Comments by "Mark Welch" (@markwelch3564) on "Manifesto deep-dive: Is Labour’s at all progressive? With Zoe Grunewald | Pod Save The UK" video.

Yeah, they've already named it "fiscal discipline"
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@AdamTV but that's not a problem with the theory, that's a problem with irresponsible management There's no economic model that will work if you just do all the pork barrelling and none of the responsible managing
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@RobinHarris-nf4yv not that there isn't a connection, but that the connection isn't one to one, and what you invest the money in matters as well as how much you spend Credit card theory treats all spending equally, so if you can convince the electorate that yachts for millionaires is a status symbol that benefits the whole country, credit card theory would treat that spending just the same as building wind turbines MMT modelling reflects the different economic impacts of different spending, and explicitly gives more headroom for productive investment
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I wouldn't go that far! Labour are definitely right of the LibDems nowadays though
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@RealDareel but the Tories don't talk about privatisation in the same way they don't talk about breathing - it's just a given
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@RobinHarris-nf4yv it's a bit potayto potahto Do you need taxes to spend the money, or do you need taxes to manage inflation because you spent money via deficits? Either way you spend and tax, it's just how you frame it. I do have a slight preference for the MMT framing though, as it breaks out of the unhelpful mindset that government spending is a big credit card that you can max out. That myth needs to be ended!
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@RobinHarris-nf4yv it's a model and a metaphor, so it will always miss some nuance of reality, just like any other model However, MMT thus far explains and predicts economic behaviour better than the credit card model, so we should stop using the credit card model
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@AdamTV but the monetarist limits on spending are just austerity. It didn't prevent crashes, it just cripples our ability to recover from them There's no hands-off solution that makes the economy work without stewardship, whatever framework you choose. At least MMT tells you what you're guarding against, and gives you a more flexible toolset for inflation. Just yanking the interest rates lever when inflation is high is naive and often hits the wrong sectors
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 @therealrobertbirchall nothing to add, other than support and confirmation!
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@AdamTV you could take a more Keynesian approach too if you prefer, and keep a credit card model, but allow a higher limit when more investment is needed You can frame the same result with different models when that makes sense 🙂
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Choice is good, and there's room for both 🙂
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