How to stop the economy from collapsing
Gary Stevenson is a British economist, former financial trader, and YouTuber known for his economic analysis and activism against economic inequality. Author of The Trading Game, Penguin Books, 2024.
Here he does an explainer on economic inequality and how to fix it. I think he’s far stronger on the problem than the solution but would be interested in what others think?
You can see his other content on You Tube here: Welcome to GarysEconomics
Only available on X ?
No, will update with the You Tube version.
Gary is obsessed with taxation as the ‘solution’. The only way to tackle inequality is to reduce the power and influence of the whole financial system. I despair that this will ever happen in the UK where the economy and GDP are dominated by the financial industry, especially since the Thatcher era. And note that Labour’s plan is to depend even more heavily on those financial giants to fund investment.
Sure, tax wealth and/or the highest incomes in an attempt to reduce inequality, but it’s not enough. And by the way, taxation does not fund government spending and neither Gary nor Labour understand that.
Rachel Reeves is struggling to maintain her iron-chancellor discipline and her sidekick is struggling to help her by attacking the disabled in an effort to reduce the government deficit and gain some ‘headroom’. What they fail to see is that the deficit at the end of a given period is identical to the amount the private sector has saved in that period. Since those on benefits will mostly be spending rather than saving, they have little effect on the deficit and make a positive contribution to the economy. The plan to reduce benefits causes suffering and increases private sector debt.