-         Kanban Just-in Time at Toyota by Japan Management Association-         The Sayings of Shigeo Shingo by Shigeo Shingo Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Donald Trump, as the world’s highest profile climate change denier, has famously said, repeatedly, that he wants to drill baby drill, to make US energy even cheaper. It’s already half the price of Europe, and all the productivity benefits that provides. Phil and Steve talk about whether this the final nail in the coffin in a world which is paying lip service to the changes required. Is nuclear our only way to fast track a workable solution? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Reciprocal tariffs could be coming to every OECD country if we believe everything Donald Trump says. He sees VAT as a tariff imposed on US imports, which means he wants to impose the same amount on those countries for goods they export to America. That would apply to every OECD country and, supposedly, the President has said there will be no exceptions. Does this mean a global trade war is just about to happen? Steve has been a supporter of protectionism as a way to aid growth, and understands the need for America to bring jobs back home, but not with the “bull in the China shop approach” that Trump is taking. But Phil asks whether the horse has already bolted. The web of international supply chains is well established and difficult to break. Haven’t we all benefited from lower cost goods? And even if you brought back production functions would automation mean few new jobs would be produced? In short, is Trump too late to make a difference. Will he just create chaos? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The new US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently re-iterated the US desire to remain as the world’s reserve currency, because they like a strong dollar that’s in demand worldwide. Burt he also says he doesn’t want other currencies weak, because that gives thema trade advantage. That sounds like a “cake and eat it” philosophy.   This week Phil asks Steve whether the US would be better off if it wasn’t the reserve currency, and whether,  in these days of electric transfers, do we actually need a reserve currency?  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Phil asked Steve a lot last week about how bank create money through the loans they issue. But he has been, it’s fair to say, a little less convinced about how government deficits create money. So prepare for a light bulb moment as Steve breaks down the process that sees the government spending more, with more money moved to the private sector, and people buying bonds, effectively with new money.  They also answer a couple of listeners questions -one on the impact of Donald Trump’s tax cuts, another on crypto and another on a Worgel-like supplementary currency. Which of those creates new money? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Steve and Phil have described the island of Coinucopia in previous editions of the podcast. It started as a place where only coins were legal tender, and the supply of coins didn’t increase. They explained how that created deflation and inhibited growth, so the government started adding more coins. Then they let banks issue loans.  Now, what happens when the island allows banks to issue electronic loans. Actually, life becomes much simpler. Much simpler than most conventional economists would have you believe. Listen in to understand how banking now works, not just in Coinucopia, but in the real world.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rachel Reeves, the UK Chancellor, has fallen into the debt-trap argument. She says she is focused on growth, but she is also determined to balance the budget. Cuts to government spending is part of the picture, but her biggest attack has been on business, increasing tax on employment. You could argue that if you are going to tax anywhere, taxing business is better than taxing personal income, but Steve argues that anything that drives money out of the real economy will slow growth, evidenced by the latest numbers showing GDP has flat lined. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There are, its estimated, 8.2 billion people on the planet. The UN projects that the world's population will reach 9.7 billion by 2050 and 11.2 billion by 2100. We won’t reach that, says Steve Keen. Even if we ignore climate change, we’ll exceed our capacity to support the population, and the as countries become richer their fertility rate will decline. The hope is that the natural decline happens before more extreme declines brought about by war, climate change and starvation.  But, even intis best case scenario, we need to address the issue that the population is not always close to the food it needs, and economics naturally concentrates capital. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Last week Phil introduced us to the island of Coinucopia, where only a limited supply of gold coins could be used to keep the economy functioning. But the island is suffering from very slow economic growth. Steve explains how any innovation, that sees new products come to market, will see the same money chasing more goods, so prices will necessarily come down. That’s until the island decides to allow bank loans. At first, they only allow banks to loan out coins that have been deposited with them, but eventually they realise the potential of introducing bank notes. Now they have growth, but how do they curtail inflation? They’ve read Milton Friedman and believe an increase in money automatically creates inflation. But maybe he was wrong! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Phil introduces Steve Keen to the fictional island of Cornucopia. It’s a simple place, where the only trade takes place with gold coins. Banks are not allowed to give loans, and the money supply remains constant, unless the Chancellor decides to mint new ones. In such circumstances, how many basic economic principles work? Most of them, it seems. Sadly, this is not the real world, and economists who practice double entry book-keeping are imprisoned. Until the Chancellor realises there’s no growth and seeks help. To be continued. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Elon Musk has been moaning that he pays too much tax. He wants to keep more of the $14 billion or so that he earns each year. But has he got a point? Do we need to the opportunity to become incredibly wealthy to drive innovation. If we had more equal levels of income, would we actually suffer from lower growth, so everyone would end up worse off.? Phi puts the question to Steve Keen on this Christmas edition of the Debunking Economics podcast.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When central banks declare a new interest rate, how does that magic into existence? Steve explains how they trade in bonds, to drive yields close to their target rate. If they are buying up bonds held by pension funds and the like, are they also adding to the money supply? Could that have more impact on the health of the economy than playing with interest rates? But the problem is, the money created is circulating in the financial sector. If the central bank really wanted to boost the economy, it should find ways of pushing new money to those less well off. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There’s a common myth around banks. That banks are the intermediaries who collect deposits from customers, keep a bit in reserve, then lend out the rest at a higher interest rate. That argument then extends to a multiplier effect, where the money loaned out is deposited in banks, freeing up more money for further loans. The multiplier is how textbooks argue that banks create new money for the economy. This week Steve argues that the multiplier doesn’t exist. Not in that way anyway. And banks create money, not by lending out deposits, but by creating new money to lend out, which appears as deposits in the bank’s balance sheet. This week Phil brings the textbook arguments to the table for Steve to shout them down. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Does government debt expand the supply of money? According to Modern Monetary theory, yes it does. It’s all down to simple double-entry book-keeping and an understanding of the role of financial equity.   As Steve explains, in this step-by-step guide, for the private sector to experience positive equity, the government sector has to have negative equity. In other words, without the government sector spending more than it’s earning, there’s no new money being added to the private sector. As Stephanie Kelton puts it, their red ink is our black ink. This is one episode to share with your friends. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You’ll know the name Mario Draghi. He was the President of the European Central Bank and, for a short while, Prime Minister of Italy. Earlier this year he produced a report EU Competitiveness. It called on the need for more Europe-wide investment, particularly for innovation, emerging industries and the transition to green energy. Phil and Steve talk through the ideas and the challenges they present to the structure of the EU. Are the challenges insurmountable? Is that why Draghi’s plan already seems to have been lost at the back of the bookshelf. There is one competitive edge of Europe though. Steve says if the US successful cuts government spending by the touted $2 trillion, that’s money pulled out of their economy. If Europe was to take the opposite tack, it could tip th balance in its favour Particularly, suggests Phil, if the extra public money is spent building Europe-based AI data centres to challenge the US dominance in this rapidly growing sector. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

At least half of America is elated with its new choice of President.  Money is already flowing into the country, with early gains on the NYSE and the dollar shooting higher in value. Tariffs will be front and centre early in the new Presidency, with Trump describing Tariffs as “a beautiful word” recently. But will it have the intended effect. Could the strength in the dollar wipe out any of the benefits from domestic production? Will higher tariffs add to the cost and drive inflation? Does America have the skills base to manage the onshoring of so much productive capacity? Phil Dobbie and Steve Keen discuss what will happen next in America. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The UK Labour party seems top have scored another own goal, with their inheritance tax on family farms. Previously farms were exe pt from inheritance, but that meant wealthy landowners, with massive stately homes set in sprawling estates could buy a few sheep and claim they were a farm. Hence, the government limited the exemption to properties worth less than £1 million, a threshold which Steve Keen suggests is well below a realistic level. Thresholds should only be there for th every rich, which is the US approach to inheritance. This week Phil and Steve look at ways of managing inheritance and ask whether there are better ways of ensuring we don’t see intergenerational wealth getting out of control.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The classical economic assumption, from the days of Adam Smith, is that we all have free will and this freedom ensures the best possible outcomes for the economy, provided those decisions are based on greed and self-interest. This week’s episode opens with a student questioning Milton Friedman about the freedom of a man who couldn’t afford to pay his electric bill, so the power company cut him off and he died. Friedman says the fault lies with friends and neighbours who didn’t step in to support him. Perhaps they were too busy acting in their own self-interest. In a far-reaching discussion Phil asks Steve whether this is a failing of economics – and, if decisions can’t be made by free-will, who makes them? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ever wondered why Britain’s roads are riddled with potholes, why the trains keep breaking down and why there aren’t enough hospital beds? Simple. Britain is not making enough capital investments. Taking the public and private sector together, it amounts to about 6 percent of GDP, well below the 22% in the US - which has its own infrastructure problems. China can spend as much as 40% of GDP on capex projects. Steve says there are two reasons why Berit5ian’s infrastructure is failing. First, not enough engineers. There needs to be more teaching of STEM subjects in schools. But more importantly the adherence to the notion that governments need to balance budgets means capex investment is often pushed aside by more pressing short-term spending. Phil asks whether the sensible way forward is to allocate an amount of money for capex investment that sits outside the budget that the government tries to balance each year. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Steve Keen says he builds his economic model based on the motivation of three types of actors. First, the worker, who wants to maximise his or her wage. Then there’s the capitalist who wants to maximise profits. And the financiers who wants to lend out as much money as possible with the best possible returns.How does Steve’s model change if most businesses became cooperatives. Workers would also become shareholders, also wanting to see strong profits. They might also have other considerations, such as working conditions, which will impinge on the returns won by the capitalists. Financiers might lose out as the cooperatives seek to reinvest their funds in new lines of business.This week Phil and Steve examine how co=operatives change the model of the capitalist system and ask why we don’t see more of them. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What causes an economy to fall from a peak? Many economists will argue it’s exogenous shocks but, as Phil and Steve discuss, there’s not too many of those around. Maybe COVID was one, but even that came about because our economic system has drawn us closer to wildlife habitats. Or is it a lack of resources? We run out of capacity to produce more, whether it’s factories, people or natural resources, like fossil fuels. Does the shortage relative to demand force prices up and its inflation that ultimately kills growth.No, says Steve. Karl Marx had it right when he postulated that the rising pressure on wages will cut the profit that capitalists thought they would be earning, which would mean they cut investment. Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face.So, if that’s how economies peak, what is it that pulls hem out of a trough? And is there anything we can do to minimise the impact of business cycles, or are they simply the natural order of things? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s a sad fact that war can pay. The US arms industry is one major beneficiary. The UK is a long way behind, but it also a big supplier of armaments to the world. If governments of the world upped their defence pending to 3 percent of GDP that would see a massive increase in demand for weaponry. In Britian’s case it could re-engage the manufacturing sector and maybe even lead Britain back to a trade surplus. Phil asks Steve why we seem happy to see government spending on defence, supporting growth in the private sector. What a shame we don’t apply the same logic to helping other sectors grow – sectors that don’t involve killing people.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Phil tells Steve that he’s always struggled with Karl Marx’s idea of surplus value. The idea that workers work for themselves, then a bit more to create the profit for a business. Phil says, that seems like a cost-plus approach, whereas in his marketing days, it was all about creating a brand that people would pay more for. The extra value was created by the goodwill associated with the brand. How do you apply Marx’s theory of surplus value to a $1,000 Gucci handbag, for example. Steve says it still applies and explains why in this week’s episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Europe and the US are both recovering from the same problem – COVID and the inflation that followed. But last week the Fed in the US dropped interest rates by half a percent, with markets expecting a soft-landing for the US economy. Europe, meanwhile, is struggling, with Germany’s economy heading backwards for more than a year. So, when the big difference when both economies are coming from the same place? Steve Keen tells Phil Dobbie that the US would be struggling just as much if it restricted itself to the Maastricht rules on fiscal policy and government debt. Instead, Joe Biden spent big on the Inflation Reduction Act. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The UK’s unemployment rate is 4.1%, the inflation rate is growing at 3.1% and the economy is growing at 0.6% quarter on quarter. That’s how the economy is doing, what more do we need to know?Well, it would be useful to know whether the unemployed are predominantly in certain income groups, or that income growth was greater in particular parts of the economy Like, more for capitalists and less for workers?As Steve and Phil discuss this week, economists are building business models built on aggregates.  Breaking down aggregate data into functions in society, or income, will add a lot of extra complexity to models, but they would do a much better job of showing us what’s going on. For example, central bank policy right now aims to restrict spending and wage growth to tame inflation. But, even if that was the cause of inflation, what if those creating inflation by spending more on services, are distinct from those facing the consequences of central bank policy, losing jobs and paying higher mortgages?Steve points out that as the economy slows – and it has to because of climate change -  knowing the distribution of income and consumption becomes vitally important. Unless we are prepared to see the rich grow richer at the expense of everyone else.Economic models are built on aggregates of key variables.  Those aggregates hide distribution impacts. That makes it easier for central banks to pursue monetary policy without worrying about the consequences. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The pandemic was the biggest economic disturbance since the second world war. In both cases supply chains were severely disrupted, either by German U-boats or, more recently, factories and borders closed to stop the spread of disease. On the face of it, though, we have got off relatively Scot-free. We haven’t seen the massive fall in GDP experienced after the war. In fact we saw a sharper fall in GDP in the 2008 financial crisis.What is different is how we have handled the readjustment. After the war the focus was on growth, with very low interest rates, even though the inflation rate in Britain almost reached 17%. This time we’re told growth is again the focus, but the policies being applied, by governments and central banks, seem to suggest otherwise. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A couple of years ago, when warning of the need to fight inflation, Jerome Powell, Governor of the US Federal Reserve says interest rate would rise and jobs might disappear. Yet, interest rates have risen, and unemployment hasn’t fallen anywhere near as much as expected. So, what’s going on? Does it mean, thankfully, that monetary policy isn’t working as well as expected? Now the talk is of a soft landing, where jobs have been protected and inflation has come down. The work of fine tuning by the central bank, or just a coincidence. Phil Dobbie and Steve Keen talk about the interplay between jobs, wages, inflation and central bank policy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Some call it the silver tsunami. The wave of old people putting pressure on government budgets. And, as baby boomers retire and young people produce less and less children, western populations will continue to age. That means less productive capacity and more people dependent on welfare. On today’s podcasts Phil & Steve talk through the three options open to governments: flood the country with younger migrants to pay more tax, pay less and create a cohort of elderly poor, or rethink the idea that budgets have to balance. The last one is always quickly dismissed. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The last time interest rates were this high they came down rather fast. This time central bankers are determined to manage a slow unwind and deliver a return to growth without wreaking havoc on the economy. Will they be successful? This week Steve Keen argues the high interest rates are inflicting damage without treating the problem. Inflation is being caused by businesses increasing their mark-ups. But, Phil asks, surely they are only able to do that because demand is outstripping supply. And what should interest rates return to? Central bakers call it the R* - is there a danger if they assume it’s too high we could drive ourselves towards debt deflation? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Complex systems don’t have to be complicated to provided deep insights into the real world. That’s the view of Doyne Farmer, special guest on this week’s podcast. It’s an approach he shares to economics with Steve Keen. Steve develops systems from the top-down, whereas Doyne’s work focuses on agent-driven bottom-up modelling. But they arrive at similar conclusions. Phil Dobbie talks to them both about how we could arrive at a more accurate understanding of the economy and financial systems, which could result in better regulatory and planning behaviour by central banks and governments. Doyne also describes how he started down the road of complex modelling, using science to beat the casino tables in Vegas. Or more, get a copy of Doyne’s new book: Making Sense of Chaos– A Better Economics for a Better World. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s curious isn’t it how we talk about household savings, rather than net debt. Many people do have money squirreled away in savings accounts, for a rainy day. That rainy day comes when hey lose a job and need that cash to pay their mortgage. So we are saving to help pay off an existing debt at a later date. How cockeyed it that? A lot of that money tied up in savings, including funds we’ve put away for our pension, ultimately become the source for investment. That’s supposedly a good thing. More money for investment means businesses can borrow more, and the bigger the availability of funds the lower the interest that will be charged to these businesses. But the more we save the less money we spend, therefore the less demand businesses will have and the less the appetite for borrowing for investment. Phil discusses all of this with Steve Keen, who challenges a lot of the conventional logic around savings, debt and investments.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

So, if economics is all about the allocation of scarce resources, isn’t energy the most scarce resource? And yet its not really included in any economic models. We look at labour and capital as the drivers of growth, but energy is just a contributor to those factors, not a key factor in itself. Yet without energy humans wouldn’t survive and machines would lie dormant. This week Phil talks to Steve about the need to give energy the dominant position it deserves in economic models. As you’ll discover, it doesn’t have to be that complicated. Then, once we have a clear model we can use them to ensure that we deliver economic growth without destroying the planet. Simples. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We are obsessed with the need to own things, not least, our homes. But for younger people that is increasingly becoming a pipedream, unless they are lucky enough to gain a healthy inheritance. Even then it’s going to come later in life. In the meantime, we save like crazy, and even when we do get a house, we spend decades paying it off though a hefty loan form the bank. The finance sector are the big winners. But should we do away with this unhealthy obsession and rent our homes. A d should the government be the landlord most of us turn to, rather than a private property owner borrowing from their bank?  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The global share market has always been dominated by the US, now we’re seeing a number share of very large tech companies claiming a larger slice of that pie. Even though they are trading with price to earnings ratios well beyond the historic average, these companies won’t fail. They dominate the market, with billions of customers, low production costs, a low number of workers and the spare cash to vest in growth without the expense of extra capital. Phil asks Steve, what damage are these companies doing – to the share market, to the global economy and to investors. So we need to knock these companies down to size? Steve thinks not, but has another way of tackling the issue. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Labour has romped to victory in the UK and they need to get cracking on all their election promises. One of those is the creation of Great British Energy. Keir Starmer points to the number of foreign interests owning energy generation in the UK. But, as Phil highlights this week, foreign companies are also heavily invested in energy distribution and retailing. The National Grid is suffering from a lack of investment. Doesn’t that also need to be brought into public hands. And what about all the energy retailers who dd nothing to the picture apart from extra marketing costs, confusing plans and the risk of collapse. Phil asks Steve whether, if you add all of this together, isn’t there a strong case to put the entire energy delivery chain into public hands, from creation to delivery. But that’s not what Keir Starmer is planning., even though its accepted wisdom in most parts of the world. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the UK the proportion of the population aged over 65 has grown from 16 percent in 2000 to over 19% today. It’s a similar story throughout the western world as the population ages. That’s seen as an enormous liability for governments who will have to pay out pensions to their old folk. Hence the drive to get people to put money into private schemes. In the UK there’s over £2.2 trillion tied up in pension funds, more than AUD$3.4 trillion in Australia. So, what good is that money doing? It will be paid out sometime, but is it helping the economy in the meantime? Steve says it’ll doing a good job in driving up asset prices, but Phil suggests some of it is being invested in productive causes, like property development and private equity funding. The good and bad of private pensions on this week’s podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay recently launched the Greens Manifesto in the run up to the UK election. Phil and Steve discuss it on this week’s podcast and conclude the one thing that seems to have slipped down the priority list, is all the green stuff. They talk about fixing broken Britain, like every party, and correcting wealth inequality. They also promise that their ideas are fully costed, and can be paid for – for example, by a carbon tax. But they know they will never run government, so why pretend? Why not use their moment in the sun to return the debate to the fundamental issue of climate change. The future of the planet looks pretty sick when even the Greens push it down the agenda. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The UK election debate changed tune when Nigel Farage agreed to stand for Reform, promising to cut migration and rid the UK of all the problems these nasty foreigners are responsible for. Elsewhere the recent European Union elections saw a sharp shift to the right, again driven by concerns over migration. If Donald Trump wins again in the US at the end of the year that too will be gained on a ticket spreading fear and loathing over migrants. It is clearly an issue that can’t be ignored. Yet you have to wonder how many fo the proposals from the likes of Farage are workable, or effective. People in poor countries will always want a better standard of living.  Phil and Steve discuss whether it’s an aspect fo the world we have to live with. More importantly, is it being used to spread division and diverting attention from the real problems, like the underinvestment in public infrastructure. That’s down to fiscal conservatism and governments worried about debt.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Imagine if Keir Starmer, the UK Labour leader, had said, let’s not get too obsessed with government debt. If we go down that road we won‘t be able to provide the public services we need, our infrastructure will crumble further and we’ll simply see the country’s productivity erode further by the day. Unfortunately, he didn’t say that. Instead, he has pledged himself to the temple of fiscal responsibility, just like the Conservatives. That means, whichever party is in power the UK can expect something akin to the austerity that plagued the last 2010s. Phil asks Steve just ow much extra spending the government can get away with, though, when the Liz Truss experience suggests governments are answerable to the financial markets. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.