Funding the Future

Labour’s plan for government is based on some vague aspirations that are almost meaningless, and probably undeliverable. So, what should it do?

Joe Biden’s swan-song speech to the people of the USA warned about the threat to the people of the USA from what he called the tech-industrial complex, otherwise known as Musk and his tech billionaire friends. Was he right to do so? But was he also too late?

Rachel Reeves says it is her pre-election promise – to balance the books – that Labour must deliver. But 20 other cabinet ministers also made promises – and are being denied the chance to deliver them by Reeves. How long is it before they oust her?

The UK has housing costs 44% higher than equivalent costs in similar countries. That means instead of fueling growth and providing for children, the younger people who pay these costs are fueling growing inequality. Something has got to give.

Reform has proposed a Bill in parliament that would destroy the ability of the UK government to create money. Worse still, it wants us to use gold – which we’d have to import – as the basis for issuing money. A policy of that sort would crash UK economic credibility and our economy.

The UK economy need not be stuck in a rut. It’s Rachel Reeves’ choice that it is. If only she demanded lower interest rates from the Bank of England and let the government spend to transform public services, we could be in a great place. She won’t though, making her the impediment to progress.

Most of any country’s saving is done by its wealthiest people. But because the rich are obsessed with staying rich they save in ways that are unproductive. The result is they drain economies of productive spending and so shrink them. The answer? Tax them more.

In the world we now live in, the crazy is possible and I'm suggesting that we need to prepare for it.

Managing potholes is a core, unglamourous and unthanked task of government. Reform only knows about gesture politics. Until anyone believes Reform can manage potholes they shouldn’t support them.

The Bank of England is crashing the UK economy. And apparently, our politicians want to do nothing about that. We really are living in an economy that is out of control.