
Why our obsession with money is keeping us poor (and why changing interests rates won't make us richer)
Garys EconomicsShow Notes
The economy is made up of real resources, and the people who produce and own them. Money is different. Money is supposed to represent these real things, but it often fails to. Focusing too much on money – and interest rates and monetary policy – blinds us to how the economy actually works. Gary explains why this is so important if we want to change anything.
–––––––––––
Support us: we're making progress in our campaign to convince MPs and the public to tax wealth not work. Gary's been meeting MPs, Lords, political influencers, broadcasters and heads of think tanks every week – and momentum is growing behind wealth taxes as we head towards the autumn Budget. We need your help to keep doing this work. Support us on Patreon and you'll also get exclusive access to live Q&As with Gary and early access to content. All donations go to our not-for-profit company. Thanks:
https://patreon.com/garyseconomics
–––––––––––
Chapters
(00:00) Intro (01:47) The obsession with interest rates (03:56) How monetary policy failed in 2008 (06:05) Know your medieval history (06:55) People confuse money for real resources (07:24) Money printing during COVID (08:20) Why don't we just make more money? (10:21) You need more real resources (11:27) Redistribution of resources (12:46) Money is different for the individual and the state (13:24) Resources are rapidly flowing to the rich
–––––––––––
Further resources to understand money:
'What is money?' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gcNMu40jqs 'Burning money' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYjKycq0CYI 'The devaluation of money' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=So484-4VbxI
More from Garys Economics
Alright everyone. Last video. I did this one totally unscripted so I forgot a few important things and then I wrote a really long description to fill that all in and YT told me it was too long 😫 so here's the important points. 1 - THANKS. To everyone - to all of you who watch and share, to Oscar, Jack, Tom, Hattie who work on the channel. To the Patreons who work on all this. To Rebecca Gowland and PMUK and Faiza Shaheen and TJUK and Gabriel Zucman and his team and everyone who works on/supports this. 2 - BURNHAM. I know we are pausing the channel now for a long time but I'll make an exception for you (or maybe even your chancellor). We all want you to succeed. 3. FUTURE PLANS. Channel is down for now, but not forever. I'm working on some other cool stuff too which will come out at some point. I'll be here as long as the economy keeps collapsing, after that I turn this into a Japanese Language learning channel. 心配しないで。諦めないで。 4. PATREON. Special big thanks to all Patreon people. This wouldn't be possible without you. Fuller Post and Q+A on there this week with more details. 5. OTHER CREATORS. While I'm away check out: BarrysEconomics LouisaMuchTheory (IG) JimmyTheGiant Anna Bocca Forest Jar (IG) Pissed Magistus (IG) Unlearning Economics Tom Nicholas Hyphen (punk artist) 6. WHAT ELSE CAN U DO. Understand the concepts and share the videos goddamit. We need more middle class professionals in powerful areas. Become an economist, a politician, a journalist, a central banker. Join your favourite political party and push them on wealth taxes. Don't ask me what to do, just do something small every week. If that's not working, try something else. 7. MENTAL HEALTH. Dont panic. stay strong. drink water. cook healthy meals. try to sleep if you can. talk to your friends. talk to anyone. be there for each other!! Stay strong and take care of each other. Learn and understand what is happening. Share that understanding with others. We don't all get to live in times that are simple, but we do all get to change the world together. They fight us because we are winning. And because they are jealous of how cool we are. The world is ours. Good luck Gary xx
More and more of what you pay in tax goes on government debt interest, rather than funding public services. As this national debt grows, taxes on working people will increase even further –and public services will continue to get worse. How do we stop this?
TV and radio debates about wealth taxes usually get derailed by fear mongering and terrible statistics – often from people who are paid to defend the ultra rich. What would an honest debate about wealth inequality and taxing the rich more actually look like?
Weds 8 July 9pm: when my new documentary will air on Channel 4 in the UK. We'll also put it out on this Youtube channel from Sunday 12 July. x
The UK and other governments owe a huge amount of debt, mostly to the rich, known as bonds. Changes in interest rates on these bonds can cause economic and political crises, as happened with Liz Truss. Gary explains how to understand these bond markets – and whether we can take back control from them.