25 September

People have probably heard of the 'living wage' idea, where ordinary folk are paid a living income, whether they're working or not. It horrifies those who think businesses keep economies running (or anybody who believes in an economy in the first place). But there are very serious reasons to think that it's ordinary people with money in their pockets - customers - who create jobs and businesses, not the other way around. Pretty obvious really. If I owned a business, I'd need customers who are cashed up. No matter how good my business was, if I have no customers with money, I'm not going to sell anything. My view is the 'economy' as a whole idea is a giant magic trick, designed to funnel money from the vast majority of us, towards a tiny rich minority of us. What if we flip it, and start with people - most of us - having wealth, and willing to spend it with whatever business appeals to us? Sounds much smarter to me.