1/5 MMTUK has published its Job Guarantee policy paper today.
A permanent, voluntary programme offering paid work at a living wage to anyone willing and able to work.
Up to 4 million people are expected to directly benefit.
#MMT #JobGuarantee #UKjobs

The paper does not conclude that there are no fiscal constraints.

Central Bank reserves would increase, but since they are already excessive and rates are managed via IOR what would be the consequence of not selling gilts?

And to add insult to injury, the inflation target has been missed 50% of the time since the GFC.

It's expensive, regressive, blunt, laggy, works by causing unemployment, and operates with impunity, but the public have to be distracted with household budget fairytales so they don't consider it.

Monetary policy (because it - alone - necessitates government interest payments) is the 4th largest government department by expenditure. Yet this expenditure (invariably to the wealthy) cannot be scrutinised because "independence".

I don't see how we'd be fucked. QE is a case in point.

The broader point is that there may be ways to manage the economy that doesn't involve regressive transfer payments to the wealthy and maintaining a stock of unemployed persons. At least the public should be allowed to debate this.

QE was literally equivalent to not selling bonds and printing money, for over a decade.

What the Truss episode demonstrated is that the state can place yields wherever it wants.

Even if you love rate management and accept the corollary of government interest payments, with IOR and QE excess liquidity there is no dependency (anymore) on fixed volume "full funding" gilt sales. The government can refuse to sell when rates spike, or switch to more advantageous maturities.

The public should know that interest payments are made in service of monetary policy, not government spending. If they realised the cost of interest rate managment was tens of billions in payments to the wealthy and permanent unemployment they may ask if there's a better way to manage the economy.

How will the government fund scrapping the two child benefit cap? Talks about the fact it's important to remember public finances are not like household finances.

Isn't it refreshing when someone actually does nuance and detail?

H/t @andyverity.bsky.social at the BBC!