UK Uncut: the cuts are necessary? The cuts are fair? We are all in this together???

The UK Uncut initiative is a wonderful expression of the Signs of Our Times: it began with a Twitter hashtag #ukuncut what manifested as a sit-in of 70 people in a Vodafone store in London and spread across the country in no uncertain way. Spread the word, join in actions, or at least smile! One [...]

Unit of Real Value: the Yardstick with which to stabilise price inflation

This is an interesting story about Brazil, vouched to be correct by a commentator who lived in Brazil at the time. The “Unit of Real Value” acts as an extra and REAL measure and thus provides a real and stable yardstick in a sea that wobbles with ‘credit money‘ and ‘interest money’ – unrelated to [...]

Quantitative Easing: the BoE explains and I comment

Quantitative easing explained the American way on a 6-minute video. First, I contributed to quantitave easing on Wikipedia. Now, Ask the Deputy Governor offers the following 16 questions addressed to the Bank of England with their answers. Aware of the Bank of England Act 1694, I comment not as an economist, but from the perspective [...]

Money Makers (Goldman Sachs) vs Money Takers (Robin Hood)

I had noticed the increase in NO votes to the Robin Hood Tax and was obviously surprised, wondering who might hack the vote… Just like the Tobin Tax, the Robin Hood Tax is a levy on financial transactions, but a fundraising exercise for public purposes: poverty and climate change. Would you have thought that the [...]

Robin Hood Tax to be launched on Wednesday at 0.05am

The Robin Hood Tax is the UK version of the Tobin Tax which was at the beginning of ATTAC in France ten years ago. As an anti-poverty campaign, it is more pragmatic than the economic theories of Tobin Tax definitions or the political demands of the Attac network. Supported by a coalition of 48 organisations, [...]

Common sense and history both suggest a pause in QE

QE means Quantitative Easing. It means Central Banks printing money. But their kind of money is Credit Money, i.e. somebody receives interest payments, and taxpayers pay via the Government’s share in the budget of “public debt interest payments”. This letter in the FT prompted me to spell it out, once again: When Governments print money, [...]

The Fed plans monetary inflation

This article is excellent as it makes the distinction between price inflation and monetary inflation. And it reveals the true colours and intentions of the Fed. I found it on this premier political community blog saying that apparently the Bank of England is taking its cue from the Fed. What else is new?…