Mailwatch(ed) Forum

He veers between a state regulated market and pragmatic decriminalisation on drugs, they're different approaches. His defence and foreign policy approaches are just as muddled.
Neither does Zack appear steeped in green economics (as personfied by E F Schumacher) but muscular fairly mainstream Keynesianism. Always like to inform Zack's left supporters that Keynes was a member of the Liberal Party.

He's not just a particularly hubristic Keynsian. He's anything that sounds like it means he can spend a lot without raising taxes. He's MMT as well.

It's nonsense. Hopefully James Meadway can knock some sense into him.

As I understand MMT its spend and tax. Taxation is raised as a method of halting rising inflation. According to advocates who are lousy at politics even if the economic theory is plausible. It is a kind of round the houses deficit spending.

Youngian wrote: ↑Wed Apr 15, 2026 10:23 pm Taxation is raised as a method of halting rising inflation.

Once upon a time, we had a thing called "Purchase Tax". The rate varied depending upon what it was that you were purchasing. If the economy showed signs of overheating, it was raised; when it was slack, it was reduced. It was a method of controlling the economy.

As an example, it probably did more to kill the British radio and television industry than anything else; for example, in a boom period manufacturers would step up production of their TV sets - and then when the Chancellor looked at the economy as a whole and inflation was rising, up would go the PT, leaving manufacturers with warehouses full of TVs they could no longer sell because they suddenly became very expensive indeed.