Michael Meacher MP: Key Reform is Regaining Public Control of Money Creation

Michael Meacher, who spoke at our annual conference last October (video below), has written an excellent article on Ed Miliband’s latest proposals to reform banking.

He concludes that:

[T]he key missing element from Ed’s package is regaining public control of the money supply which was privatised as a consequence of Thatcher’s financial de-regulation of the 1980s*.   At present the Big 5 lend £7 trillions a year heavily geared towards high-risk speculation hedged by the safe profitability of property mortgages.   Only if the money supply is regulated, as it is in successful economies, to ensure that the bulk of the nation’s resources are channelled towards manufacturing, commerce and exports will Britain achieve a long-term sustainable economic recovery.

* To be technically accurate, the power to create money was privatised over a period of decades as the main form of money we used changed from paper notes – which the state has the exclusive right to create – to electronic accounting entries created by banks. It was the failure of government to recognise this that has led to a situation where 97% of the money supply is now created, and allocated by, the big high-street banks.

You can read the full article here. Here’s Michael Meacher speaking at the Positive Money annual conference.

Part 2/3

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