Myth that Britain can’t afford lockdowns

[CallmeFP]

A telegraph article, makes for interesting reading.

"Britain" can afford whatever it's government wants it to afford. Money is madey-uppy.

Generally "we can't afford" is just a way of cloaking from the less discerning "we're not paying for" ...

So (for example) it's not we can't afford free school meals. It's we're not paying for free school meals. Etc etc.

@SerendipityJane I agree and proven by the chancellors late decision on furlough!

Lol. It all depends on just how much of the population you’re comfortable driving into poverty. If you think 99% are plebeians and it’s alright if they start going cold and hungry then you would think the country can “afford” more lockdowns. Typically these things are written by the privileged in their secure enclaves of wealth.

It all depends on just how much of the population you’re comfortable driving into poverty

Poverty, like money, is a man made construct. We make people poor. Not only that. We make people poor so that other people can be rich. And the trick of politics is to make sure it's the right sort of people we make poor. Crack that, and you get the keys to the kingdom. Literally.

Money is real by the way. It may be man made in that the form it takes as a symbol of value. But the value it represents is as real as anything else we measure in units- electricity, water, air, earth, time.

@SerendipityJane

It all depends on just how much of the population you’re comfortable driving into poverty

Poverty, like money, is a man made construct. We make people poor. Not only that. We make people poor so that other people can be rich. And the trick of politics is to make sure it's the right sort of people we make poor. Crack that, and you get the keys to the kingdom. Literally.

Nail on head. Too many people are fooled by the government and the right wing press, add in a lot of pitting groups against each other and those at the top are laughing.

@PlanDeRaccordement

Money is real by the way. It may be man made in that the form it takes as a symbol of value. But the value it represents is as real as anything else we measure in units- electricity, water, air, earth, time.

Only if the person you're waving it at agrees. Otherwise it's so much firelighters. As the Germans found out in the 1920s.

And that's before we get into Scottish banknotes.

Only if the person you're waving it at agrees. Otherwise it's so much firelighters. As the Germans found out in the 1920s. And that's before we get into Scottish banknotes.

You’re confusing changes in money value caused by hyper inflation with whether money is real or not. Something can be real but have a fluctuating value due to economic crises.

Its only real because we all believe in it.

Its only real because we all believe in it.

That's like, really deep mannnnnn

@DillonPanthersTexas

Its only real because we all believe in it.

That's like, really deep mannnnnn

😁

@PlanDeRaccordement

Only if the person you're waving it at agrees. Otherwise it's so much firelighters. As the Germans found out in the 1920s. And that's before we get into Scottish banknotes.

You’re confusing changes in money value caused by hyper inflation with whether money is real or not. Something can be real but have a fluctuating value due to economic crises.

I'm not confusing anything with anything.

A bag of grain has value. You can eat it.

A five pound note has fuck all value, unless you can find someone to trade it for a bag of grain that you can eat.

Money - like the wheel - is an invention. If humankind weren't here, neither would money be. While land, grain and water would.

People confuse money with fire which is a natural phenomenon that has been harnessed.

*It all depends on just how much of the population you’re comfortable driving into poverty

Poverty, like money, is a man made construct. We make people poor. Not only that. We make people poor so that other people can be rich. And the trick of politics is to make sure it's the right sort of people we make poor. Crack that, and you get the keys to the kingdom. Literally.*

Excellent post

@Daydreamsinglorioustechnicolor

Its only real because we all believe in it.

Money - like the wheel - is an invention. If humankind weren't here, neither would money be. While land, grain and water would.

You argument makes no sense. Just because something is an invention, doesn’t make it not real. Are roads not real? Satellites? Your smart phone? And actually GRAIN is also a human invention too created by genetic manipulation by breeding wild grasses.

If I don’t believe in a road, is it still real? Try crossing the M25 blindfolded with that thought in your head.

I'm well up for a barter economy based on who has the shiniest pebbles to trade for livestock.

Oh, and money does have "value" because you can trade it for goods and services. Have you tried getting a bag of grain in the slot at the self-service checkout in Tesco?

@PlanDeRaccordement

If I don’t believe in a road, is it still real? Try crossing the M25 blindfolded with that thought in your head.

Lighten up

@BlanchflowerTulip

Oh, and money does have "value" because you can trade it for goods and services. Have you tried getting a bag of grain in the slot at the self-service checkout in Tesco?

It's always amusing when someone agrees with you in an argument without realising it.

For the hard of thinking, Tescos is also a man made construct. Man made to handle that man made construct ... money.

Go down the riverbank and see how many fishes you catch with a rolled up fiver ....

1. Pump money into the economy.
2. Mass inflation.

The fact that we have 'found' the money for furlough, when we couldn't 'find' it before to fund social services for example just shows its a nonsense. We could always have found the money if we wanted to.

We’ve been patronised for years about economics - this idea that a country needs to balance the books in the same way as a household and and the ‘magic money tree’ stuff. Apparently it didn’t exist but now it appears it does.

There’s absolutely no reason for anyone to be poor in this country. It’s political not a natural state. The Victorians were happy to believe that but I reject it.

I can’t wait to see what happens if those man made interest rates go up

Hmm. Interesting. If inflation shoots up then savings are worthless but assets hold value, is that right? So rich people who own property and stocks and shares keep doing ok, people on a fixed income struggle because it no longer pays for essentials.