Thread by @davegillian

@mcslfc68 @pinccushion @suziegeewizz Mark,first you have to realise2shocking facts:
1)we've been sold biggest&most effective lie ever told,relentlessly for@least40yrs(my lifetime)&in reality far longer
2)government money is INFINITE!*
Grab a brew,take a deep breath&stick with me for a moment (I'm not insane!)
THREAD

@mcslfc68 @pinccushion @suziegeewizz * infinite as long as you have sovereign currency,as we do in the UK,but the likes of poor Greece,in the €uroZone do not.

If cash is unlimited,then what's preventing unbridled spending?
Two things:
1) the necessary resources
2) inflation

@mcslfc68 @pinccushion @suziegeewizz So for 1)
*Johnson's 40 new hospitals announcement(turned out to be a lie anyway)was pure fantasy cos there ain't enough trained medical personnel to staff them.
*likewise if the government wish to give everyone a diamond,they're not limited by cash but availability of diamonds.

@mcslfc68 @pinccushion @suziegeewizz For 2) inflation is caused by too much cash in the system,allowing those with the cash to bid higher for resources,hence prices rise.

The answer to this is either:
A)austerity - put less cash into the system or;
B)tax more cash out of the system hence it's called a "tax return"

@mcslfc68 @pinccushion @suziegeewizz * At this point it's worth noting that occasionally 🙄 politicians don't tell the truth 🤥😱
When they say they want to "fix economy in national interest",what if they don't give a crap about the economy&just want to divert more wealth to the richest?

Hold that thought...

@mcslfc68 @pinccushion @suziegeewizz So as we know,austerity makes a horrible mess of things:
destroys lives;
decimates public services; "conservative"estimates=130,000 unnecessary austerity deaths.
Seems like a bad idea&to be fair if you need to reduce amount of cash in system best to chase poorest or billionaires?

@mcslfc68 @pinccushion @suziegeewizz Other option is to tax the richest
Taxes have3purposes:
✅ control inflation
✅ redistribute wealth (progressive/ regressive)
✅ Influence public behaviour (ie reduce smoking,fines for speeding etc.)
❌ Taxes ARE NOT required to fund public expenditure.We can print infinite cash.

@mcslfc68 @pinccushion @suziegeewizz So we need to break free of this crazy "household budget" analogy, it's a falsehood.
Households have to earn cash,if they spend more than they earn they go bankrupt but governments (with sovereign currency) can never go bankrupt, it's impossible.

@mcslfc68 @pinccushion @suziegeewizz Unhelpfully named National"Debt"isn't a debt owed by Govt,it's cash"lent"by Central Bank,to society,to facilitate exchange of resources.
In days gone by currency was tied to gold standard&limited by gold reserves.
Since link was broken(#MMT Modern Monetary Theory)it's unlimited.

@mcslfc68 @pinccushion @suziegeewizz So in conclusion
*austerity is a lie to allow more wealth transfer to the rich
*public services are only limited by resources (labour,materials&knowledge) so Labour's "sensational" plans are just bog standard common sense
*we need to tackle tax avoidance&reduce wealth inequality.

@mcslfc68 @pinccushion @suziegeewizz The Tory lie is coming unstuck when they:
*Bribe DUP £1bn
*Can't explain where cash is coming from for spending promises (because it'll undermine the lie)
*Can pay £600m to repatriate Thomas Cook customers but
*Won't pay £450m to save TC&the jobs(saving £600m🤦‍♂️)

@mcslfc68 @pinccushion @suziegeewizz Don't think of money being "spent" or "wasted", it's all transactions, so money (much like energy in physics) cannot be destroyed, just transferred.
It then becomes a simple matter of analysing the transfer:
* from rich to poor?
* or poor to rich?

@mcslfc68 @pinccushion @suziegeewizz In terms of resources,this links to great immigration debate&
economic drain v economic boost.
Q isn't whether immigration itself is good or bad,just how the people are utilised.
If you hold labour in un/under-employment wages are depressed due to demand for work&wealth boosted.

@mcslfc68 @pinccushion @suziegeewizz If you utilise all labour in work that adds benefit to society,especially when there's a skill shortage,i.e. trained drs&nurses immigration adds value.
Arguable of course that we should be investing in education of"our own"rather than draining labour&skills from other countries.

@mcslfc68 @pinccushion @suziegeewizz ...but this is in no way anti-immigrant. It's anti-exploitation&it's questionable (if all things were equal) whether there would be mass immigration of people from their homelands&whether freedom of movement is a true liberty,or simply driven by economic,socio,conflict factors.

@mcslfc68 @pinccushion @suziegeewizz Back to the Greece eg,the Greek government could absolutely go bankrupt,as per the household budget analogy as they had no soverign currency,i.e.they couldnt print the cash to meet obligations to the EU.
It was a false comparison to scaremonger the UK electorate with the Greek eg

@mcslfc68 @pinccushion @suziegeewizz Sensible economic option for them would have been to reprint Drachmar,invest heavily in their economy,building value into their new (old)currency,which could then have been traded for their €uro debts.Tsipras bottled platform he was elected on though&capitulated to austerity.

@mcslfc68 @pinccushion @suziegeewizz Uh oh...

https://twitter.com/TheProleStar/status/1178508029484044289?s=09