This must become common knowledge, it must enter the public domain. I cannot read it all at one sitting because it is so exciting. I want to shout it from the skies. Why can't people see. So many of my friends only grasp the household analogy. I am looking forward to The Reality of Everything on June 26. I would hope Chris Hipkins and Barbara Edmunds can read and understand this. And Qiulae Wong.
Trying to teach politicians MMT will accomplish nothing. I can tell you that because i have friend called B J chippendale who wrote a book called making money real, and sent it to all major parties. He will send it to you for free if you ask him.
We must not be naive here. The people you want to teach politics to are the ones that care, which are the bottom 80 percent in wealth, typically. We have to rebuild the labour movement, and education will be a big part of that.
Banking politics was a huge part of the labour movement up until ww2 historically. The left used to be very well educated back then, mostly it was made from autodidacts.
The 1936 labour government was a democratic revolution. The 1984 labour govt was a technocratic revolution. The 2026/27 revolution can only happen through a bottom up movement. In my humble opinion
Fair point, Douglas. There are any number of classic anecdotes of overseas politicians privately admitting the true money story but in the same breath saying they could never do the same in public. So I absolutely agree that education and movement should focus on the ground up. Which is what Steven Hail, the MMT podcast, and other wonderful folks are doing. However, I think it’s ’both and’. New Zealand politicians should be called out and schooled on this as well, preferably in public. The more noise, the better. I don’t think it can be overstated how backwards economic discourse is here, particularly in the academy (Morgan Edwards is a diamond in the rough). We don’t have anything like the proportion of recognised heterodox commentators or discourse as in Australia or the UK. That the above excellent piece has to be written under a pseudonym is further testament to my point.
I agree with your point as well. I will search out your friend's book. The irony is that the Government already creates money except it is hidden and not understood by the politicians. In the 1980's a Bill was passed that limited debt. I am not an economist and get excited by ideas and rush ahead. Morgan Edwards's PhD thesis into how Government finance works is enlightening. I have attended a seminar with Morgan outlining his study and also an online presentation.
And most impressive and informative article by Catherine – love the comments by Gaylene Middleton – they express my own sentiments extremely well. Congratulations to you both and may many readers explore the above, as it is essential reading.
It’s a great article Catherine. It is brimming with insight and the articulation is pitch-perfect. Aviv Ben-Yosef suggests, “In a psychological or cultural sense many CEOs become deeply institutionalized. The unrelenting pressure, hyper-structured routines, and isolation that come with the top job often condition leaders to conform perfectly to corporate norms, leading to a restricted ability to function outside their executive bubble.” I believe this conditioning is highly relevant to Luxon - 18 years at Unilever - and certainly Willis appears to toe a very tight corporate line. Their institutionalised behaviour enmeshed with their deeply ideological believes translated into storytelling (propaganda) is becoming existential to the New Zealand we once knew. Very sad. 😢
Well written! Good to find someone else in NZ who see the world through the same lens... I'm new here on substack, after preaching this gospel for 16 years to anyone that would listen!
There are a number of us floating around! And this will be a key theme in the upcoming Reality of Everything Symposium, see https://anuncommonland.substack.com/p/the-government-is-like-a-household/. On Substack, check out Morgan Edwards and Ganesh Ahirao (NZ) and of course Richard Murphy (UK).
Thanks Catherine. I can see im not alone in looking forward to June 26. Including Morgan Edwards. But I have noticed a general awakening as to how broken our economic system has become. Starting with giving private banks the sole right to print money with no direction as to how that might benefit NZ Inc. Or not. I think our private debt is now running at 137% GDP. Over 90% of which is residential housing. A recovery in Nicola Noboats eyes would be for kiwis to start borrowing more money to inflate house prices again so we can spend the equity and "grow" the economy. The system in broken and the fact that our children are feeling the brunt of it is inexcusable. The fact that Nicola inc can so blithely write off our children's hunger and future with a sweep of her empty voice and promises for tomorrow is disgraceful.
As the laws of physics take no prisoners, I approach this from a science perspective. What we call 'money' is merely a rather inaccurate proxy for access to energy and to the physical resources it unlocks. If governments print money, they merely devalue it in real terms. Humans have vastly exceeded their viable ecological niche - not just via climate disruption but in multiple other ways. Should we consider ditching dollars in favour of megawatts?
Dr. Tim Morgan is one of the few economists who is science-literate: 'There is a conceptual necessity to think in terms of two economies – the “real” economy of material products and services, and the parallel “financial” economy of money, transactions and credit.
Starting with the two economies conception, it will be readily apparent that money has no intrinsic worth – we can’t eat fiat money, heat our homes with precious metals, or power our cars using cryptos.'
'…growth in global material economic prosperity has been decelerating relentlessly towards contraction, a process that we are utterly powerless to prevent.
…there is, at the collective level, an absolute refusal to accept this reality, or to prepare to manage its consequences in practical and constructive ways.'
The laws of physics do not permit our current standard of living. In real terms, we are about to get poorer. All of us.
Given the plight of our species, a critical first step is to stop hero-worshipping the ultra-rich as 'role models', 'captain of industry' or wealth 'creators', and expose them as the parasites that they really are.
We smile condescendingly at cults such as Gloriavale or the Moonies, yet we all live WITHIN a cult: the dominant global religious delusion of endless GDP growth. It is now a death cult. Yet neither voters nor politicians question it. And of course challenging it is seen by the corporate mind as outrageous blasphemy.
It's hard to convince people to ditch cult beliefs, but we have to try.
“ If governments print money, they merely devalue it in real terms.” No. A currency-issuing government only spends one way: by directing its central bank to type numbers (central bank reserves) into the account of the payee’s private bank at the central bank. The private bank then types the same number into the payee’s account at that bank. Period.
The idea of government spending crowding out or driving up interest rates is neoclassical garbage that needs to be called out.
Your main point - that the real constraints are the physical resources/ environmental/ energy limits - is right. But understanding the difference between a currency user and a currency issuer and the implications thereof is very important. Which is why the wonderful Modern Money Lab folks do both - ecological economics and real macro/micro.
Brilliant! Precise and beautifully articulated. Using rhetoric to free speech from the confines of material reality, creating a narrative container and reinforcing it with metaphors that feel truthy. Then it is possible to position truth-tellers as the nonsensical ones. Also looking forward to June 26.
She claims what she is doing for children of beneficiaries is giving their parents assistance to find work . Yet , under her watch unemployment has significantly increased. She claims we must be fiscally prudent for the sake of future generations. Yet , she increased the deficit by giving taxbreaks to middle to upper earners , landlords , tobacco companies and fossil fuel companies.
I came across this as scrolling. It is from The Spectator Australia:
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon: "We don't think that's appropriate for New Zealand. We feel pretty strong about it. We've got a recovery underway ... and we just think a CGT being introduced to New Zealand now would be a wrecking ball for our economy."
Thanks Catherine. It’s not common sense but rhetorical nonsense. It’s about money, but who does it serve?
Is it as simple as people who resent paying taxes? The tax is theft libertarians or is it something else?
I’m not sure but in recent years the direct investment from ACC and superfund have taken a lot of assets out of public hands so there are less places for money to be invested unless it is property. Kainga Ora ( following what I would say is something similar to what Singapore did in rue 1960s ) had big plans to make better social housing and this has been destroyed due to investment property owners jealousy in the standards they built to undermining their investment. Now private rental providers will get more accommodation subsidies to pay them off.
People on the street are now being forced to move on from city centres , to anywhere other than here… with no additional support to actually help them to function off the streets ( there area multitude of reasons people exist on the streets and some of them can only function in there spaces)
“with Nicola Willis cast as a virtuous Eve who did not eat the apple, and those who oppose or dispute her narrative as profligate devil’s advocates”. Of course the apple was from the tree of “knowledge”, so… no Critical thinking., Questioning authority, Awareness of power and hierarchy.
Excellent analysis, thank you! People who deride Willis’ English degree as useless to her finance portfolio miss this - she tells a very good story.
This must become common knowledge, it must enter the public domain. I cannot read it all at one sitting because it is so exciting. I want to shout it from the skies. Why can't people see. So many of my friends only grasp the household analogy. I am looking forward to The Reality of Everything on June 26. I would hope Chris Hipkins and Barbara Edmunds can read and understand this. And Qiulae Wong.
Trying to teach politicians MMT will accomplish nothing. I can tell you that because i have friend called B J chippendale who wrote a book called making money real, and sent it to all major parties. He will send it to you for free if you ask him.
We must not be naive here. The people you want to teach politics to are the ones that care, which are the bottom 80 percent in wealth, typically. We have to rebuild the labour movement, and education will be a big part of that.
Banking politics was a huge part of the labour movement up until ww2 historically. The left used to be very well educated back then, mostly it was made from autodidacts.
Sorry for hijacking the comment section.
The 1936 labour government was a democratic revolution. The 1984 labour govt was a technocratic revolution. The 2026/27 revolution can only happen through a bottom up movement. In my humble opinion
Fair point, Douglas. There are any number of classic anecdotes of overseas politicians privately admitting the true money story but in the same breath saying they could never do the same in public. So I absolutely agree that education and movement should focus on the ground up. Which is what Steven Hail, the MMT podcast, and other wonderful folks are doing. However, I think it’s ’both and’. New Zealand politicians should be called out and schooled on this as well, preferably in public. The more noise, the better. I don’t think it can be overstated how backwards economic discourse is here, particularly in the academy (Morgan Edwards is a diamond in the rough). We don’t have anything like the proportion of recognised heterodox commentators or discourse as in Australia or the UK. That the above excellent piece has to be written under a pseudonym is further testament to my point.
I overstated my argument, but it is a big problem that people focus on apeaking truth to power rather than the poor. Thats the point i wanted to make.
I agree with your point as well. I will search out your friend's book. The irony is that the Government already creates money except it is hidden and not understood by the politicians. In the 1980's a Bill was passed that limited debt. I am not an economist and get excited by ideas and rush ahead. Morgan Edwards's PhD thesis into how Government finance works is enlightening. I have attended a seminar with Morgan outlining his study and also an online presentation.
And most impressive and informative article by Catherine – love the comments by Gaylene Middleton – they express my own sentiments extremely well. Congratulations to you both and may many readers explore the above, as it is essential reading.
Many thanks Judith. And I would love to claim responsibility for the article but it is in fact written by a colleague under the pseudonym Searchlight.
Thanks Catherine!
Superb, superb, superb. Brilliantly written Catherine.
Thank you James - I would love to claim credit for this article but it is actually written by a colleague under the pseudonym Searchlight.
It’s a great article Catherine. It is brimming with insight and the articulation is pitch-perfect. Aviv Ben-Yosef suggests, “In a psychological or cultural sense many CEOs become deeply institutionalized. The unrelenting pressure, hyper-structured routines, and isolation that come with the top job often condition leaders to conform perfectly to corporate norms, leading to a restricted ability to function outside their executive bubble.” I believe this conditioning is highly relevant to Luxon - 18 years at Unilever - and certainly Willis appears to toe a very tight corporate line. Their institutionalised behaviour enmeshed with their deeply ideological believes translated into storytelling (propaganda) is becoming existential to the New Zealand we once knew. Very sad. 😢
Well written! Good to find someone else in NZ who see the world through the same lens... I'm new here on substack, after preaching this gospel for 16 years to anyone that would listen!
There are a number of us floating around! And this will be a key theme in the upcoming Reality of Everything Symposium, see https://anuncommonland.substack.com/p/the-government-is-like-a-household/. On Substack, check out Morgan Edwards and Ganesh Ahirao (NZ) and of course Richard Murphy (UK).
So so good. Chilling and enraging and searingly accurate, to listen to them is to be gaslit
Thanks Catherine. I can see im not alone in looking forward to June 26. Including Morgan Edwards. But I have noticed a general awakening as to how broken our economic system has become. Starting with giving private banks the sole right to print money with no direction as to how that might benefit NZ Inc. Or not. I think our private debt is now running at 137% GDP. Over 90% of which is residential housing. A recovery in Nicola Noboats eyes would be for kiwis to start borrowing more money to inflate house prices again so we can spend the equity and "grow" the economy. The system in broken and the fact that our children are feeling the brunt of it is inexcusable. The fact that Nicola inc can so blithely write off our children's hunger and future with a sweep of her empty voice and promises for tomorrow is disgraceful.
Great Article Catherine. More people should read this. Can you send to newsroom, stuff, etc....??
As the laws of physics take no prisoners, I approach this from a science perspective. What we call 'money' is merely a rather inaccurate proxy for access to energy and to the physical resources it unlocks. If governments print money, they merely devalue it in real terms. Humans have vastly exceeded their viable ecological niche - not just via climate disruption but in multiple other ways. Should we consider ditching dollars in favour of megawatts?
Our current lifestyle was built using fossil fuels as our energy source. That growth era is now over, and 'sustainable' energy - while essential - will not replace it. https://phys.org/news/2022-04-halve-energy-climate-catastrophe.html
Dr. Tim Morgan is one of the few economists who is science-literate: 'There is a conceptual necessity to think in terms of two economies – the “real” economy of material products and services, and the parallel “financial” economy of money, transactions and credit.
Starting with the two economies conception, it will be readily apparent that money has no intrinsic worth – we can’t eat fiat money, heat our homes with precious metals, or power our cars using cryptos.'
https://surplusenergyeconomics.wordpress.com/2025/08/06/308-the-coming-deconstruction-of-global-money/
'…growth in global material economic prosperity has been decelerating relentlessly towards contraction, a process that we are utterly powerless to prevent.
…there is, at the collective level, an absolute refusal to accept this reality, or to prepare to manage its consequences in practical and constructive ways.'
https://surplusenergyeconomics.wordpress.com/2025/05/05/302-at-the-end-of-modernity-part-one/
The laws of physics do not permit our current standard of living. In real terms, we are about to get poorer. All of us.
Given the plight of our species, a critical first step is to stop hero-worshipping the ultra-rich as 'role models', 'captain of industry' or wealth 'creators', and expose them as the parasites that they really are.
We smile condescendingly at cults such as Gloriavale or the Moonies, yet we all live WITHIN a cult: the dominant global religious delusion of endless GDP growth. It is now a death cult. Yet neither voters nor politicians question it. And of course challenging it is seen by the corporate mind as outrageous blasphemy.
It's hard to convince people to ditch cult beliefs, but we have to try.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/597051/saturation-point-on-earth-s-resources-marks-end-of-gdp-growth-era-johan-rockstrom-says
“ If governments print money, they merely devalue it in real terms.” No. A currency-issuing government only spends one way: by directing its central bank to type numbers (central bank reserves) into the account of the payee’s private bank at the central bank. The private bank then types the same number into the payee’s account at that bank. Period.
The idea of government spending crowding out or driving up interest rates is neoclassical garbage that needs to be called out.
Your main point - that the real constraints are the physical resources/ environmental/ energy limits - is right. But understanding the difference between a currency user and a currency issuer and the implications thereof is very important. Which is why the wonderful Modern Money Lab folks do both - ecological economics and real macro/micro.
Excellent! Thanks ‘Searchlight’ for laying bare the nonsensical household analogy that is so often used to defend austerity.
Brilliant! Precise and beautifully articulated. Using rhetoric to free speech from the confines of material reality, creating a narrative container and reinforcing it with metaphors that feel truthy. Then it is possible to position truth-tellers as the nonsensical ones. Also looking forward to June 26.
"Metaphors that feel truthy" - love that! Yes see you on 26 June!
She claims what she is doing for children of beneficiaries is giving their parents assistance to find work . Yet , under her watch unemployment has significantly increased. She claims we must be fiscally prudent for the sake of future generations. Yet , she increased the deficit by giving taxbreaks to middle to upper earners , landlords , tobacco companies and fossil fuel companies.
I came across this as scrolling. It is from The Spectator Australia:
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon: "We don't think that's appropriate for New Zealand. We feel pretty strong about it. We've got a recovery underway ... and we just think a CGT being introduced to New Zealand now would be a wrecking ball for our economy."
Thanks Catherine. It’s not common sense but rhetorical nonsense. It’s about money, but who does it serve?
Is it as simple as people who resent paying taxes? The tax is theft libertarians or is it something else?
I’m not sure but in recent years the direct investment from ACC and superfund have taken a lot of assets out of public hands so there are less places for money to be invested unless it is property. Kainga Ora ( following what I would say is something similar to what Singapore did in rue 1960s ) had big plans to make better social housing and this has been destroyed due to investment property owners jealousy in the standards they built to undermining their investment. Now private rental providers will get more accommodation subsidies to pay them off.
People on the street are now being forced to move on from city centres , to anywhere other than here… with no additional support to actually help them to function off the streets ( there area multitude of reasons people exist on the streets and some of them can only function in there spaces)
Best I can say is it’s gross.
Let’s try to be less gross.
“with Nicola Willis cast as a virtuous Eve who did not eat the apple, and those who oppose or dispute her narrative as profligate devil’s advocates”. Of course the apple was from the tree of “knowledge”, so… no Critical thinking., Questioning authority, Awareness of power and hierarchy.