john

[john @Reehilljohn]

Billionaires are gaining too much power over our democracy. I just signed an @equalitytrust petition to stop them: https://t.co/7oClPWRzlw

[Clive Lewis MP @labourlewis]

“How long can governments live beyond their means?” asks @TheEconomist.

The answer is simple: a govt that issues its own currency can’t “live beyond its means”. It creates the means. The real limits are our resources, not the Treasury’s spreadsheet.

This old household analogy, that the state must “tighten its belt like the rest of us”, is economic claptrap dressed up as moral virtue.

The last time Britain ran “tight budgets” for a century, as the Economist approvingly recalls, we had no democracy, no welfare state and no safety net. People demanding food, rights or dignity were met with the sword at Peterloo or shipped to Australia like the Tolpuddle Martyrs.

Today’s version is quieter but just as cruel: austerity that guts services, freezes wages and rewards the same corporations and creditors who profit from public contracts, public guarantees, and public infrastructure.

When they say “we’ve lived beyond our means”, what they really mean is you have - and they intend to make sure you pay for it.

The truth is, our economy doesn’t suffer from overspending, it suffers from under-investment in people and planet, & a political class still too scared to use the power of the state for the common good.

It’s a forlorn hope- but this budget the chancellor should balance the economy, not just the books.

[john @Reehilljohn]

@CaptainSwing666 Brexit Freedom is a state of mind. It can’t be linked to anything tangible. It simply allows true believers to feel superior. No point asking them for real world examples - it doesn’t work like that.

[john @Reehilljohn]

@jacobnyr @azealiaslacewig Correct

[john @Reehilljohn]

@Thunderclap @_YoungSavvy__ @misandry4L @azealiaslacewig @mazzypopstar Nope! A negative number, when squared, becomes positive. It’s 50.

[john @Reehilljohn]

@DaveBest07 @TheFl0orIsLaVa Final scene from ‘The Omen’ movie.

[john @Reehilljohn]

@thewisementor Einstein didn’t ‘reject’ authority - he questioned its legitimacy.

[john @Reehilljohn]

@BladeoftheS Yes, he’s special. Unlike all the poor bastards who worked in the mining, steel, ship, car making industries, who’s livelihoods where just wiped out. None of the whining sycophants defending millionaire landowners here came out to defend them. Fkg grovellers!!!

[john @Reehilljohn]

@MarkSeddon1962 She isn’t working for voters so it doesn’t matter what they want.

[john @Reehilljohn]

@KarabergKara Good point. This may explain why there is relatively little support for Reform in Blackburn, which has a large BAME demographic component.

[john @Reehilljohn]

@MunicipalDreams He also simultaneously regulated private landlordism virtually out of existence at very little cost to the state.

[john @Reehilljohn]

@NeilBoltonRSPL @RN_Atheist Can’t believe the number of Trump apologists here. Clearly no one is saying he invented this kind of sick behaviour but as ex/president he sure as hell helps to normalise and legitimatise it.

[john @Reehilljohn]

@AKlibertyman @RelearningEcon You do know that SK isn’t a sovereign currency issuing government with her own central bank don’t you? Nice hat though AK.

[Malcolm Reavell @malcolm_reavell]

Banking provides a service but is open to abuse and requires regulation.
The finance industry does not create wealth, it extracts it. It is a parasite. It is a cost, it is a liability.
Unbelievable capitulation to neoliberalism. We are now ruled by banks.

[john @Reehilljohn]

@DonahueRogers @MrMichaelSpicer Mathematically correct. However, the ‘black hole’ (minuscule as it is) is merely an error in a 5 year old deficit forecast. It’s a mistake, thats all. If the Tories had been better at forecasting, there wouldn’t even be a black hole.

[john @Reehilljohn]

@rcbregman A lot of people here just looking at the first chart which shows % increases. Unfortunately confirming their prejudices. 2nd chart shows actual spend and clear prioritisation of essentials inc food and rent. You really gotta spell it out for these fools Rutger.

[john @Reehilljohn]

@Peston There are many ways in which tax revenue may be increased without hurting low/middle income households. Most can be found in Richard Murphy’s Taxing Wealth report https://t.co/Mtmqe1Fmja.

Try taking your neoliberal blinkers off and being a proper journalist for once.

[john @Reehilljohn]

I want my MP to reform our tax system. Use @TaxJusticeUK 's tool to send a message to your MP. https://t.co/uvLnO2GYDk

[john @Reehilljohn]

@malcolm_reavell @7leagueboots @afneil ‘Speculative investment vehicle’ or SpIV for short. Has a nice ring to it!

[john @Reehilljohn]

@jamesrbuk @MatthewdAncona Digital interference is insignificant next to corporate lobbying. How about getting big corporate brsted interests and their Tufton Street lackies out of politics!