Lisa Jones wrote on Jan 18
th, 2022 at 8:53pm:
Frank wrote on Jan 18
th, 2022 at 8:48pm:
You can't have a discussion when the meaning of ordinary words are to be disputed first. It just demonstrated and emphasises that the disputants are not standing on the same ground.
Exactly!
My notion of "being wealthy" might be very different to yours.
This whole debate demonstrates why the public sector must be able to finance itself, ie, the
sovereign currency-issuing government must be authorized to create its own funds out of thin air, using its own treasury and central bank.
Thus avoiding the never-ending disputation between private sector individuals re who will pay for public sector spending.
Note: the
sovereign currency-issuer is constrained by available resources and the nation' productive capacity, NOT money....which is indeed the constraint facing you and me.
But this simple reality is so removed from individuals' own lived experience, we recoil from it. Or think inflation will result, not understanding inflation is a
resource availability issue, not a quantity of money issue (since money is created out of thin air whether in private banks, or the nation's treasury).
http://moslereconomics.com/mandatory-readings/innocent-frauds/Truth is: "
money doesn't grow on rich people" (Stephanie Kelton) ....so we don't need to tax the wealthy to fund a Job Guarantee, or decent aged-care, age-pensions, healthcare, or education.
Anyway carry on.
Unfortunately most of you would only be convinced if a 'decent' covid variant appeared, which forced everyone (except farmers and drivers etc) into lockdown for a year or more (to avoid catching a truly deadly version of covid capable of killing, eg, half the population who caught it).
Then we would all see the government simply changing (via treasury's computers) the digits in the
bank accounts of all locked down workers, so they could pay essential bills (food rent utilities), without taxing or borrowing money from anyone, (and no job keeper/seeker) for as long as the pandemic lasted....because the government can't run out of money....