1. Austerity has failed: What are the alternatives?

2. 3 ways governments can influence the economy
Taxation & public spending
3 ways governments can influence the economy
Laws & regulation
Ownership

3. The neoliberal triangle of doom
Austerity
The neoliberal triangle of doom
Privatisation
Deregulation

4. 2008: A catastrophic failure of neoliberalism…

5. ... used to justify more neoliberalism

6. Austerity: ‘Basic economics’ – or a strategy for the 1%?
“The austerity ideology that dominated elite discourse five years ago has collapsed, to the point where hardly anyone still believes it. Hardly anyone, that is, except the coalition that still rules Britain – and most of the British media.”
- Paul Krugman (economist)

7. What happened next?

8. Labour didn’t rack up debt by overspending

9. Labour didn’t rack up debt by overspending

10. It’s private debt that’s the big problem….
Source: ONS Blue Book

11. … and austerity’s making it worse
Revised down from previous forecasts – partly because Osborne able to cut slower due to their expectations of more benign economic conditions – now looking unlikely to materialise

12. Privatisation
Individual share ownership,

13. ‘Balancing the books’ with a firesale of public assets

14. Deregulation
“…puts driving the reform of regulatory enforcement in the hands of business”
- Department for Business, Innovation & Skills

15. … So why austerity?
Ideological: an excuse to shrink the state and harden public attitudes to welfare (even if it doesn’t actually bring the deficit down)
A political choice: we need ‘fiscal space’ to bail out the banks next time they fail
A political strategy: ‘permanent austerity’ creates fear, insecurity and makes people believe we ‘can’t afford’ progressive policies

16. “Big arguments have returned to British politics”
“Let's be clear - austerity is a political choice, not an economic necessity”
- Jeremy Corbyn, 15 September 2015
“Big arguments have returned to British politics”
- George Osborne, 15 September 2015

17. Telling a new story: From ‘anti austerity’ to ‘pro investment’
Austerity can only be beaten by a politics of hope and a positive vision – ‘we deserve better than this’
It makes sense to invest in the future
Government is like a business, not a household
Economic security comes from fixing our broken banks – not cutting public services

18. Finding Common Ground amongst progressives

19. What we’ve found: principles for a new economy?
Common ownership of public goods
Collective provision of basic needs
Co-operation and sharing
Redistributing power (economic democracy)
Control over our work and time – paid and unpaid
Respecting environmental limits

20.
@NEF