Why good economics can feel wrong

People often ask me why the work we do on this channel and on the Funding the Future blog is so hard to follow. It is not because the economics is complicated. It is because what we say is counterintuitive.

We have all been taught a story about money. We are told governments must behave like households, must balance their books, must cut spending on public services and social security because “there is no money left”. That story feels familiar. It feels safe. And it is wrong.

In this video, I explain why good economics often feels uncomfortable. We are challenging ideas that politicians, journalists and economists have repeated for decades. When we explain that government is different because it issues money, that private saving requires government deficits, and that austerity is a political choice, people understandably hesitate. The problem is psychological, not technical.

That is why we repeat ourselves. New viewers arrive every day. Myths repeated for forty years do not disappear after one video. And if we want a politics of care and an economics of hope, based on proper accounting and honest debate about public services and social security, we have to keep telling the truth about money.

Bad economics has consequences. It leads to austerity, a failing NHS, broken local government and rising inequality. It pushes people towards the far right because they think nothing works. That is why this work matters, and why persistence matters.

If you value clear explanations of government finance, tax and the real economy, please subscribe to the channel, share this video and help spread the word. Change only happens when people challenge the myths they have been taught.

Read Funding the Future: https://www.taxresearch.org.uk

Subscribe for daily videos on economics, tax justice and political economy.