Later this month a festival of economics will take place over a weekend in Dundee, following an event in Leith on the previous evening. A collection of top international economists, will aim to provide answers to the big economic questions, demystify the money system and demolish false frames like, (such as the insistence on no alternatives).
In the UK today, people blame a personal lack of intelligence for their failure to understand the economy. Lived experience is not reflected by statistics on rising GDP or falling unemployment. These figures just do not make sense in what is rated as one of the world’s wealthiest countries. The economy, however, is far too complex to measure on the axes of a chart.
It is only through ordinary people learning the economic basics that pressure can be applied to influence political will at Westminster. This also has obvious implications for the proposed economy of a future independent Scotland. We must not allow our politicians to impose a mini-UK system on the new nation.
The speakers on the stages over the weekend of 22-24 March aim to lay out economic reality in language that does not require a university degree to understand, addressing the issues that the general public face up to every day.
Faux complexity ensures confusion
The UK money system was formed over 300yrs ago with the creation of the Bank of England. Since then, layers of complexity have been built onto the original structure, as knowledge, the political environment, and technology, evolved. Very little thought appears to have been directed at simplification or efficiency. These compounded, simple fixes produced a web of accounts, funds and departments over time, which shroud the basic functions, and the basic accounting of the publicly owned utility that is the GBP.
For 40 yrs this complex system has played into the hands of a school of economics based on the advancement of corporate interests, favouring the wealthy. These gains come at the expense of a massive proportion of society who must work longer, whose wages stagnate and where living conditions at the local level deteriorate with every cut made to council budgets.
It took years to indoctrinate the public to this degree and is encapsulated in the great Thatcher lies, that ‘there is no alternative’ and ‘there is no such thing as public money there is only taxpayers money’. These concepts are supported by the economic mantra of rugged individualism, which leads to the ‘de’il tak the hin’mais’attitude so prevalent today. Thatcher couldn’t be further from the truth
This idea of there being no alternative economic system has embedded itself in the thinking of many economists. What chance does the regular man or woman on the street have to understand why their life is ruled by work and stress when the system is so needlessly complex. The media is complicit, and politicians and academics follow the dogma that there is no other way to proceed?
Festival of economic clarity
The Scotonomics Festival is the antidote to the poison afflicting the economic understanding of the Scottish public. It is not, simply, that there is an alternative but that there are numerous potential paths to take. By taking part either at the events in person or online, we can look for a clearer perception of what constitutes the economy – what the GBP actually is. Questions on the real purpose of taxation, who is really to blame for unemployment, how to tackle climate change, and on the implementation of a wellbeing economy will be discussed.
The general lack of understanding of the economy has been weaponised in the debates over the constitution. Commentators, favouring the continuation of the Union and the status quo, orchestrate a campaign of scaremongering on issues such as the currency, pensions, foreign exchange and trade – known as ‘project fear’. The independence movement has found it difficult to refute or debunk the nonsensical claims. With the knowledge gained from this event, project fear may lose some potency.
The UK economy is the metaphorical disease, while the Scottish independence movement is merely a symptom of the illness, a reaction to the infection. Those amongst us who still favour remaining part of the UK have as much to gain from this celebration of economic education as anyone else. The issues faced in Scotland affect the rest of the UK too and are exacerbated by having no mitigating force like the Scottish government to cushion the economic blows. The economists on hand will provide the knowledge to allow an understanding of just how badly all UK citizens are being served by the UK government.
Scotonomics festival speakers
The list of speakers is diverse and impressive. Respected, economists, media personalities, politicians, and academics from various schools of economic thought will gather in Dundee. Lesley Riddoch will be conducting interviews throughout the weekend as part of a programme of over 30 separate sessions. Steve Keen, Miriam Brett, Ann Pettifor, Mark Blyth, Fadhel Kaboub, Dirk Enhts and Bob Hockett are just a sample of the many fabulous guest speakers.
The festival also provides the opportunity, either at Dundee, or in Leith on Thursday 21 March, to view Maren Poitras’s new film Finding The Money. As the title suggests, this is a movie documentary investigating many of the themes highlighted at the festival and features many of the top economists from the Modern Monetary Theory school of thought. The more this film is shared the better the understanding of economics will be.
A key theme throughout the festival is community wealth building. The organisers are ‘walking the walk’ as well as ‘talking the talk’, with profits being donated to create a social enterprise based in Dundee. For more information or tickets you can check out the page for the event.
A Democratic society relies on an informed public to function well
Many attendees will be supporters of Scottish independence, who heard the rhetoric around the response to the financial crash and were confused when it appeared to be contradicted by the narrative told by the Better Together team during the referendum. Since then, they have paid attention to economics, in an attempt, to find the facts. This truth is not just for personal consumption. It is necessary to assuage the doubts of our undecided, risk-averse, or dogmatic, friends, neighbours and family members, and convince them that change is not only possible, but necessary.
People, around the world, suffer needlessly, due to the economic decisions made by those in authority. The most effective way towards change is through voluntarily shouldering the responsibility to educate ourselves on economics rather than accepting the dogma of what has morphed into a pseudo-science.
By taking the knowledge gained and fitting that to our real-life experience, the genuine questions to be answered – the practical problems to be solved by the economy, will become apparent. No mathematical formula or unrealistic assumptions can truly reflect nature’s diversity or the infinite layers of human traits and desires. We should trust and explore our intuitions to a far greater extent to adapt our economy to reality.
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