Britain must stand ready to contribute more to the International Monetary Fund in order to shore up the ailing world economy, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said today, according to The Telegraph 22nd January 2012
According to Mr Clegg, “ We always must be strong supporters of the IMF. It is a linch pin in creating a system of stability.”
If, as those who have made relevant enquiries claim, there are only a handful of MPs who understand how our financial system works, the Deputy Prime Minister is certainly not one of them.
A system of stability?
What, precisely, is the IMF attempting to stabilise? Is it the real economy, or merely a financial system which actually inhibits and distorts the efficient production and distribution of goods and services?
If economic stability is the goal, it’s worth asking where the additional billions which Mr Clegg believes will procure it are to come from. Common sense suggests that, short of an inconceivably abrupt leap in the UK’s income from exports, any extra money must be scraped together from a deadly combination of higher taxes, increased austerity, and yet more borrowing.
Both higher taxes and increased austerity will reduce disposable incomes, throwing more families into state-dependency, robbing cash-strapped small businesses of customers, and further destabilising the real economy. As for more borrowing, when did any debt counsellor suggest this as an effective remedy for insolvency?
To quote Mrs Micawber, for once, rather her husband, “(T)he sooner they bring it to an issue the better. Blood cannot be obtained from a stone, neither can anything on account be obtained at present … from Mr Micawber.” Like Micawber, taxpayers have reached the end of their resources – and if governments continue to depend on mass borrowing to provide the world with purchasing power, it is pointless expecting anything to turn up.
Instead, they should stop juggling debt, and bring the business of how money is created to an issue. Why submit to chronic financial instability by allowing private businesses to control the production and distribution of our means of exchange at immense profit to themselves, when we could enjoy stable economic conditions, fostered by a publicly-authorised, debt-free money supply?
Mr Clegg is talking dangerous nonsense. What a pity more MPs aren’t able to point this out to him!