'Governments should spend no more than their tax income.' Most people in
Europe and North America accept this statement as simple common sense.
It resonates with the deeply engrained economic metaphors that dominate
public discourse, from 'living within your means' to 'balancing the
budget' - all necessary, or so conventional wisdom holds, to avoid the
dangers of debt, taxation and financial ruin. This book shows how
these homely metaphors constitute the 'debt delusion': a set of
plausible-sounding yet false ideas that have been used to justify
damaging austerity policies.
John Weeks debunks these myths,
explaining the true story behind public spending, taxation, and debt,
and their real function in the management of our economies. He
demonstrates that disputes about public finances are not primarily
technical matters best left to specialists and experts, as many
politicians would have us believe, but rather fundamentally questions
about our true political priorities. Requiring no prior economic
knowledge, this is an ideal primer for anyone wishing to cut through the
rhetoric and misinformation that dominate political debates on
economics and become an informed citizen.
The Debt Delusion : Living Within Our Means and Other Fallacies - John F. Weeks
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£13.99