Jeremy Hunt is saying we cannot max out the national credit card this morning. This is total nonsense. There is no national credit card. Instead it’s the job of government to make the money we use. And since it can always make that money it can never max out on credit.
Hunt wants you to believe that we max out the national credit card. But no gov’t can do that because it’s an organisation unlike any other, with it’s own bank, which means it has no credit limits. Instead, the question is should it be creating more money for the common good now?
The answer to that is that of course the government should be creating more money right now. When households have less to spend, and when business investment is falling so banks aren’t lending and exports are knackered by Brexit, only gov’t spending can get us out of recession.
But Jeremy Hunt does not understand the macroeconomics of running a national economy. Instead he pretends he’s running a household or business. They can’t max out the credit card without consequence. But governments don’t have credit cards, for a start.
Nor do governments have credit limits. There are no rules that say that they should either, and many governments borrowings a lot bigger than those the UK has. Instead, the role of government is to spend when no one else is able to do so to prevent the harm recessions cause.
Either Hunt does not understand this, or he does and he is lying. I think it the second option. Why would he do that? To make thins worse, of course, so he can crush the NHS and education and so prepare them for privatisation at cost to us all.
Hunt and this government are deliberately creating a recession they want you to believe is unavoidable. But they are not telling the truth about its causes and why austerity is needed, when it isn’t. And never believe there is no money, because that is never true for the gov’t.
But more importantly, never forgive them for imposing the hardship and suffering to come on millions when none is needed. I won’t. Please don’t either.

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More from @RichardJMurphy

Nov 14
The UK’s national debt is a strange figure. For example, to most people's surprise it includes all our notes and coins, as well as premium bonds. But much more worrying is the fact that a significant part of it is created by what I think to be dubious accounting. A thread…
[This is a long thread. If it appears to stop mid-flow click the last tweet you can see and the rest should appear or click ‘see more replies’]
The way the national debt is calculated makes a massive difference when it comes to calculating so-called ‘fiscal black holes’, which are the supposed reason why we need to have austerity and tax rises now. But some of the accounting for this debt is dubious, to say the least.
Read 35 tweets
Nov 9
This thread is a reply to @westreeting. He responded with a series of tweets to comments I made yesterday. I am responding with a thread. If it appears to stop midstream click the last one you can see and the rest will appear…….
First, it’s a shame you started by calling me hysterical when very clearly the questions you responded to show that I am not. I attach the definition of being hysterical. I clearly am not what you described me as. Might you drop the hyperbole?
Second, it’s a shame your tweets are really hard to follow as they do not form a thread, which you could only have delivered by quote tweeting rather than replying to me. It’s a trick worth learning.
Read 22 tweets
Nov 6
I was interviewed by Matt Frei on LBC yesterday. The subject of discussion was Brexit. At the close of the interview Matt asked me in ten seconds to summarise something good that had happened as a result of Brexit. I used two seconds and said, “I can’t”.
I had a rather strong impression that Matt Frei shared my opinion. I think he also agreed that one of the most worrying things about Brexit is the democratic deficit it has created in England (but not in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland).
With both LibDems and Labour chasing votes in Leave areas (the southwest and north, respectively) they are unwilling to talk about the massive failings of Brexit, and give no hint of reversing it. That leaves well over 50% of the population effectively unrepresented.
Read 10 tweets
Nov 5
The future of Twitter appears to be in doubt today. Advertisers have pulled out. Musk has slashed staff numbers. A nasty, right-wing dominated hate-fest may follow, although I hope not. But what if other critical media institutions went the same way? What then? A quick thread…
I have a passion for Twitter. I note I have sent more than 90,000 tweets since 2008. That’s 18 a day, on average. This place has mattered to me. That Elon Musk might destroy it is a matter of considerable concern to me as a result.
I don’t see how many good voices that have been heard as a result of Twitter would have got noticed without it. I would deeply miss the almost instant news on politics that it provides because most opinion I want to hear is on this site.
Read 16 tweets
Nov 2
The Bank of England began quantitative tightening yesterday. It sold £750 million of its supposed bond holding acquired during quantitative easing programmes back to financial markets. That is very bad news for ordinary people. A thread...
[Please note that this is a long thread. If it appears to stop mid-flow click on the part tweet you can see and more should appear.]
First, quantitative easing (or QE) was used to fund government deficits after the 2008 financial crisis and during the Covid era. The government has never admitted that, but since when did a politician tell the truth?
Read 26 tweets
Nov 1
There are warnings in many newspapers this morning that suggest Sunak and Hunt have agreed tax rises right across the board in what is described as an attempt to fill the budget ‘black hole’. Alongside austerity these tax rises will be a disaster. A thread on what we should do….
[Please note that this is a long thread. If it appears to stop mid-flow click on the part tweet you can see and more should appear.]
The UK is heading for a recession. A cost of living crisis created by externally created inflation, whether it be Putin’s war or post-Covid supply chain disruption, is the primary cause of that recession. Almost none of it has been created domestically.
Read 48 tweets

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