On BBC Question Time, the Prime Minsiter, Theresa May told a young nurse who hasn’t had a pay rise in eight years and is trying to earn a living that there was no more money, and that there isn’t a magic money tree. (See link)

The Tories know full well, that funds are available for the UK government to use as they think fit,  as we are a sovereign state, and have our own currency which the government releases for investment. But while in 2010 they made a public  fuss about a piece of paper which was saying ‘no money left’, they knew, all along’ what they wanted to do. They used this (ill-advised) joke to add credence to their Austerity agenda which has resulted in cuts so severe it has left people disabled suicidal, people homeless, and people who are working very hard, in poverty. Yet they  wanted those funds for the few, not for the many.

Since Margaret Thatcher’s cruel government snatched our children’s milk, and did not replenish our social housing, and decimated our industry,  and yet helped itself to public assets, the media has reinforced myths about mainstream economics. It continues in 21st Century, while  today’s Tories want to finish the job by, for example, cutting Police and Army personnel, and now they want to privatise our National  Health Service.

We cannot progress in redressing this imbalance  between rich and poor until these myths are exposed for what they are – just lies!

These are myths the Tories want us to believe ( see article) They are untrue, all of them

• The state money system operates like our own household budget
• Government spending relies on taxation and borrowing
• The government needs to reduce the deficit, balance the books and save for the future
• The government must learn to live within its means
• The government has to cut public services like the NHS, education or welfare because we can no longer afford to pay for them   

The government is forever saying it’s the ‘taxpayers’ money which funds public services, and this just is not true. The government is the source of the money, and tax a tool for resdistributing  the wealth produced by our working people.   Once we accept this concept, then  we can see that Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party Manifesto is not a “Chritsmas Card List”, but a costed plan to invest in our society to rebuild Britain for the many, not the few. This is something which the vast majority want to see, but are still believing the Tory myths.

The Modern Money Matters website is a good source of information 

The Magic Money Tree Exists, Modern Money Matters

“Like the elephant in the room The Tree cannot be mentioned, because then the electorate might start asking awkward questions about public services — perhaps we should have some? — and taxation — are we overtaxed for the size of government we have, given that we still have people without work?

Once you know about The Tree you might have your politicians delay a casino build and build a hospital instead. You might let the rich people keep their coins, but stop them using those coins to reserve scarce doctors and teachers for their own purposes ahead of the general population.

The Tories want to privatise everything, and Labour want to hit rich people hard with taxation sticks. There are no doubt reasons for these fetishes that psychologists would find fascinating. But they are damaging to our nation. They get in the way of doing the job.”

In 1945, a Labour Government, after the ravages of war managed to invest in our society, and the will was there to do so. I believe the will is there now, but generations who have grown up believing what the Tory press have said,  do not realise this is all possible. Here is the Magic Money Tree idea of Labour’s Manifesto. Further economic explanations can be found as Modern Monetary Theory. (These are both known as MMT).

Let’s dispel the Tory myth, and get the MMT idea of Economics out there. Then we start the rebuild. Our society has become so divided, we need to join together in creating a society for the Many not the Few.

• Everything you Wanted to know about Money but were afraid to ask.
• The Magic Money Tree:  Modern Money Matters
• Modern Monetary Theory : New Economics Perspectives – an MMT Primer
• Austerity is a Political Choice, not a Necessity
• Theresa May says to a nurse on BBCQT , ‘there is no Magic Money Tree.”