As trailed here, the team who gave us the Green Book some 10 years ago is launching a new podcast series, starting with an episode on the economy.
This is hugely important as concerns about the economy, be they low paid jobs, insecurity or our apparent inability to fund decent public services and infrastructure, are at the top of most people’s concerns.
We’re all well aware of the lack of investment in this country, both public and private which has led to this situation. However, the standard answer from most of our politicians has been ‘but there is no money’ – the excuse for the austerity of the last 13 years – which has only made things worse. Meanwhile our debts, both personal and public, have just got bigger.
What’s needed is a different approach and a new way of thinking about political economy. So in this episode of Green Book Pod, we look at what has been done differently elsewhere, in particular in the USA where Biden is turning the economic approach of the last 20-30 years upside down, and we ask where the money might come from.
Joining us are three great guests:
Vicky Pryce who is a very well-known economics commentator, regularly on TV, radio and in the media. She is the Chief Economic Adviser at the Centre for Economics and Business Research and was joint head of the Government’s Economic Service.
Max von Thun was economic advisor to the party when Vince Cable was leader and is now the European director for the US based Open Markets Institute. He brings good insights into what is happening in the US with Bidenomics, which is a real challenge to the economic assumptions of the last 20-30 years.
Richard Murphy who was one of the creators of the original Green New Deal and also the tax justice movement. He is a very active blogger on political economy, and has thought long and hard about government funding and where the money could come from.
Chairing the session is me, Robin Stafford. I have been supporting the party on economic matters over the last 5-6 years.
A personal guide to the 13 most essential political podcasts
Commuting is a major part of my daily life, so I find podcasts are an essential way to make use of time I’d otherwise spend staring vacantly out the window or idly refreshing and re-refreshing Twitter. Here, in order of where they appear in my iTunes directory, are the podcasts I listen to most frequently…
The Economist’s podcasts – a good mix of audio recordings of selected articles from the print edition together with brief discussions involving the Economist’s expert correspondents. Slightly irritatingly the sound can vary between recordings, so you …