I’m not an economist, I’m only a granny, but I was born before the time when only the rich had the right to live debt-free, so I’m launching an Economy Class “Francis Economics 101” which is entirely free, has no paid promotions, and you don’t even have to enroll in . 🧵1 Lesson #1 I was born in 1950. War over, parents and grandparents had occurred massive debts fighting 2WW’s which you’d think, being a grandchild, I’d have spent my life paying off, because that’s the spiel right? You have to be saddled with austerity and riddled with debt … 🧵2

Modern Monetary Theory: economics based on facts. Not myths. I know I keep banging on about this, but until it’s widely known that the U.K. cannot run out of money, the, “we can’t afford ( insert any progressive programme…)” mantra condemns us to a future of endless austerity. Here’s a primer by #MMT economics professor Stephanie Kelton:

bbc.co.uk/reel/video/p08…

Why the 1% have us over a barrel:
They fund campaigns of people who will maintain the status quo. The only A3 poster with glossy pics and glowing references, I received during Labour’s leadership campaign was from Keir Starmer. I didn’t know till then that rich people funding Labour Party leadership elections was even was even a thing.

I was THAT naive.

However I’m not so naive as to believe the rich aren’t confident they’re going to have their agenda addressed in return for their cash.

Not mine

As promised, my letter to the king:

Dear Charles,

(No disrespect, but I hold all people in the highest possible regard, so don’t use titles) I’m writing to you to, firstly, offer you my sincere condolences for the loss of your dear mother. I never had the pleasure of meeting her, but I’ve lost mine, so I know how bereft you are. It’s a loss that doesn’t dim.

I’m a granny, not a banker like that nice Mister Javid, so I don’t know a lot about economics, but I was born a long time ago, and I remember things he probably never knew, and I think about them. I remember, for example, that the last huge rise in inflation was NOT due to working people getting decent wages, but to OPEC being pissed-off over our support for Israel and jacking-up the oil price, and I think something like that might be responsible for the current crisis?

Me and Modern Monetary Theory: A short story.

I remember the Thatcher Era. The people who did more work in a month than most Tories do in a lifetime, became the enemies of “progress.”
All I valued about MY Britishness: equality, social justice, public service, came under attack My inherited wealth - the services owned by the British Public was sold off to financiers and corporations at knock-down prices, with the promise that some of that wealth would, at some indeterminate time, “trickle down,” and everyone would be richer! Meanwhile …

I am 71 years old, and have reluctantly come to the conclusion that I am not going to see an authentic social democratic government in my lifetime. This fills me with great sadness, because it means the advantages I had as a child born to working class parents in 1950, are gone. Growing up in the 50’s and 60’s in social housing at the foot of Robinswood Hill in Gloucester was idyllic. Mum at home, dad always in work, money was never abundant but we were never hungry. New clothes bought with Provident cheques, the grocer in his mobile van paid on Friday

Will Rossia go nuclear? Informed and measured discussion. “It’s America’s war now …”

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/dia… “Trump walked away from all international treaties - but one.”

🧵££££
The pound which you no longer have in your pocket because it’s just a digit in your bank account, is not backed up by a smidgeon of gold in a vault under the Bank of England, though everyone appears to need to believe it IS, because otherwise, what is it? I just told you, apart from the one you keep in the car to put in the supermarket trolley, the pound is a keystroke on a computer screen, a psuedo-entity in a virtual vault. In theory there is an unending supply, rather like the coins Alfie (aged 4) collects in his Mario game.

Just supposing there really WAS a group of mega-rich psychopaths, uneasy at the ending of serfdom, and horrified by the Peace and Love Outburst in the ‘60’s,working in secret for decades to bring it back! (Yes, yes, I know it’s nonsense, but let’s play the game:”Mega-Monopoly”.) First you’d have to remove any vestige of personal autonomy. You’d have to do it slowly …

Lumber the radical youth with debt that they’ll never be able to pay, inducing anxiety, and ramping up the work-ethic no end. Just a bit to start with, say £9,000. Call it tax free …

I found myself so embroiled in the anti-Corbyn assault by fellow members of a party I joined on a wave of optimism, I didn’t take a step back stop to consider how sinister it was. The largest socialist party in Europe, with an agenda to transform the UK - destroyed by a lie. I actually thought serious journalists after finding the facts of the matter, would counter the lie. They didn’t. perpetuated it. Nigel Farage was given more prominence and less scrutiny than Jeremy Corbyn.

Insane.

Dear @RachelReevesMP

Retired headteacher and former Labour Party member, here. I’m afraid calling me an antisemite guarantees you’ll not be getting my vote again. Well done. I’m overwhelmed by the reaction to this tweet. I am distressed by what’s happening to the Labour Party: I am proud that the values exemplified by @RachelReevesMP :
disinformation, deceit, and abandonment of the working class, are not my values.

Thank you all for your solidarity

Do you believe that our government needs to starve children, permit people to freeze on the streets, and leave people to die waiting for an ambulance because austerity is necessary to balance the national budget? It’s a lie. We should be a lot angrier and a whole lot less naive. I first heard of Modern Monetary Theory when mention of economist Stephanie Kelton’s NYT best-seller, “The Deficit Myth” popped up in my timeline. Imagine my surprise when even the BBC got in on it!

bbc.co.uk/reel/video/p08…