> On Mar 19, 2016, at 10:17 AM, Gar Lipow <gar.lipow at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I don't know if this is in the official program, but I know Corbyn has
> spoken in the past of a "people's QE" by which he means not QE at all, but
> deliberate creation of money to support social spending. This is indeed
> deficit neutral; given that inflation is too *low* in the UK, it is good
> fiscal policy as well.
I don’t know if it is part of the official program - that may still be awaiting drafting and approval at a forthcoming conference - but “helicopter money”, as you know, has also now become part of the mainstream economic discourse, especially among those who are convinced that negative interest rates won’t to anything to boost mass purchasing power. Interestingly, “people’s QE” was well received by economic commentators in the Telegraph, FT, and other financial media when it was advanced by the Corbyn campaign last fall.
I can understand why the Corbyn leadership would want to shield itself from criticism by declaring its fidelity to a “balanced budget”, however qualified by conditions, but I’m not sure this is a necessary adaptation. If the Liberal Party was able to surge from a weak third party opposition to become the government of Canada on the strength of its very public opposition to a balanced budget, I don’t see what a left-wing Labour Party has to fear.
>
> On Mon, Mar 14, 2016 at 1:47 PM, Marv Gandall <marvgand2 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party introduced a fiscal policy last week which
>> includes a commitment to balance the budget.
>>
>> But unlike Tom Mulcair's similar pledge on behalf of the NDP - widely seen
>> as pandering to corporate and right-wing sentiment and a major contributor
>> to the Canadian party's sharp drop in popular support - the new Labour
>> leadership's proposal is embedded in a broader Keynesian fiscal framework
>> which includes major infrastructure spending, social ownership, and higher
>> corporate taxes. Crucially, the rule can also be suspended in times of
>> crisis like the present.
>>
>> Canadian economist Michal Rozworski concedes the program may not be fully
>> realizable in open economies like the UK and Canada, but notes that it can
>> help raise expectations and reshape the public policy debate "in a time
>> when expectations are low and everyday ideology is dominated by the right."
>>
>>
>> http://rozworski.org/political-eh-conomy/2016/03/14/fiscal-policy-for-the-left-or-corbyn-vs-mulcair-on-deficits/
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>
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>
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