Tax – Let's start again
Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) invites us to see money creation and public expenditure in new light. From the MMT perspective, public expenditure is not constrained by taxation or by borrowing, and new money can be spent into the economy to suit public policy; taxation is thereby freed from the necessity to raise money to spend BUT becomes the essential means to maintain a balanced economy. MMT usually expresses this as preventing inflation, however, it can be seen as another means of implementing public policy.
This course will consider how taxation, from an MMT perspective, can be applied to maintain a healthy economy, where people can find strength in communities and find prosperity and freedom in a healthy environment into a distant future. Taxation in this light is seen as a means to inhibit social and economic ills developing in society.
In 1952 Mr Leon MacLaren, the founder of the School, gave a lecture entitled The Function of Economics. The opening lines were 'Is any study simpler than economics? A child could grasp it. Our difficulties arise, stream and flow from the superstitions and prejudices with which we surround it'. As the global economy has expanded and developed it has become increasingly complicated and our understanding of how it actually works and who it really serves are in question.
Some 20 years later E. F. Schumacher published Small is Beautiful, a seminal work from a very fine mind. In light of the current economic conditions, to re-visit Fritz Schumacher's views on the The Proper Use of Land, Buddhist Economics and other subjects will be most useful in identifying some of the superstitions and prejudices that surround the subject of economics. Accordingly, you are invited to join us...
After more than a decade of extremely low interest rates, rates are on the rise again. This is obviously bad news for those with debts for which the interest rate is variable. But is it bad news for economies in general? Some argue that low interest rates, or ‘easy money’, encourage inefficiency, speculation and asset bubbles. The January term’s course will look at how interest rates are determined in our current economic arrangements and the issues that arise.
This recently formed international Group welcomes new members. Recent studies have taken on contemporary issues such as: Liz Truss's UK mini budget and it's likely effect on Economics with Justice; The Irish Economy and recent budgets; The Australian Economy and recent budgets; Location Law; Inflation – What it is, how measured, its causes, its morality.
Next term’s studies will be directed by the interests of the students and the tutor.
The group will continue its exploration of basic economic principles and will then move on to focus on the question of pensions - the governing principle, their perceived need, how they are provided for and the consequences for the World Economy given the current arrangements that are in place to provide for them.
The Saturday group has been following the theme of ‘A fresh look at Economics with Justice' and will be continuing with this. It will not be open to new students this term.