Debt or democracy : public money for sustainablity and social justice / Mary Mellor.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mellor, Mary, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Finance, Public--Great Britain.

Finance, Public.

Great Britain.

Debts, Public--Great Britain.

Debts, Public.

Physical Description:

vii, 215 pages ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

London : Pluto Press, 2016.

Summary:

Debt or Democracy explodes the myths behind modern money. It challenges the neoliberal obsession with public debt and deficit, arguing that a much more serious problem is the privatised creation of money through bank debt that leads to boom and bust. Far from being a burden on the taxpayer, Mary Mellor argues that public money and public expenditure are necessary for economic well-being. Arguing that money is a public resource that should be under democratic control, Debt or Democracy directly challenges conventional economic thinking and presents a radical alternative for socially just and ecologically sustainable provisioning. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 The Privatisation of Money and the Politics of Austerity 15

The Decline of Cash 18

Neoliberalism and Market Fundamentalism 18

Handbag Economics and the 'Public as Household' Analogy 20

Structural Changes 22

The Route to Crisis 24

The Road to Austerity: Public Debts and Deficits 27

Greece: The Exception that Seemed to Justify the Rule 29

Crisis, Rescue, Punishment: From Keynesianism to Austerity 34

The Eclipse of Pluralism in Economics: TINA's Academic Bag-carriers 37

Privatised Money and Public Responsibility: The Contradiction of a Debt-based Money Supply 40

2 Money for Sustainability, Sufficiency and social Justice 46

Privatised Money and Ecological Unsustainability 48

Sufficiency and Social Justice 51

The Externalisation of Women's Work and Nature's Resources 53

Life without Money 56

Varieties of Money 58

Social Money: Possibilities and Limitations 59

Money and Value 62

3 Provisioning Through Public Money 66

Money as a Public Question 67

Money as a Public Resource 69

The Commercial Circuit of Money 71

The Public Circuit of Money 73

Rethinking Deficit 74

Public Money as Public Wealth 77

Democratising Money 79

Citizen Income 81

Participatory and Deliberative Democracy 83

Participatory Primary Budgeting 85

Monetary Assessment 85

Participatory Secondary Budgeting 86

Debt-free Money for Sufficiency Provisioning 87

Making it Happen 88

4 Misunderstanding Public Money: Four Myths and a Confusion 90

Myth 1 Public Money - No Such Thing 91

Myth 2 Barter Begets Money 91

Myth 3 Money is Good as Gold 92

Challenging the Myths of Baiter and Gold 94

The Perils of Coinage 97

Tally Sticks 99

Public Paper Money 100

The Search for 'Sound' Money 101

Myth 4 What do Banks do? 104

Banks as Promises 106

Banks Create Public Currency 107

Bank Profit: Public Responsibility 110

5 Janus-faced: The Central Bank 113

Understanding the Confusion: The History of Central Banks 116

Securing the Currency: The Bank of Amsterdam 117

Financing Rulers: The Bank of England 118

The Fed 120

ECB - The One-Faced Bank 123

Facing the Banks: Central Bank as Servant or Master? 126

What is High Powered Money? 129

Money Captured: Sovereign Debt 132

The Misuse of Public Money: Quantitative Easing 136

6 Understanding Public Money 139

The State Theory of Money 139

Keynes: Facing Both Ways? 141

The Monetary Theory of Production: Money Circuit Theory 142

Modern Money Theory (MMT) 144

Monetary Reform 147

The Case for the Market 148

The Case for Public Money 150

Public Money: IOU or Seigniorage? 152

Theorising Public Money 157

7 Public Money: Beyond the Borders 160

The Gold Standard: Money as Myth 162

Reserve Currencies and Exorbitant Privilege 165

Multiple Currencies 167

A New Mercantilism? 169

Alternative Proposals for a Global Monetary System 172

A Global Currency 173

Keynes' Bancor 174

IMF Special Drawing Rights - A Halfway House? 177

A Buffer Currency for Sufficiency and Social Justice 178

8 Conclusion: Crisis and Change 180

Privatised Money and Public Penury 182

Money for the People 184

In Praise of Deficit (Surplus Expenditure) 185

Handbag Economics: Cutting the Purse Strings 187

Creating Money: The Two Circuits 188

The Central Bank: Pivot between the Circuits 189

The Unfinished History of Money 190.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 195-204) and index.

ISBN:

0745335543

9780745335544

9780745335551

0745335551

OCLC:

929917081