{"id":7549,"date":"2018-05-17T11:37:26","date_gmt":"2018-05-17T10:37:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/progressiveeconomyforum.com\/development\/?p=7549"},"modified":"2020-03-10T11:39:56","modified_gmt":"2020-03-10T11:39:56","slug":"the-launch-of-the-progressive-economy-forum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/progressiveeconomyforum.com\/development\/blog\/the-launch-of-the-progressive-economy-forum\/","title":{"rendered":"The launch of the Progressive Economy Forum"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The following is a transcript of Patrick Allen’s speech at the launch of the Progressive Economy Forum in which he discusses his motivations for establishing the forum and the damage wreaked by austerity policies. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Good evening everyone and a very warm welcome to this\nexciting occasion \u2013 the launch of the Progressive Economy Forum<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are delighted and honoured to have here on our panel famous\nparliamentarians and economists I know you are keen to hear from them so I will\nbe brief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wish to explain what the PEF is and why it has been\ncreated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

40 years ago, I became a\nsolicitor because of my passion for social justice. I saw the law as a powerful\nweapon to help citizens overcome injustice and assert their rights. I created my\nfirm to do that work and we have been helping people in thousands of cases ever\nsince.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, since\n2010 I have become keenly aware of a broader injustice \u2013\u2013 the destruction of\nour public services and our welfare state, by ill-advised austerity policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By this I mean\nunprecedented cuts in public spending which have caused harm to millions of\npeople, particularly the poorest and most vulnerable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The policies have\nincreased poverty, insecurity, and inequality. It can only get worse as there\nis no end in sight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The policies were\ndevised by George Osborne in his first budget in 2010 and have continued unchanged\nby the current Chancellor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spending cuts are\nwrong, they are misguided, they are causing untold damage to our economy and\nour citizens and irretrievable loss of national income. They are completely unnecessary,\nand they are economically illiterate. The vast majority of economists oppose\nthem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have created the\nProgressive Economy Forum to do something about this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The harm caused by\nausterity was brought home to me when my firm became involved in the Grenfell Tower\ncase. We act for 50 residents of the tower whose lives have been destroyed by\nthe fire. Some have lost loved ones. They have lost their homes and\npossessions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some have still\nnot been rehoused but austerity and ideology means that we have almost stopped\nbuilding social\nhousing<\/a> in this country despite overwhelming need. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lessons on how to\nrun the economy were learned after the mistakes of the 1930s with the insight\nof Keynes<\/a>\nand were successfully deployed between 1945 and 1975. In this period we\nachieved stability and the highest sustained annual growth we have ever known.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Thatcher and Reagan turned to a different economic ideology. Financial deregulation was started by them and eventually led to the catastrophic 2008 crash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This caused the UK\nto lose 6% of GNP in 12 months \u2013 itself an unprecedented event of our lifetimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead of re-regulating\nthe banks and applying Keynesian policies to stimulate demand, the government: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. implied that Labour had been responsible\nfor the 2008 Global Financial crisis  <\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    This never been properly rebutted, and many people still believe it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1. Cut public spending to cure\nthe deficit against the advice of economists.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      The result has\nbeen disastrous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      We have had the\nslowest recovery since records began.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Wages have still\nnot recovered back to their 2008 levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Economic growth in\nthe last quarter was 0.2%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Our council member\nand economist Simon Wren-Lewis estimates austerity has cost every household in\nthe UK \u00a310,000<\/a>\nin lost income. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Immigration was\nwrongly blamed for the pressure on public services caused by austerity and this\nwas a major factor behind the Brexit vote. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Brexit will itself\nmake us even poorer exacerbating the low growth caused by the cuts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Something has to\nbe done and that is where PEF comes in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Not just to say\nausterity is wrong but to provide a truthful narrative of what has happened to\nexplain and inform economics to all and to provide an updated macroeconomics for\nthe modern world of climate change and IT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      We have recruited\n12 of the best economists in the country who will come together to debate and create\neconomic policy for the future. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      We will counter\nthe false narrative which says that our public debt is unaffordable and\nunsustainable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      We will explain the\npurpose of public debt, how it is used for public investment and a source of\nvital income for our pension funds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      We will show how the\neconomy works and make it intelligible and accessible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      With the help of CLASS,\nwe will create training materials, training courses on economics and an\ninformative web site easy to understand materials. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      We are not politically\naligned but we will talk to any political party that wants to hear about our\nprogressive policies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Our recent survey\nshows how important economics is to people, 51%<\/a>\nin the survey think they understand it, 69% would be interested in knowing more\nabout the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      68% say that economics\naffects their voting decisions \u2013 so the credibility of the parties and their\neconomic policies is fundamental to winning elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Austerity has failed.\nIt has always failed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Deregulation of\nfinance caused the 2008 crash. The cost of bank failure was then picked up by\nthe public purse while the bank bonus culture continues unchanged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      A judge and jury assessing\nthe evidence would have no hesitation in rejecting austerity out of hand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      PEF will create\nthe alternative and bring about a sea change in the understanding and implementation\nof macroeconomic policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      This will\ntransform our future economy to make it dynamic, equitable, sustainable and prosperous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Our first Council\nmeeting is tomorrow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      The following is a transcript of Patrick Allen’s speech at the launch of the Progressive Economy Forum in which he discusses his motivations for establishing the forum and the damage wreaked by austerity policies. 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