Dave Miller retweetledi
Dear @NewStatesman, what is his abomination of childish economics. I would like to reply below, happy to submit a more detailed reply if you would like.
But anyway, Gary Economics, I'll save most of my direct criticism of him, but let's be clear, economist is a stretch - he is a socialist with ideas which have failed through the entire history of time.
Even saying "the problem is billionaires" is embarrassing. I'd accept an argument that how some people become wealthy should be challenged - the TRICKLE UP economics of an expanding state is a problem, but this is the model that leftist economics creates, and they want more of it.
I think we can agree that the UK economy has failed, the reason is clear and it is math. We have elected unqualified and unimpressive people to make hugely consequential decisions for our country, our prosperity, our companies and our electorate. Ideology and redistribution, coupled with an absurd and incompetent managerial class has built layers and layers of friction and extraction while expecting good outcomes. It would be like making a 100m runner carry a sack of rocks and telling him if he only carries more rocks he would win.
Gary is suggesting let's do more of what doesn't work, because if we do more of what hasn't worked, it will work this time. Childish, emotionally driven stupidity. If your conclusion to the economic problems of our country is more tax, move government and more control, you haven't quite got the Sowell memo "social history of the Western world over the past three decades has involved replacing what worked with what sounded good". Gary would do well to read his book on Basic Economics.
Let me be as clear as possible, we already have the highest tax burden in generations, we have near-record public spending, yet we also have collapsing productivity and real living standards are falling. This is in contradiction to economies which have deregulated and opened themselves up and are thriving.
You only have to look at the most recent survey asking British people if we were an American state, where would we rank in terms of wealth. We picked 7th, but sadly we would be the poorest, poorer than Mississippi.
These are self inflicted wounds by 5th rate politicians who make promises they can't keep because they like the taste of power. These people are idiots, they not understand economics yet every 5 years we run a personality competition and give them the keys to our prosperity. And guess what, we're getting poorer.
At some point, you have to consider the possibility that permanently expanding the state is not the cure for decline, but the mechanism of it. At some point, you have to challenge Gary on his ideas, because they are an evolution of failure, backed by a fabricated career, sold in the accent of a drill rapper. It is the epitome of the stupidity of our country that we keep elevating people for saying the things that sound good, rather than listening to the wisdom of Sowell, Friedman, Bastiat, Smith - the wise ones that came before us and told us exactly how the economy works.
But no, we know better.
We don't, we have a political class who wouldn't be able to run a small business profitably, crushing the hopes and dreams of business owners and young people who'd like the opportunities we had - own a home, have a family and do meaningful work.
You can print as many leftist economic arguments from emotionally driven, intellectually stunted people as you want. They are wrong. They have always been wrong. They will always be wrong.
Inflation is the crime of our century, entirely caused by the state and the Bank of England. It is entirely controllable, if you have the backbone for what is right, instead of a thirst for power. Inflation is controlled through discipline, but we have decided that narrative is more important than discipline.
You can't fight the markets - they are the truth and soon this discipline will be forced on us and there will be no more billionaires to blame as they will all have left.
We have a responsibility to our children. An ever expanding state and debt bubble is telling our children that you will pay in the future because of what we want now. There was a time where kids went to war and died for our country, now we're throwing kids future into a dumpster because we can't discipline ourselves.
You can't tax your way to prosperity.
You can't regulate your way to prosperity.
And you can't lie your way to prosperity.
If you aren't willing to accept this then have fun staying poor.
The New Statesman@NewStatesman
HOW TO STOP REFORM: BY @garyseconomics There is currently only one force in politics that has a clear, simple, widely known and easily understood message about why living standards are falling, and how they can be stopped from doing so. Until and unless another voice in politics or media manages to answer those questions in a clear, simple and widely understood way, the hard right will keep winning elections, both here and across the world. If you want to win elections, you absolutely have to centre the economy and living standards, and you have to have a clear message on how you will do that. There is only one competing message that can win here: the problem is billionaires, the problem is inequality, and the only way to solve it is tax. It has the convenient side effect of being true. Tax wealth, not work. Start backing that message or start preparing for Farage. Good luck. newstatesman.com/symposium/2026…
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