The European project stands at the precipice of collapse, with its fundamental contradictions exposed by accelerating economic deterioration across core member states.
I think even IF Britain doesn’t want to do MMT, they are in a good position to make a lot of money by crashing the share and real estate market before they issue bonds. Capital will rush to sell their assets and convert it to bonds at low interest rates. This can fund their next move (stupid as it may be). If they had some brains they would use that bond money to buy the real estate, either lowering rents or using the land for infrastructure e.g. public transport/education/healthcare.
I think Britain is even more fucked. They are in the same position as the EU only with a smaller economy and already in a more advanced state of decline. The dynamics are the same it’s just going faster for Britain because they have less of a buffer to let them kick the can down the road. As a European looking at them right now and seeing how catastrophic the situation is over there, it feels like looking about five years or so into our own future.
I think Britain is even more fucked. They are in the same position as the EU only with a smaller economy and already in a more advanced state of decline.
Britain is in the odd position of being pretty useless to exploit for international capitalists. Therefore their own bourgeoisie government can still keep their neoliberal control going. The government can keep the economy going by playing the bond market against other assets like shares and real estate. e.g. UK real estate is through the roof so it’s got a long way to fall. Billionaires can’t take real estate out of the country so they will sell in a falling market and convert to bonds.
The UK Chancellor is under pressure now to issue more bonds at the worst time to do it. The trick is timing, having the patience to wait to issue bonds and then spending on the right things. This is the test of UK leadership skills which are frankly complete shit. The market and the media are in a constant state of doomerism and always calling for action which leads to an overreaction. All signs point to the government fucking it up again.
The EU is under threat of countries leaving. There’s less and less advantages being in the EU.
Ok but that’s a fiscal argument that i feel just ignores the elephant in the room which is the rapidly declining living conditions. What use is the government playing the bond market game when people can’t afford heat their homes? Real estate prices being sky high is also not a sign that things are going well, quite the opposite, because it leads to unaffordable rents.
i feel just ignores the elephant in the room which is the rapidly declining living conditions.
This is true.
But I think the EU and UK governments are just worried about funding themselves which is what the article was about.
Real estate high prices mean that when owners sell it (which they do in a falling market), they still get a lot of pounds. Those investors then use those pounds to buy bonds that the UK government issue and the government gets a lot of pounds. In the meantime, the UK can borrow from the Bank of England.
Good article.
I think even IF Britain doesn’t want to do MMT, they are in a good position to make a lot of money by crashing the share and real estate market before they issue bonds. Capital will rush to sell their assets and convert it to bonds at low interest rates. This can fund their next move (stupid as it may be). If they had some brains they would use that bond money to buy the real estate, either lowering rents or using the land for infrastructure e.g. public transport/education/healthcare.
The EU on the other hand is fucked.
I think Britain is even more fucked. They are in the same position as the EU only with a smaller economy and already in a more advanced state of decline. The dynamics are the same it’s just going faster for Britain because they have less of a buffer to let them kick the can down the road. As a European looking at them right now and seeing how catastrophic the situation is over there, it feels like looking about five years or so into our own future.
I agree, I expect they might actually end up with the IMF bailout, and the first thing IMF does is enforce austerity to “balance the budget.”
Britain is in the odd position of being pretty useless to exploit for international capitalists. Therefore their own bourgeoisie government can still keep their neoliberal control going. The government can keep the economy going by playing the bond market against other assets like shares and real estate. e.g. UK real estate is through the roof so it’s got a long way to fall. Billionaires can’t take real estate out of the country so they will sell in a falling market and convert to bonds.
The UK Chancellor is under pressure now to issue more bonds at the worst time to do it. The trick is timing, having the patience to wait to issue bonds and then spending on the right things. This is the test of UK leadership skills which are frankly complete shit. The market and the media are in a constant state of doomerism and always calling for action which leads to an overreaction. All signs point to the government fucking it up again.
The EU is under threat of countries leaving. There’s less and less advantages being in the EU.
Ok but that’s a fiscal argument that i feel just ignores the elephant in the room which is the rapidly declining living conditions. What use is the government playing the bond market game when people can’t afford heat their homes? Real estate prices being sky high is also not a sign that things are going well, quite the opposite, because it leads to unaffordable rents.
This is true.
But I think the EU and UK governments are just worried about funding themselves which is what the article was about.
Real estate high prices mean that when owners sell it (which they do in a falling market), they still get a lot of pounds. Those investors then use those pounds to buy bonds that the UK government issue and the government gets a lot of pounds. In the meantime, the UK can borrow from the Bank of England.