Stephen Ferguson

Professional Umphalumper. Keen observer of climate, energy & MMT economics.

[Stephen Ferguson @StephenF55]

🍩+ 🚀+ 💰= 💪🌍

[Kate Raworth @KateRaworth]

Doughnut + Mission + MMT = Let's transform economics.
Here's to the synergy of ideas. @MazzucatoM @StephanieKelton

[Stephen Ferguson @StephenF55]

@malcolm_reavell Likewise...
https://t.co/vF4dq0HmCK

[Clive Lewis MP @labourlewis]

Starmer’s plan to fund a defence boost by cutting £6bn from net zero, transport, the NHS and schools, is akin to burning your clothes to stay warm.

Hybrid warfare isn’t just about missiles and drones. Its frontline is also public services, energy, infrastructure, and the social cohesion a productive state strengthens.

Cutting net zero undermines our ability to bring down bills and achieve energy dependence.

Transport is military mobility. A health service one dire winter from collapse is a hybrid warfare vulnerability.

These aren’t what you sacrifice for security. They’re what security is made of.

The story this approach tells all of us is that our bus routes, hospital care and energy bills - are the price of the nation’s safety.

That’s not just a shit political message it’s the kind of framing that enhances the goals of hostile states.

Desperate stuff. We can do better.

[Simon Evans @DrSimEvans]

Shocking stats: Climate change is ALREADY costing the UK £60bn every year, or 2% of GDP

Without climate adaptation, this could rise to £260bn (5% of GDP) by 2050, says CCC's Baroness Brown

The committee says UK should invest £11bn a year to become more resilient

[Richard Murphy @RichardJMurphy]

Why did the BBC describe rioters in Southampton last night as ‘protestors’. They weren’t protestors, they were rioters. Where has the BBC's objectivity gone? Why can't they tell the truth?

[Stephen Ferguson @StephenF55]

@RoryMaw @ozymandiasJH @PatriciaNPino Keynes regret was assuming an economy always returned to a full-employment equilibrium, not his study on the origins of money.

It so happens that the 'Modern' in MMT is a nod to Keynes use of that term in his treatise i.e. it does NOT mean 'new'... https://t.co/q1DTpY4z4I

[Rohan Grey @rohangrey]

@JohnQuiggin Wray describes this clearly here, for example.

https://t.co/zr0IpMP9i8

[Stephen Ferguson @StephenF55]

@RoryMaw @ozymandiasJH @PatriciaNPino Then you should be well aware of Graeber's "Debt: The First 5000 Years" and Keynes "A Treatise on Money".

PS Cut the insults - It demeans you

[Lewis Goodall @lewis_goodall]

This is counter-productive, authoritarian and chilling. The British state should not be in the business of banning commentators and journalists from entering the country, without compelling reason. Finding their views objectionable is nowhere near enough.
https://t.co/GqUMVB5bqj

[Stephen Ferguson @StephenF55]

@RoryMaw @ozymandiasJH @PatriciaNPino Not claiming that, but ignoring basic arithmetic that lays out the mechanics of currency issuance/taxation/bond sales leads directly to 'Treasury Brain' nonsense that's ruining the UK.

PS I note you dodged the question.

Hint: The HQ is in Threadneedle St

[Stephen Ferguson @StephenF55]

@DavidMcNab17 Sorry David, but Nicola Sturgeon isn't the victim she paints herself to be. This from journalist & founder of the 'Common Weal' think tank is damning... https://t.co/ETH9PqT5S5

[Stephen Ferguson @StephenF55]

@RoryMaw @ozymandiasJH @PatriciaNPino Cheap insults vs accounting logic, the history & anthropology of economics, the legal basis of state currency make you the flat-earther my friend.

Where do £s come from?

[Stephen Ferguson @StephenF55]

@blueshirtdistin @PatriciaNPino £s. It's £s. You know where £s come from?

Hint: It ain't 'the markets'

[Stephen Ferguson @StephenF55]

@dalkeithfiddler @tonymc39 @aedmans Correct.

Critical thinking asks where £s come from, uses accounting, studies the history/anthropology of economics

Lazy ignoramuses on the other hand resort to cheap insults

[Stephen Ferguson @StephenF55]

@argokimetes @Recoquista84 @malcolm_reavell @aedmans Indeed...
https://t.co/M34Q4teEL6

[Stephen Ferguson @StephenF55]

@NLeesy @PatriciaNPino The bond markets are savers!

Common sense: Tax + Borrow -> Spend
👆= Magical thinking (no 'origin' story for £s)

Reality: Spend -> Tax + Save
👆 = £s created 1st!, majority destroyed (tax), remainder saved (gilts)

[Stephen Ferguson @StephenF55]

@ozymandiasJH @RoryMaw @PatriciaNPino Moreover, there would be no £s to 'borrow' unless they were FIRST issued!

Common sense: Tax + Borrow -> Spend
... = Magical thinking (no 'origin' story for £s)

Reality: Spend -> Tax + Save
... = £s created, some destroyed (tax) & rest saved (gilts)

[Stephen Ferguson @StephenF55]

@christopheldn75 @PatriciaNPino Said nobody during WW2, 2008 GFC, Covid etc.

[Stephanie Kelton @StephanieKelton]

As the interim dean of the School of Communication and Journalism, I can tell you that whatever this sloppy snark is, it isn’t journalism, and we hold our students to a higher standard. Do a modicum
of research, would you.

[Philip Proudfoot @PhilipProudfoot]

So, I have a friend who works at the BBC.

Yesterday, they told me the Tony Blair Institute basically selected the entire panel for @bbcquestiontime — hence why there was no balance and it was essentially dangerous big tech propaganda. Loads of staff pissed off, but silenced.

[Stephen Ferguson @StephenF55]

@meadwaj @georgeeaton Agree on QE. My point is that £s are always printed. Invoking that as a problem just feeds the 'household' myth.

And so (40+ yrs after Thatcher's 'its tax payers money') people like Rory Stewart laugh their heads off at Zack Polanski daring to say exactly that. We've regressed.

[Stephen Ferguson @StephenF55]

@meadwaj @georgeeaton That's why I specified "£s Sterling" - as in BoE reserves.

Am aware of commercial bank £s....although every one of those is also 'printed'!

[Stephen Ferguson @StephenF55]

@georgeeaton @meadwaj This begs the question: Where do all the good 'non-printed' £s Sterling come from?

Do they just appear spontaneously out of nowhere?

M&S tills perhaps?

...Of course not - that would be "magical thinking".

HINT: Every last one gets 'printed' in Threadneadle St