Funding the Future

Richard Murphy and occasional friends talking about everything you need to know to understand the economy, tax, finance and how we fund our future.

Episodes

Dec 9, 2025

14 min

Too many campaigners talk about what’s wrong, but never explain what must change or how it could happen.
Real campaigning means finding solutions: identifying causes, proposing reforms, and then doing the maths on the finances to show how they would work in practice.
In this video, I explain what effective campaigning looks like, why technical detail matters, and why those who want real social and economic justice must deal with funding, finance and resource allocation.
We need movements that create real change,  and not just outrage, but without addressing finance, we'll get nowhere.

Dec 8, 2025

16 min

People feel politics has nothing to do with them — and they’re right to feel ignored. In this video, I explain why our democracy is failing, why so many feel powerless, and how we can put people back in charge. From proportional representation to revived local democracy and citizens’ assemblies, this is a practical plan to rebuild trust and participation.
If you believe politics should serve the public, not the powerful, this is the video for you.

Dec 7, 2025

19 min

Modern Monetary Theory — or modern money as I prefer to call it — simply describes the truth about how money works in the real economy.
Governments create new money every time they spend. Taxation removes money from the economy to control inflation. That’s not a theory: it’s how the Bank of England says money works.
So why do politicians insist the government can “run out of money”? Why do they say the NHS can’t be funded, but war and bank bailouts always can?
In this video, I share 12 essential questions to challenge politicians when they deny economic reality — and ensure the power of money is used for people, not for the wealthy few.

Dec 6, 2025

16 min

The Bank of England has issued a stark new Financial Stability Report — and beneath the cautious language lies a clear message: the global risk environment has deteriorated sharply. From AI bubble valuations to fragile shadow banking systems, from overstretched credit markets to potential contagion across sovereign debt, a systemic crisis now looks more like “when” than “if”.
In this video, I explain what the Bank is really saying, why markets are repeating 2008 mistakes, and why the UK is deeply exposed.

Dec 5, 2025

5 min


There are thousands of trained doctors in the UK right now — unemployed. Not because they’re unnecessary. Not because there’s no demand. But because the government refuses to fund the NHS roles we desperately need.
In this video, Richard Murphy explains how government austerity, fiscal dogma, and a fundamental misunderstanding of money are forcing young doctors out of medicine — and even out of the country — while people are left waiting for treatment.
If we have the doctors, we can fund the doctors. So why won’t they?

Dec 4, 2025

7 min

Is the Office for Budget Responsibility really protecting the UK economy, or enforcing austerity? I argue that the OBR was designed to remove democratic control over fiscal policy, block investment, and prioritise City interests over public wellbeing. In that case, it's time to get rid of it and put economic democracy back at the heart of government.
 

Dec 2, 2025

10 min

British politics is broken. The old left vs right divide no longer explains what is happening. Instead, we face a new choice: care or neglect. In this video, I explain how all major UK parties have converged on the same neoliberal economic model — and why we need a politics of care instead to fund a future worth living.
 

Dec 2, 2025

14 min

Why is the left still terrified of the state’s power to create money?
In this video, I set out a straightforward truth, which is that modern governments create money every single day. That is the foundation of public authority in the UK and every other country with its own currency. The government spends money into existence — and then uses taxation, not to fund that spending, but to manage inflation, redistribute wealth, and steer the economy.
And yet much of the political left denies this reality. From Labour’s fiscal rules to tax justice organisations and NGOs obsessed with “fully funded” pledges, left-leaning politicians cling to the false belief that the state must:
Tax before it spends
Borrow from the markets to “afford” investment
Balance budgets like a household
These ideas are myths — inherited from neoliberal economics and reinforced by the power of the City of London. And they severely restrict what democratic politics can achieve.
When the left refuses to use the state’s power to create money, the consequences are enormous. It means:
Unemployment becomes a choice
Austerity becomes a choice
Poverty becomes a choice
Failing public services become a choice
Climate breakdown by inaction becomes a choice
Because the truth is: money isn’t scarce. Political courage is.
In that case, what this video explains is why the left fears being held responsible for the results of power, and why that fear must end. If democracy already has the tools to transform society, why aren’t we using them?

Dec 1, 2025

9 min

Why the UK budget system is broken — and how to fix it
Blurb
Rachel Reeves just gave us a masterclass in how NOT to run an economy. We got leaks, U-turns, political theatre, but almost no real economic planning.
In this video, I explain what’s gone wrong and how we could get a rational budget delivering:
Open and democratic decision-making
Good accounting & proper economic forecasting
Fair taxes that work in practice
A focus on environmental limits & real outcomes
We deserve better than this.
What do YOU think needs to change? Vote in the poll below.

Nov 30, 2025

13 min

Why does poverty still exist in one of the richest countries on earth? In this video, I respond to a claim made by Mark Littlewood that poverty “should be over” because the UK spends £300bn a year on benefits.
This video explains how antisocial neoliberal economics deliberately creates poverty — using fear and insecurity to keep wages low, rents high, and wealth flowing up to the richest. Redistribution in that case is not a luxury — it’s justice.
Vote in the poll below and leave your thoughts in the comments 

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