Post by peterv on Dec 28, 2013 19:55:53 GMT
"Our Money - how to shrink government, boost business, eliminate poverty and make the economy work properly for everyone"
I was given this book for Christmas, and I can recommend it.
www.amazon.co.uk/Our-Money-government-business-eliminate/dp/0992628512/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1388258327&sr=8-1&keywords=our+money
It draws together three main ideas, two of them well-established, and the third one novel.
The first idea is monetary reform, drawing extensively on the ideas of Positive Money. The book gives an excellent analysis of what is wrong with our monetary system, and the ideas and arguments it contains will be very familiar to Positive Money supporters. It is clearly written and well argued; in fact, the first part of the book is worth reading as a Positive Money ‘primer’.
The second idea is that of a citizen's income. This has a long pedigree dating back at least to the Social Credit theories of C H Douglas (1924) et al. In Malcolm Henry's proposal, all adults receive an income of £1000 per month (with dependent children receiving a smaller amount), and this replaces all current benefits, pensions etc. As we struggle to find a way out of the iniquities of post-industrial capitalism, the idea of Social Credit is seeing a resurgence in popularity.
The third - and original - idea neatly links these two themes together. Henry proposes that the citizen's income is paid for by taxing the money held in Positive Money’s 'transactional' accounts, and that this tax replaces many of the current taxes on employment. At first glance, taxing the money in our bank accounts doesn't sound like an idea that would gain much popularity, but there is a subtle twist here - 'transactional' accounts are not like current accounts. By definition, the money in them is not lent out, so the money they hold is IDLE (until it is spent); our spare money should preferably be held in 'investment' accounts where it can be lent out to borrowers, and the money in investment accounts is not taxed. So this is a tax on money HOARDING, encouraging people to either spend or invest their money. This keeps the money flowing, and goes part way to answering the criticism that PM reforms will not provide enough credit for business.
I have a couple of criticisms with the idea –
In spite of these shortcomings, I think it is great that the PM campaign is spawning debate and new ideas, and I highly recommend this book, both for its excellent analysis of the faults with our economic system, and for its original thinking.
I was given this book for Christmas, and I can recommend it.
www.amazon.co.uk/Our-Money-government-business-eliminate/dp/0992628512/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1388258327&sr=8-1&keywords=our+money
It draws together three main ideas, two of them well-established, and the third one novel.
The first idea is monetary reform, drawing extensively on the ideas of Positive Money. The book gives an excellent analysis of what is wrong with our monetary system, and the ideas and arguments it contains will be very familiar to Positive Money supporters. It is clearly written and well argued; in fact, the first part of the book is worth reading as a Positive Money ‘primer’.
The second idea is that of a citizen's income. This has a long pedigree dating back at least to the Social Credit theories of C H Douglas (1924) et al. In Malcolm Henry's proposal, all adults receive an income of £1000 per month (with dependent children receiving a smaller amount), and this replaces all current benefits, pensions etc. As we struggle to find a way out of the iniquities of post-industrial capitalism, the idea of Social Credit is seeing a resurgence in popularity.
The third - and original - idea neatly links these two themes together. Henry proposes that the citizen's income is paid for by taxing the money held in Positive Money’s 'transactional' accounts, and that this tax replaces many of the current taxes on employment. At first glance, taxing the money in our bank accounts doesn't sound like an idea that would gain much popularity, but there is a subtle twist here - 'transactional' accounts are not like current accounts. By definition, the money in them is not lent out, so the money they hold is IDLE (until it is spent); our spare money should preferably be held in 'investment' accounts where it can be lent out to borrowers, and the money in investment accounts is not taxed. So this is a tax on money HOARDING, encouraging people to either spend or invest their money. This keeps the money flowing, and goes part way to answering the criticism that PM reforms will not provide enough credit for business.
I have a couple of criticisms with the idea –
- it goes against the principle of – in Ben Dyson’s words – “it’s my money, keep it safe”.
- people would be inclined to move their money to tax-free notes/coins and I don’t think Malcolm Henry’s solution – make notes/coins non-legal tender – is workable.
In spite of these shortcomings, I think it is great that the PM campaign is spawning debate and new ideas, and I highly recommend this book, both for its excellent analysis of the faults with our economic system, and for its original thinking.