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HSBC boss says Rachel Reeves putting up bank taxes would harm UK growth

Martin Henson @martinhenson.bsky.social · Jul 31

2/3 … capital adequacy - making greater lending for investment possible. But this is massively overstated, especially in the context of HSBC’s distribution of over US$8B in dividends in the first half of this year and nearly US$10B in buying back its own shares …

Georges Elhedery’s comments come amid speculation the chancellor could make such a move in autumn budget

HSBC boss says Rachel Reeves putting up bank taxes would harm UK growth

Martin Henson @martinhenson.bsky.social · Jul 31

1/3 - Elhedery engaging in smoke and mirrors. He hope’s we understand his concern as meaning that the banks will have less money to lend - but this is not how banks lend at all. His defence against pointing that out would surely be that greater retained “earnings” would increase the banks equity …

Georges Elhedery’s comments come amid speculation the chancellor could make such a move in autumn budget

House of Lords Water 23 July 2025

Martin Henson @martinhenson.bsky.social · Jul 30

Unstable. Outside bonds supporting pensions, this is just rent for the already wealthy. Leading to ever greater inequality, which is not just economically unstable but morally outrageous.

Martin Henson @martinhenson.bsky.social · Jul 30

Prem on fire, as usual. And a reply that cannot be dignified by the word “response”. @premnsikka.bsky.social #premsikka #privatisation

YouTube video by Prem Sikka

youtu.be

Martin Henson @martinhenson.bsky.social · Jul 28

No doubt these are quite radical - but for a non-believer they are shocking: "Wait! You’re allowed to hug and smile? And that’s a reform?!" or comical - a friend was offered a job in Saudi Arabia. The incentive? We won't take your passport. If the irony is not obvious - it's about a prior pathology.

Pope Leo XIV banned these 7 Catholic traditions… and many are in shock!

YouTube video by Pope Leo XIV – Divine Testament

youtu.be

Martin Henson @martinhenson.bsky.social · Jul 26

Prem is right on the money yet again.

Public ownership is the only way to save the water industry

Public ownership is the only viable alternative but is opposed by the government

leftfootforward.org

Martin Henson @martinhenson.bsky.social · Jul 20

Tragic #usaid

Martin Henson @martinhenson.bsky.social · Jul 20

You have said, several times, that - in his analogy - the stadium (government) spends $ (tickets) first and then collects $. This is wrong. You have likened his analogy with the business cards to a poll tax - that is wrong too. I am happy to discuss MMT - but only when properly characterised.

Martin Henson @martinhenson.bsky.social · Jul 20

I’m sorry that you have misunderstood Mosler’s analogy entirely.

Martin Henson @martinhenson.bsky.social · Jul 20

I’m sorry that you have misunderstood Mosler’s analogy entirely.

Martin Henson @martinhenson.bsky.social · Jul 19

per se and a government-issued fiat currency. A better analogy that he makes is the one about his business cards (analogous to the tickets in this clip and so analogous to a fiat currency)

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Martin Henson @martinhenson.bsky.social · Jul 19

Yep, I know this. But definitely worth adding to this thread (should anyone else by reading it!). I think it’s far too short to be entirely clear what he’s saying - he’s not saying they print the tickets and then get paid for them later - he’s making an analogy between the ticket-issuance per se …

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Martin Henson @martinhenson.bsky.social · Jul 19

… the government and the non-government compete over a notion of money that is independently “issued” by neither party (for example because it is dug out of the ground).

Martin Henson @martinhenson.bsky.social · Jul 19

… net financial assets is the government. The taxpayer or bond purchaser is clearly not funding the government, since they could not have the wherewithal to pay without previous government spending. Clearly all that I’ve just written is completely false in a non-fiat monetary system, where both …

Martin Henson @martinhenson.bsky.social · Jul 19

Thanks. I’m still struggling a bit but I’m guessing you’re querying the idea the #MMT observation that the government spends before it collects revenue or sells bonds. In your analogy you’ve distinguished tickets from money - which is problematic. In a fiat currency system the only issuer of …

Martin Henson @martinhenson.bsky.social · Jul 19

You may need to clarify your analogy, as at the moment I can’t map it on to anything that MMT is saying. What, in particular, is represented by the tickets in your question?

Uber for Nursing: How an AI-Powered Gig Model Is Threatening Health Care - Roosevelt Institute

Martin Henson @martinhenson.bsky.social · Jul 19

We are living in what Cory Doctorow calls the “Enshittocene” - ‘Gig nursing apps may determine pay by … how often they bid for shifts, or how much credit card or other kinds of debt they might hold.’ Those carrying debt are judged desperate and offered lower rates of pay. #corydoctorow #gigeconomy

Through original interviews with 29 “gig” nurses and nursing assistants, Katie J. Wells and Funda Ustek Spilda find that on-demand nursing companies encourage nurses to work for less pay, fail to prov...

rooseveltinstitute.org

Martin Henson @martinhenson.bsky.social · Jul 19

Welcome to the polycrisis! You can’t even escape on a nature trail …

'10 Year Old Girls Are Going To Sephora, It's Insane' | Aaron Bastani Meets Jonathan Haidt

Martin Henson @martinhenson.bsky.social · Jul 19

I was listening to this during my morning walk around the lake - and I passed a young woman pushing a child (not more than two) in a pram. The child was looking at an iPhone #novaramedia #novara #downstream #jonathanhaidt

YouTube video by Novara Media

youtu.be

Martin Henson @martinhenson.bsky.social · Jul 19

Back in 2017 someone interrupted a King’s College economics professor, saying “That’s your bloody GDP. Not ours.” Looks like the most profound statement made in economics in the last ten years … #poverty #inequality #economics

Thatcher, Farage and toe-sucking: Adam Curtis on how Britain came to the brink of civil war

Martin Henson @martinhenson.bsky.social · Jul 19

Who’s enjoyed this? I have!

Chaos, distrust and so many sex scandals … Ahead of his epic new series Shifty, the great documentarian charts the UK’s slide towards Whitehall’s worst nightmare

The secrets of self-optimisers: why ‘microefficiencies’ are on the rise

Martin Henson @martinhenson.bsky.social · Jul 19

Homo economicus has finally gone mad. My regret just now is not having micro-efficiently ignored this article. #homoeconomicus #economics

Whether brushing their teeth in the shower or wearing slip-on shoes to save time, people are finding all sorts of ways to fine-tune their routines. Are these fun life hacks or symptoms of a snowed-und...