In short
Kwasi Kwarteng argues the UK is “Frozen Britain” due to high taxes, welfare expansion, and government spending that crowds out productivity and drives the middle class to emigrate; he also discusses fiat-currency risk and possible monetary-standard changes.
Guest backgrounds
Kwasi Kwarteng is a historian of money and former UK Chancellor. The episode includes promotional segments featuring Nigel Farage and sponsors (Refund Club; Direct Bullion; money.school), but no additional interview guests are named in the transcript.
Key claims
Labour (especially Rachel Reeves) is portrayed as unqualified and constrained by “backbenchers” and institutional forces, so taxes/spending will keep rising. Welfare is framed as unsustainably large (claims of ~4 million on benefits not required to seek work). He predicts an “exit tax” and more inheritance/pension pressure. He argues high debt makes inflation/fiat devaluation likely, and that gold/Bitcoin could gain.
Notable examples
comparison to 1970s UK tax rates; London vs Milan property price growth; Dubai/Hong Kong low-tax savings; car-finance misselling refunds (£829 average); gold price growth (700% over 20 years).
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOLessons from the Past: Comparing Eras
1:30 to 2:16
Exploring the economic similarities between now and the 1970s.
“The Chinese army is the largest army in the world.”
Youth Emigration: A Growing Concern
2:16 to 2:54
Examining why young people are leaving the UK for better opportunities.
“On unearned income, you were paying 97.5%, something crazy, 95%.”
London's Appeal Diminishing?
2:54 to 3:58
Analyzing the changing perceptions of London as a desirable place to live.
“What would push you over the edge to leave?”
Comparing Tax Strategies: Lessons from Dubai
3:58 to 6:20
Discussing low tax benefits seen in places like Dubai and their implications.
“And that's what they that's what they're doing.”
The Role of Leadership in Economic Policy
6:20 to 8:04
Debating the qualifications of political leaders and their economic strategies.
“Do you think Rachel Reeves is qualified to be the UK Chancellor?”
Tax Increases Under Labour: A Review
8:04 to 11:28
Analyzing the tax policies implemented by the Labour government since taking office.
“That that that I am worried about there's a there's a habit I think that But, you know, would anyone else in that party do anything differently?”
Concerns Over Future Taxation
11:28 to 12:54
Discussing the potential for new taxes and their implications for the future.
“I think they're going to raise taxes every single year they're in.”
Concerns Over Future Taxation
13:08 to 13:54
Discussing the potential for new taxes and their implications for the future.
“This recent budget should warn you that your pension is not safe and secure and they're coming for your inheritance.”
Government Spending and Economic Growth
14:24 to 18:58
Discussing the challenges of government spending cuts and economic strategies.
“you could probably get your costs down 10 or 15 % without anything radical.”
The Future of Currency Standards
18:59 to 24:18
Examining the potential shift back to gold or Bitcoin standards.
“So if you were given more time when you were chancellor, what would you have done?”
Show all 18 chapters
Inflation and Economic Reality
24:19 to 28:00
Discussing the implications of inflation on debt and economic growth.
“But if you look at gold, that was 2 ,500 years.”
Inflation and Economic Growth: A Historical Perspective
28:00 to 33:30
Learn how historical economic contexts challenge modern beliefs about inflation and growth.
“Because, yeah, because his great-grandfather, whoever it was, did a deal where we could get the whole shop for 8 ,000 pounds a year, which in 1900 was amazing.”
The Role of Media and Government in Society
34:03 to 42:01
Explore the critique of media bias and the perception of government roles in the economy.
“This is slightly off topic, but I think it's a relevant point.”
The Historical Context of State Planning
42:01 to 44:21
Discussing the shift in British ideology from capitalism to socialism post-World War II.
“And I remember him saying, we were in some debate, I can't remember if it was a literary festival or something, you know, I was a young Tory MP, he was getting on.”
Tax Strategies for Economic Growth
44:22 to 50:20
Exploring the importance of cutting spending and taxes, especially corporation tax, for growth.
“So you've said cut spending is important.”
The Political Landscape and Nigel Farage
50:21 to 52:58
Analyzing the potential impact of Nigel Farage and the dynamics of forming a new political party.
“And that's why you get these student politicians, essentially.”
Advice from Experience: Lessons from Leadership
52:59 to 56:00
Reflecting on lessons learned from being in leadership positions and the importance of pacing oneself.
“And he deliberately didn't, because he had a reform party actually in 2000.”
Reflections on Political Advice and Tax Strategy
56:00 to 1:01:25
Kwasi Kwarteng reflects on his political career, offering personal advice and discussing tax reforms needed for the UK.
“I speak to him a lot, and I want to feel that I can put some input into the...”
Transcript
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1:21If you tax people enough, they will leave. If you could rewind the clock, Quasi, and go back just before you were UK Chancellor, what advice would you give to yourself? The Chinese army is the largest army in the world. Their army is two million people. We've got twice as many on benefits. It's kind of crazy, OK? How do we reverse all the damage done? They've got to deal with spending. Do you think Rachel Reeves is qualified? I think she's potentially a fool guy. She lied about her CV. That to me is serious. So we invented capitalism and we're going to go down with socialism. If the left get in, they could do a lot of damage.
1:53The dollar in 2020 is worth 25 % more than it is today. That's 5 % depreciation every year. I mean, that's extraordinary. And if Nigel got in and he called you up, he's like, quasi, I'm being my chancellor. In all candor.
2:07How bad is the state of the UK right now compared to what you've seen? So I think it's very similar to where we were in the 70s, the 1970s. And in those days, so in some ways, we're better in that the income tax in those days was top rate was 83 % on earned income. On unearned income, you were paying 97.5%, something crazy, 95%. We're not there now, but a lot of the dynamics are the same. You know, a lot of young people are leaving the country. You will have friends, you will have relatives in their 20s and 30s who are looking to emigrate. Many of them won't come back. And that's precisely because they just see there aren't the opportunities here.
2:49And I think the 70s was the last time that that was the case. What would push you over the edge to leave? To leave the country? Yeah. I've said in all candor, and I know we're among friends, I've said if the left get in in 2029, whatever the election is, that is a big, you know, people have to ask serious questions. Because you will have had, you'll have another three years from where we are, three and a half years and then potentially another five um on top of that where i think a look they could do a lot of damage so when we were having lunch the last time you said 15 years ago everyone was coming to london it was the place it was it was yeah and now it feels like they're all going the other way yeah i mean i think so london has great strengths okay it's got the english language it's got restaurants theater whatever culture you want is here and a lot of you know rich foreigners say to me, you know, I would pay more to stay in London, as opposed to go to Milan or Dubai, wherever else.
3:51But there comes a limit. You know, if you increase taxes enough, people will leave. And that's what they that's what they're doing. And it's not just about, you know, mansion taxes, or, you know, the income tax or anything like that, or capital tax, it's the whole culture. You know, there's an anti-wealth, Mrs. Stach used to talk about the culture of envy. You know, that is rearing its head now. And people just, you know, who are successful don't feel welcome here. And I think that's a big problem. It's not just about the headline rates or the actual tax. It's about the environment, the atmosphere, which is not very conducive to investment and wealth creation.
4:33Did you see the meme going around, Dubai Property Real Estate Agent of the Year, Rachel. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've heard a version of that with Milan. But you look at Milan. You look at Milan. I mean, I looked at, you know, obviously I did some preparation before I came here, not too much. But you look at Milan. I mean, the property prices since 2019 have gone up about 40 % there. Wow. And in London, about 7%, 8%. So it's a massive difference. And that's because of the tax of the tax issue 100 % and a lot of people you know They like Milan, but they don't you know, there's a lot of bureaucracy that ain't speak Italian, you know They're not the culture is different And they find London a lot more congenial, but actually if you tax people enough they will leave Do you think there's things we can learn from Dubai a lot people tend to be going there?
5:25Yeah So I think what I love about Dubai and Hong Kong in the old days is they had very low taxes. And what low taxes mean is you can actually save money. You can actually build capital. You know, if the state takes 50 % of your income, you don't have to be an Einstein. You know, you've got to work so long, even just to get savings. Whereas I knew people back in the day, and this is when, you know, we were growing as an economy. They go to Dubai. They work there maybe four years. and they saved a pot of money because they were being taxed at 9%. And then they could buy a flat or a house in the UK.
5:59A lot of people used to do that. And if you're young, you know, in your late 20s, early 30s, that's a great advantage in life to be able to come back to the UK age 30 or 32 and buy a house. How brilliant is that? And going to a low-tax jurisdiction allows people, obviously, to save a lot more money far more quickly. And that's a good thing. Yeah. Yeah. Do you think Rachel Reeves is qualified to be the UK Chancellor? Well, look, I mean, who's qualified? I think Rachel, so having been there, I actually feel sorry for her. And I said that people say, really? And I, you know, the idea that there's some magical Labour Chancellor waiting in the wings, they would do exactly what she's doing.
6:39They would do exactly what she's doing. So, you know, whether it's Rachel from accounts or whatever you want to call her, or Wes Streeting or Angela Raining or any of these people, The idea that they're going to do different things is completely for the birds. Whoever is in this Labour government doing that job would have done exactly what she's done. So she's not really pulling any strings? I don't think she's potentially a fool guy. But if you look to the news over the summer, it was all about how Number 10 had appointed Minouche Shafiq, who ran Columbia University. She's in the economic team.
7:15They put Torsten Bell. who, I mean, he's the mansion tax guru. He used to run a think tank. They put him in the treasury. The Labour backbenchers are cracking the whip as well. They didn't do welfare, the welfare reforms. You've got the OBR. So the idea that this lady who's sitting in number 11 has full autonomy is for the birds. There's a whole bunch of other interests that are driving this thing. So is she qualified? She lied about her CV, which I think is terrible But but actually she keep her job then yeah, so the serious thing, you know When she said she'd done 10 years the Bank of England and she'd done six and then she said she was an economist at HBOS And wasn't she was some sort of bank official That to me is serious because actually a lot of people in the private sector would have been fired for a lot less That that that I am worried about there's a there's a habit I think that But, you know, would anyone else in that party do anything differently?
8:19I don't think so. So apparently Labour have now raised taxes by about 70 billion. Yeah, about that. So look, what happened in two years? Well, barely in 18 months, actually. They got in. So rewind the clock. And it's incredible how much has happened in a relatively short time. The election was on the 4th of July. Yeah, it was the 4th of July. Independence Day. 4th of July 2024. That isn't that long ago. It's about, what, 16 months? So they get in in July. They say, oh, the evil Tories left us with a 22 billion black hole. Half of that was the trade union deal. Because if you remember, they whacked up train drivers pay.
9:00They did a deal with nurses. They did a deal with doctors. So half of the 22 billion black hole was the public sector deal, the pay deals that they did. So it was 22 billion. We can test the figure, but give them the 22 billion. Then in November last year, they raised taxes. I remember opening up the times 35 billion increase. It wasn't 35 billion, it was 40 billion. They raised 40 billion in taxes last year. And 25 billion of that, you know, 5, 8, 60 % was all on national insurance for employers, people like you, Rob. You know, you collectively paid 25 billion of that 40 billion. And she said at the time, You know, the evil Tories left such a mess.
9:43This is a stabilizing budget. I won't come back for more She pretty much said that this is a one-off 40 billion raise and of course Yesterday, what was it? 26 billion. Some people say it's towards 30 looking at the fine print So as you say you're right, it's at least 66 maybe up to 70 billion in two budgets And that's a huge amount of money and a lot of that is going to deal with with welfare So 26 billion if you look at the thrash thresholds, I think it's roughly about 8 billion and the eight breaks down beautifully 3 billion is scrapping the cap on to two child The benefits for two children so that you can have more if you have more children you get benefits That's 3 billion and 5 billion was the welfare reform that they didn't get through so the entire income tax Increase in terms of freezing the threshold is going to to welfare essentially How does that make you feel?
10:41I'm concerned because I think, actually my biggest fear is that they get back in. And it won't be the Labour Party. It'll be a coalition of the left. Labour, the Greens, maybe a bit of Lib Dem in there. SNP, Plaid might have four or five, who knows. That's my biggest fear. Because then you'll get a much more left-wing government than if you can imagine it, you have today. That's my biggest fear. But we've got to just accept the fact they're going to be running the country for another three years. My real fear also is that in that time, we've looked at their first two budgets. They've raised$40 billion the first time.
11:21They raised$26 billion in tax this year. They've got another three years of budgets. And do I think they're suddenly going to balance the books and not raise taxes? No, I don't. I think they're going to raise taxes every single year they're in. And that frightens me. what's the likelihood now with all the millionaires leaving of an exit tax or taxing on worldwide income so the exit tax i think is definitely on the cards because they leaked it do you remember it was in the paper and so if it's in the paper it's come from somewhere it's not journalists just making it up and the journalists would have been briefed by either someone within the labor party or someone within the treasury so the fact that it was even in the paper suggests to me that they're looking at that because otherwise why would they why would that be written about um so and i think it's an exit tax not just a desperate last it's a desperate loss so i think and i said earlier that the way i see the dynamics of this parliament is the fractured left will pull labor to the left because they'll realize at some point the only way they've got a chance is by appealing to the Greens, the SNP in Scotland, Plaid in Wales, the Islamic Gaza Independence Party, whoever, Corbyn, the only way they can get back is by appealing to as many of those people as possible, getting as many of those people to vote Labour.
12:43And the way you do that is you throw red meat to the crocodile. And an exit tax might be a bit of red meat. They've brought in the mansion tax. They could increase that. I didn't think they'd do that this year. I thought that would be a desperate last minute. But because they couldn't raise income tax and all the rest, they thought, OK, we'll do that. They can do this stuff. If they're doing badly enough in the polls and they want to rally the left, they can do all of this sort of thing. This recent budget should warn you that your pension is not safe and secure and they're coming for your inheritance.
13:15Do you even know how much is in your pension or where your pension is invested? Add to this the recent inheritance tax grab on your pensions and the risk of a market crash. You probably didn't know this, and I didn't until recently, but physical gold can be added to your pension pot. Gold is inheritance tax-free and has grown 700 % in the last 20 years. You probably know from my content I'm investing heavily in silver and gold, and that's why I've partnered with Direct Bullion. Myself and Nigel Farage are brand ambassadors, and Direct Bullion can help you with gold to protect and grow your pension.
13:46I buy my gold and silver from Direct Bullion, and I don't earn any money on any purchases of gold or silver if you buy direct from Direct Bullion. So if you go to robmore.directbullion.com, you can get a great price on your silver and gold, and you can get the pension gold investing guide completely for free. As you know, I don't do many strategic partnerships. And when I do, I do them with people who are credible, who've been doing it a long time, who invest in things that I invest in too. And gold and silver's going wild. I'm investing heavily in gold and silver and I recommend you check out robmoore.directbullion.com If you own a company and you look at your management accounts you could probably get your costs down 10 or 15 % without anything radical.
14:34I think above 20 you're going to have to do some radical things. So a saving of 10 to 15 % of the economy is what 150 50 plus billion? Yeah, that's on there. Why do they refuse to make any cuts? Do you know what? I made exactly the, I remember when I became chancellor, I thought we were spending then about a trillion pounds in the budget three years ago, four years ago. So do you think it's probably more now? Yeah, it's about 1.2 trillion, something like that. It's gone. So we're spending a trillion pounds. I thought, okay, 5 % of a trillion is 50 billion. Okay. And as you said, any one of you here running a business or even on your personal finances, you could probably take 5 % of your costs down without too much stress.
15:18Yeah. So I made exactly the same point that you did mentally. Why can't the government do that? You know, you should be able to save 50 billion. And actually, the reason why you can't do that, or it's hard to do that, you could if you really wanted to, is all the interest groups. Every single interest group there is, rightly, they're going to say, well, where are you going to cut? No, we're not going to take a cut. We're not going to take a pay cut. We don't want our benefits cut. We don't want this cut. And of course they're going to say that. And you need a government that's strong enough and believes in itself enough and has got a mandate, which Labour did.
15:55They got a majority of 160, 170, to say, actually, we've got to reduce the spending. You've got to be tough. And that is the thing that nobody in, well, not for a very long time, has been prepared actually to do, to reduce spending. And not reduce spending, just slow the increase of spending. Because it's just simple maths. If you can grow the economy faster than your increase in spending, happy days. But if your increase in spending is faster than you can grow the economy, that's not sustainable in the long run. Yeah. Okay. So what can we do to grow the economy? What should we do? So I think we've got to, as a country, I keep coming back to this.
16:35I think they've got to deal with spending. Because what's happening now is that the spending tail, if you want to put it that way, is wagging the dog of national productivity in the economy. And it's all driven by spending. You know, I don't think Rachel Reeves wanted to increase taxes. It's just that, you know, she's got these backbenchers who won't let her reduce spending. And in order to pay for it, she thinks she has to, you know, clubber the rich in inverted commas. And it's madness, but that's what's driving all of this. You know, you've got 4 million people on benefits, in this country.
17:09There are no sanctions. They don't have to look for work. You've got about 9 million on benefits, but at least 5 million of them have to normally, you know, go out and look for work. 4 million, they just get the benefits willy-nilly. And, you know, in a country of 70 million, which we are now, adult population, I don't know, 45, 50 million, 4 million people receiving benefits is a hell of a lot. Isn't it quite a high percentage of the people who can work? Yeah, it is. It's a very high percentage. And in terms of I did this sort of experiment. I like thinking in terms of concrete examples. The Chinese army is the largest army in the world.
17:44They've got a billion and a half people. Their army is 2 million people. It's the largest army in the world. We've got twice as many on benefits with 70 million people.
17:58It's kind of crazy. So I think it's a real problem. But check those figures. The army might be 2.5 million, but it's not more than that. The figures vary. But we've got almost twice as many, if not twice as many people, as the Chinese army on benefits. And a fraction. A fraction of the population. That's right. And that is the largest army in the world, the largest of any army. Anyway, just ponder that. And that's how this thing has got out of control. And it's tough. It's very hard. And unless people grapple with it. And to be fair to Labour, I mean, I don't like being fair to them, But to be fair, I remember ministers.
18:37I mean, I do GMB, Good Morning Britain, every week. And I remember ministers coming on that program saying, this is unsustainable. When they were trying to prepare people for the welfare reforms that were going to save the$5 billion, Darren Jones and others said, this is unsustainable. Of course, they don't say that now because they've just gone with the flow. But they were right to say that we can't sustain this. So if you were given more time when you were chancellor, what would you have done? So I think where we went wrong, and I've said this to Liz, I've said this to other people, is if they're going to be, if you're going to be unpopular, you've got to try and be unpopular doing the right thing.
19:11Okay. And I think grappling with, it's not just about benefits. It's about the whole gamut of government, the waste, all of that. Unless you grapple with that, and it's going to be hard. I don't see how you can reform this. because the logic of the OBR and all of that is that, you know, you've got a lump of expenditure, which you have to cover, and you've got to raise taxes. And we tried to reduce taxes, but the markets were like, well, who's going to pay for all of this stuff? That's why they freaked out. And also because we rolled it out very quickly. But I think that unless you actually grapple with expenditure, it's very difficult to see how you get off this, you know, this roller coaster.
19:53If you look at the net debt to GDP ratios, So the actual indebtedness, just look at the G7. Most of those countries, certainly the US, certainly France, certainly Italy, certainly Japan. So that's four of them. All four of those are running debt to GDP of more than 100%. So the debt is more than the size of the economy. In our country, it's about 95, 96%. And so you're living in a world where there's more and more indebtedness. That indebtedness has gone up sharply. In 2005, when I first ran for parliament, the debt to GDP in this country was 36%, 37%. Wow. You can't believe it. You cannot believe it.
20:39And so we've got this massive increase in debt. And ultimately, if you're very indebted, and no one will say this because they can't say it, But inflation works in your favor. Yeah. OK, so if you've got a massive debt, a little bit of inflation kind of chips away at that. So one has to always interrogate when they say we're going to deal with inflation. You've always got to slightly interrogate that. Because if you're a debtor, inflation can work in your favor. The other thing, particularly in the US, that they don't want to do, you've got massive debt, massive amounts of debt. The interest rate becomes critically important at that point.
21:17So you want to lower the interest rates as much as possible. And what the Fed has done in the past and could do again is essentially print money to buy bonds. And how that works is that, obviously, if you buy bonds, that puts up the price of bonds, and that means the interest rate goes down. It's like a seesaw. So they're just lending money to themselves. That's right. So when interest rates go up, bond prices fall. And that's what did for our government. That's what did for me, actually, with the LDIs. When interest rates go up, bond prices fall. When bond prices rise, interest rates fall. So what they do is they buy lots of bonds to bid up the price of bonds, and that lowers the interest rate.
22:03So you're essentially, at that point, printing money. QE is a version of that. Contestive easing is a version of that. Some of the economists talk about fiscal repression. You're forcing investors in your paper to accept lower interest rates. And in that environment, look at the price of gold. It's gone up 50 % this year because people are worried about all this indebtedness being paid for finance by the printing press, essentially. so looking in the next 5-10 years I think there is a high risk actually of paper currencies fiat money really losing its value and I'm not just saying that in the future if you look at the last 5 years I was just stunned about this the dollar in 2020 I mean you can't remember 1978 but you can remember 2020 I think
23:00we could all remember 2020 that wasn't that long ago the dollar in 2020 is worth 25 percent more than it is today so so what you could buy for a dollar in 2020 you have to pay a dollar 25 today so that's you know in straight line terms that's five percent depreciation every year roughly for five years i mean that's extraordinary and do i think that's going to stop i don't know Probably not it could do they could decide right we're gonna balance the books and we're gonna be very disciplined But I wouldn't bet on it and clearly the market and others are buying some of them are buying cryptocurrencies Bitcoin many people are buying gold to protect their wealth against this depreciation So a lot of people then say that they think maybe this is the beginning of the end of fiat currency.
23:51And maybe a gold standard, or even now people are talking about a Bitcoin standard needing to come back. Now, you're a historian of money, I've studied the history of money. This is not abnormal. Currencies do not last thousands of years. I think the average is 65 or 70 years a currency lasts. So this can't go on forever, where in order to maintain something, you have to keep getting into debt. So do you think we could go back to a gold or a Bitcoin standard? Would that be a good thing? We could do a blended version of it. And what people don't, when we talk about history and dates, what people don't realize is that this paper money fiat currency standard, for a better phrase, has only really been around since 1971, which is a bit before I was born, I take it.
24:35But if you look at gold, that was 2 ,500 years. for two and a half thousand years you know the persian empire the athenian empire the roman empire they all had gold the british empire they all use gold and then we've had this 54 year 55 year period where everything's on paper so do i think paper currency is going to last 2 000 years they're not no way there's no way that's going to happen so what the transition is it might be a version of some sort of gold and bitcoin standard could be a blended version of it and this was discussed in the 40s you know they because they were breton woods people like kane said why don't we have a blended currency but they went back to gold but there were there's always been talk about some kind of monetary standard that can hold its value uh better uh frankly than than paper money which is what we have now but then the downside of that a lot of people don't understand that you need a bit of inflation to have economic growth don't you well so there's a great book Otherwise people don't because the problem with a big was I to interrupt the problem with a Bitcoin standard if Bitcoin is Deflationary is no one's gonna spend the money.
25:41They're just gonna hoard it I don't think so. I mean a lot of things so a lot of the things that we buy are actually in a cycle of deflation So a flat-screen TV Relatively is just just buy the bigger one. Yeah, yeah, they can do that But actually for a lot of the things that we buy we see deflation and deflation is good because it means that you're spending less money to buy exactly what you did before. I mean, the classic example of this is a computer. If you wanted to buy a computer in 1960, that would have cost you maybe$10 million, something like that, crazy. But of course, over time, through innovation and technology, the cost of a computer with far more capacity has gone down.
26:19So deflation, yes and no. It's not universally a bad thing. It can actually presage innovation and all the rest of it. But in terms of money, money needs to have some inflation. surely for people to be encouraged to spend it. No, so I don't agree with that. I mean, I think that's very much a post-war mentality. You know, if you look at the classical gold standard, which, you know, between about 17, 17, 17, 15, something like that, 17, 17, prices were actually very stable, very stable. And there's a great broadcast, I think it might even be on YouTube, but John Maynard Keynes in 1930, talking about the Depression.
26:58And he said, you know, A bushel of wheat in Liverpool sold last week for a price lower than any time since the reign of Charles II. So this is 1930. And he's saying that for the last, you know, a bushel of wheat sold in Liverpool for a price lower than it had done for 200 and whatever years. That's the sort of world they were living in. And you just need to read, you know, look at period adaptations of Trollope and Dickens and all those writers. and you don't have to read them very much to see that their view of money was basically that it was a standard value. I'll tell you one anecdote. There's Cadogan Square, there's not Cadogan, Sloan Square, the Cadogan family.
27:41There's, what is it? Is that Peter Jones? Does anyone know the Peter Jones there at the top? I had a friend who was the manager there 25 years ago and the thing was that every year she was in negotiation with Lord Cadogan about the ground rent. And I'm like, why is he? Because, yeah, because his great-grandfather, whoever it was, did a deal where we could get the whole shop for 8 ,000 pounds a year, which in 1900 was amazing. And he just kept it the same. But, of course, in 1900, they didn't realize inflation was going to completely rip up those values. And, of course, this guy is saying, well, we've got to renegotiate this.
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28:21He goes, no, we're getting it for 8 grand a year. That's what your granddaddy agreed to. so this this idea that inflation is inevitable and is always going to it's a it's a relatively modern one but they could grow the economy when with with a solid um price uh a stable price but with all this increased debt surely they're not going to be able to control inflation so so you're right the the world we're in now because we've got paper currencies um fiat money is one where we print more money and the value of the currency goes down um and that that ratchet seems pretty unavoidable to me particularly at the level of indebtedness but all i was questioning was this idea that you can have economic growth you can't have economic growth without inflation right which which is clearly wrong because they they grew the economy in the 19th century it's just that the standard of value was was the same so you're looking at productivity you're not looking at right i say yeah should i mean yeah because i suppose on the other side of the argument if you earn a pound, you feel like it's your right that that pound is still worth a pound next year and the year after and the year after.
29:26That's right. And the year after. That's right. And that was the understanding. I mean, you look at interest rates, for example. You know, the old bank rate was 5%. And for most of the 19th century, it was around that. And that was a stable money standard. For about 75 years, the bank rate was 5%. And they lived in that world. They could still make money. They could still invest. They could innovate. They could do all those things. They invented things. They invented steam. They invented a whole bunch of stuff. But they didn't need inflation to grow their economy. They innovated and were more productive.
30:03Are the middle classes now the new working class under Labour? 100%. 100%. Because actually, you look at the, again, history. I mean, that's my bread and butter. The whole concept of working class was people who were working. because in those days, they didn't have a welfare state. It was tough. And people worked. And they worked until they dropped dead, pretty much. And it was only when we brought in the old age pension in 1909. And a trivia question. What was the age at which we brought in the old age pension in 1909, 110 years ago? What? Any, any, any, any? I'm going to go younger than 55. It was 70.
30:43It was 70. The life expectancy wasn't 70. Exactly, exactly. Because those Edwardian parliamentarians, they weren't thick. They said, okay, we're going to bring in a pension. It was at 70. That's how Mark would do it. And your life expectancy at 70 was about 18 months. It's like a pat on the back. Here's a turkey for Christmas. Well done, mate. And, you know, you see your way. And what people like me did over the last, over 100 years was we lowered it. So it went down to 65 in, I think, 1928. And then in 1948, the Labour government said, okay, we'll have 60 for women, because it was the same. And also in those days, it wasn't, you know, women in the workplace was not so common, but they brought it down.
31:27And we basically lowered that pension age, and now it's going up again. But it's not as high as it was 110 years ago. Wow. I knew people would go lower, but actually it's extraordinary. Yeah. And Victorian Edwardian Britain, you know, they were very, I imagine there's people like my friend Jacob Rees-Mogg, very tough financiers, you know, and they weren't going to give much away. And that was the pension age. So why are the middle class now being pulled into the working class? So essentially, so you've got a welfare state that we talked about with its issues. You've got a culture where not just one person doesn't work ever.
32:04You've got two or three generations of people who are living on the welfare state. And they're not working class people. They're not working. I mean, they might, you know, the socioeconomic thesis be described as working class, but they're not actually working class. They're not working. And the people who are working and paying taxes are the middle stratum of society. The really rich can go off and do whatever they want. But that whole, I'd say between about 40 grand and half a million, something like that, that's where most of the taxes are extracted. And all of those people work, essentially.
32:41And is it things like fiscal drag and inflation that pulls people down into working class as well? Yeah. So I think fiscal drag is huge. So, you know, if you're earning, you know, my old constituency, just outside London, people earning 70, 80 grand a year, good wage, but they're not rich, but they were paying, you know, easily paying the top rate, 40%. And you know, they're commuting, their commuting costs are very high. using the train. And those are working people. You know, they're the middle class working people. So that's a very interesting question. And I think there's a lot to be said for that.
33:17A lot to be said for that. The 4 million people on benefits who don't have to look for a job, they're not working class. They're not working. Silver has crashed. It's back to its price in 1974. And I'm going to buy more. And if you'd like to learn how to invest and build multiple streams of recurring income, I recommend you join money.school. Money.school is my global financial education platform to help as many people on this planet get better financial knowledge. For less than four Starbucks coffees a month, there are hundreds of hours of courses, resources, and masterclasses going back a decade to teach how to make, manage, and multiply money and gain financial freedom.
33:54So join thousands of other money and freedom seekers on the link money.school and start today your journey to financial freedom and more money. This is slightly off topic, but I think it's a relevant point. Media in the UK, for example, the BBC, and obviously this thing with Donald Trump suing them for quite an outrageous piece of propaganda, almost, I think. What is the media like? And has the media lost the country. Do we not believe in the media? So look, I think with the B, I mean, Andrew Marr said it. He didn't, you know, he didn't hide the fact, he believes, and you can look at the quote, the BBC should be a progressive, you know, socially progressive, enlightened social Democrat organization.
34:45I don't think he used the word social Democrat, but if you read what he says, that's exactly, you know, he didn't even hide it. He says, you know, we should be for the underdog. We should be for, you know, ethnic minorities. We should be and that's a view that you know, that's fine if he has that but it's not the job of the that's not what the Charter says And I think a lot of people in the BBC and also actually in the civil service Do think that their job is to is to act as actors kind of watchdogs Against you know, people like me trying to try to cut benefits They genuinely think I'm a civil servant and my job is to protect the most vulnerable against, you know, right-wing governments.
35:25But that isn't the job description. But a lot of them take on a moral purpose. And the other thing you ought to remember, many of you, I suspect, aren't civil servants in this room. But the way it's structured, the way the civil servants is structured is that you might, let's say you hire in the Treasury 1 ,000 graduates or 500, whatever. A proportion of them, maybe half, after three years are going to leave. So it's a very sharp pyramid and the ones that leave tend to get jobs either in the Bank of England or the private sector The ones that go to the Bank of England After three or four years might go into JP Morgan or whoever the point is that graduating class ten years down the line is Probably a third of what it was and who do you think stays there?
36:13The people who stay are probably people who haven't got the opportunity to get another job for whatever reason because they're not performing or they're not ambitious. And all they're ideologically committed to the public service, which is great. But that comes with its own biases and interests. So a lot of the time they're regulating things that they don't really have an interest in. So when I look at Treasury saying, oh, we're gonna, we're gonna, you know, get rid of inheritance tax loopholes. And we're gonna put inheritance tax on farms. I guarantee none of those people have ever worked on a farm, or other kids are farmers.
36:48They're They're legislating about stuff they don't understand, fundamentally. And that's because of the culture which they subscribe to. It's not their fault, but that's just the environment of the civil service. So my view is, and I remember when I was Secretary of State, I was 45 when I was Secretary of State. I remember thinking, my equivalent, a 45-year-old who's been here 20, 25 years since leaving school or university, is probably got a certain worldview that won't necessarily be shared by people in this room. Let me put it up. I.e. Marxist. They could be Marxist. They could be eco-warrior zealots.
37:25They could be, you know, really have a social, which is good, you know, social conscience. They're driven by things that, you know, a lot of business people are motivated by, but not to the point that they're going to devote their whole life to being in the transport department, okay? I had a school friend, and I went up to the transport department, and I said, Angus. I hadn't seen him for about 20 years, 25 years. I said, Angus, what are you doing? He said, oh, I work in the Department of Transport. I thought, that's amazing. And how long have you been doing this job? Oh, 22 years. I'm like, what?
37:55You've been here? No, quasi not at this desk. I was over there. For 19. And that, you know, and he's a good guy and he's smart, but that's what, that's, he's an official to his fingertips. And all I'm saying is that the way they think, what they think of their responsibilities is completely different to someone in the private sector. And it's the job of the minister to try and mould them and shape them to drive what the government's doing. And I don't think we do enough of that as a political culture. We let them just run it. So what I can't get my head around is I try and be open-minded, but I can't understand how any government can say things like government money or government funded.
38:41And it seems to be a Marxist view or a left view that the government generates money. That's what they do, yeah. How do they generate money? They take it off producers. They take it off the private sector. So there was the best illustration of that kind of mindset. I remember when Obama ran for president in 2008 the first time. And he was this great, you know, shining sort of figure. And he was on the left. And there was a guy called Joe the Plumber. Okay, Joe the Plumber, and he became this sort of Republican icon. And Joe the Plumber was talking about tax cuts and all the rest of it. And Obama just said, well, you know, you think you're a businessman, Joe the Plumber or whoever.
39:21It's like, yeah, but who made the roads? Who pays for the schools that your kids go to? Who, you know, provides the infrastructure, the support for your business? He doesn't think of business people being innovators or entrepreneurs. He basically thinks that the state, the government, enables you and everyone in this room to do whatever business they do. I mean, it's crazy, but that was very much, when I saw him say that, I said, I totally get their mindset. They think government comes first and that everything else that anyone does is almost like a, not a blessing, but it's almost like a gift that the government, with the government money, is giving to entrepreneurs and innovators, which is completely insane.
40:06It's the other way around. It's actual private enterprise that's providing money for the government to do whatever it is. Well, the private enterprise built the roads contracted by the government. That's right. So even that, but the reason I mention that is I remember watching it on television thinking, just, you know, the scales dropped from my eyes. I said, this guy genuinely believes that the government is why we have all these businesses and why we have a good private enterprise system. He genuinely believes that. And the other person who believed that was Gordon Brown. He was very similar.
40:37He thought the state was a great enabling force and allowed all these people, you, me, and everybody else, to do whatever it is we wanted to do. I mean, I get that it's a valuable service if run well, but how can someone either be so ignorant or so arrogant to think that it is the creator? Yeah, they do. They think... How? They think, and I think it's because they don't know business. They don't have anyone in their family that has ever been in business. You know, they can be academics, Gordon Brown, you know, his father was a minister in the church. Obama had, you know, whatever background he had.
41:16The thinking is they don't understand private enterprise. And they think somehow that the state was always there and that private enterprise is something that just, you know, the state allows through its benevolence. But that's obviously complete nonsense because you look at it privately. In the 19th century, the state barely existed. Spending to GDP was like 5 % or something. There was a free enterprise system. But they don't think of it like that. And so far they do think like that. They think that was bad. And they think now we're progressive. We've got more state. I remember I had a debate with, I was literally like this with Tony Benn.
41:58Does anyone remember Tony Benn? Yeah, everyone does. We're all old. And I remember him saying, we were in some debate, I can't remember if it was a literary festival or something, you know, I was a young Tory MP, he was getting on. And he basically said, well, look at the war, you know, the state, we won the war through state planning. So why can't we win the peace through state planning? And I thought, oh, my God, I can totally see how he thinks like that. Because he thinks, well, you know, everything should be like on a wartime footing where the state commandeers everything. and it's bonkers but that was very much and i think i think we talk about history but i think the world wars did change britain and a lot of people like tony bent coming out of world war ii certainly thought well we all club together the state run everything to defeat hitler so why can't the state run everything forever um and i think that's very wrong but i can see how this thinking to answer your question uh comes comes about and i think there are historic reasons in this country why we've gone left quite severely.
42:59Whereas we invented capitalism, Adam Smith, trading, all of that stuff. That was here before anywhere else, the Industrial Revolution. But we've become very socialistic. So we're going to be like Kodak who invented digital photography and then went fast because they didn't do digital photography. So we invented capitalism and we're going to go down with socialism. Yeah, I mean, that's a risk. I actually am more optimistic. It's a risk? Yeah, I think I'm more optimistic. I think fundamentally... No, you're not. We had a chat in the hallway. No, no, no. The first thing you shook my hand and you said, this is socialism.
43:32True or true? Yeah, I did say that. But I don't think the socialism is forever. I think fundamentally... And I've said this before in these gatherings with you. I think fundamentally, Britain is about risk-taking and entrepreneurship. I mean, everyone in this room, you know, we've all grown up here and you've all plotted different paths in terms of entrepreneurship. There are lots of countries where that doesn't happen. They do look to the state or they do look to the military or whatever for employment. But actually, you know, we've got this individuality. We still have an individualistic culture.
44:05We're mavericks. We want to try different things out. We don't want to be told what to do. I still think that that's a fundamental thing. It might be eroding, but I think in the end that will kick in and prevent mass socialism being adopted. But who knows? Yeah. Yeah. So you've said cut spending is important. Very. Put that to the side. What else can we do to get growth? So once you've cut spending, then you can start thinking about cutting taxes. And you've got to work out which taxes are the best ones to reduce. And I think, for me, corporation tax is something that I would very much focus on.
44:46And that was why I backed Liz Truss, actually. because we were going to increase corporation tax from 19%, which was universally very competitive, to 25%. And if we just stuck to that, you know, things might have been different. But that, to me, was a very fundamental incentive. You know, lots of you, I mean, I also construct my affairs around a company. And actually, it's nicer to be able to pay even 25 % than 45 % on income. and and you know greens will say well they should equalize the two but then you're going to kill any incentive for anyone to to form a company so corporation tax is very important i think business rates and i think they have tinkered around with them um to give them some credit uh i think business rates are very important as in reduce them yeah yeah yeah and i think i think we've got to think about incentivizing investment income tax is important and i want to reduce that but if i had to choose one or the other I would look at capital taxes on well or the corporations uh on investment even dividends that sort of thing investment income investment opportunity yeah should be encouraged why in the UK do we not just tax businesses a lot but the thresholds are so low they're very low like in America and Dubai it's hundreds of thousands before you get anywhere near any top brackets.
46:13That's right. As I said, they introduce things very lightly, and then all of a sudden the thresholds just stay forever, and more and more people pay more and more. You look at inheritance tax, very low levels. I mean, in America, I think it's$12 million. So anything up to$12 million, you're not paying inheritance tax on. And that kind of makes sense. I'd love to see something like that here. But no, everything's at a much lower level, and more and more people get dragged into the net. How do you think Donald Trump's doing in America? I think he's doing pretty well. I mean, I'll say, I mean, I don't agree with tariffs, okay?
46:48I never, ever would agree with that. I mean, you have to have some, though, surely. Yeah, so the argument for tariffs is reciprocal trade. Yeah. So, you know, if you're a total free trader, the other country puts a 20 % tariff on your goods, a classical free trader would say we're not going to retaliate. But I think that's unrealistic. So you retaliate. And when he came in and he said look China is a big problem. He said that from 2015 And you will remember in 2015. I was there 2015 and 14 president Xi came to England and pretended to like bitter with David Cameron in that pub in Oxfordshire I mean, we were like this with China and and Trump to be fair to him was one of the first Western leaders to say no China is a problem And you know, I've been to China.
47:32I've seen factories in China They use they didn't have health and safety like we have they use what could only be described almost as slave labor, prisoners, all sorts of things. You know, my kids, I've got a four-year-old and a one-year-old. They have these little ducks, you know, in the bath. Any parents, you know, with young kids, you've got these ducks. They're all made in China, those ducks, all of them. And the people making them are, a lot of them are prisoners. They're people who aren't being paid. So yes, slap trade tariffs on China to equalize it. I get that. But then, you know, he's doing it all around the board.
48:04I think about 140 countries that he slapped tariffs on. And I think that's regressive. Having said that, they raise a ton of money. And I don't think they're going to get rid of them. I think even if the Democrats came in, they wouldn't get rid of them because a lot of American business is helped by, you know, tariffs are defensive. They keep other competition out of your country. So a lot of productive interests, production interests, are going to support keeping the tariffs. So, and this is an example of one guy reaching the highest office and totally bringing a sea change in global trade. I think if it wasn't for Trump, nobody was going to put these tariffs.
48:48He's been banging on about tariffs for 40 years. But even your bog standard Republicans, they're like me, they don't like tariffs. And the Democrats don't like tariffs. So it's just an example of one person totally changing the dynamics. And so in his own terms, doing what he says he wants to do, I think he's quite effective. I mean, more and more people are saying to me now that they feel, even people in politics, by the way, not just entrepreneurs, that maybe the people that run our country need to be business people with business experience, need to be entrepreneurial. Yeah. What do you think?
49:25I think that's true. but I think, I mean, I was in the House of Commons for 14 years. And even in those years, it was less and less attractive. You know, you could go into the House of Commons 15 years ago and you could keep up your business interests. It was much easier to do that. Now, yes, you can have them, but you've got to declare everything. People frown on it. People, you know, you're a greedy so-and-so for doing this or that. That's just wrong. You know, you go back to 50, 60 years. it was good to have MPs who had lots of different interests. They could bring something to the debate. They knew about logistics.
50:01They knew about agriculture because they were farmers, a lot of them. They knew about the law because they were lawyers. Whereas now you've got a large section of professional politicians who know nothing other than politics and policy and scheming in an abstract way. They don't really have experience of the economy, of the life of the country. And I think it could get worse. And that's why you get these student politicians, essentially. All they've done is be a president of a student union and then become a special advisor and then become a speech writer and then become an MP and then become a minister.
50:39It's kind of crazy. Nigel Farage and reform. Do you think they'll get in? And do you think it would be a good thing if they got in? So I think it's 50-50. We're still far out. anything can happen. I feel that the, the alternative. I mean, the polls say a bit more, don't they? Yeah, but I just, you know, things can, you can see now, I mean, this absurd thing about, oh, you said such and such racist things in the 70s. He was a teenager. They're digging, I mean, that says to me they are desperate to stop it. You know, they are desperate. You know, if you're digging up something that some guy said in 77, you know, when he was a teenager at school and trying to use that, weaponize that, you are desperate.
51:21You've kind of lost every argument. And you're literally just trying to tear this guy down. And that says to me that they are very, very committed, particularly the Guardian and the left, to stopping him. So they're worried. They are, clearly. I mean, why would you say, oh, he said this in 1978? Literally. I mean, you weren't alive then. But, you know, makes it hard. But does anyone, I mean, people said all sorts of crazy things. But we were having a chat. You know, I'm remembers what they said when they were 17 or 21. And also the culture was different The jokes the human the family. So I know people in the city Respectable lawyers lovely people pretty centrist You know, they said all sorts of crazy things that I remember when they were kids You know people did and so to bring that up says to me these people aren't serious They will do anything to stop him.
52:15So there's that left be a conspiracy or agglomeration of interests to stop him. And I also think that, you know, what he's doing is very difficult. It's never happened before, okay? If you look at what Nigel has done, he's created a new party, essentially, and he's on the point, as far as the polls are concerned, of forming a government. That never happens. You know, we've had great Pollock Churchill, Disraeli, Gladstone, whoever you want to name, Thatcher, they all worked within the party. They never created their own party and won an election. They were all part of the system, if you like. So what he's doing is pretty extraordinary.
52:50And that's why I would price it at kind of 50-50, because it is an extraordinary thing that's happening. He could do it. Trump did it. But even Trump took over the Republican Party. He didn't create his own party. And he deliberately didn't, because he had a reform party actually in 2000. But he realized that the best way to actually become president was to join one of the established parties. He just had to work out which one. So what Nigel is doing is extraordinary. And, you know, I'll believe it when I see it. I think a lot of forces who work against him, I think the left are going to go nuts.
53:26And let's see it. Now, do I think it would be a good thing? In some ways, I think it would be a very good thing, because it'll throw open the system. You know, I've talked about the civil service. You talk about, and I said he's got three obstacles, the House of Lords. That's all human rights laws, basically. I mean, broadly, that's their center of gravity. You've got the judiciary, again, which has its own biases, I think. And then you've got the civil service. So he's got these big institutional challenges. And at the moment, he's the only one, his party are the only ones who are going to challenge a lot of those orthodoxies.
54:02I don't think we should abolish all those things. Of course not. But we've got to try and challenge people's thinking. Because whatever's happening isn't working so well. So in a way, I can see why people would vote for them. I think that there are a couple of things, a few things they need to iron out. Like, Nigel, until very recently, was in favor of scrapping the two-child cap. That was a very popular policy. And I think you've got to have individual responsibility at the center of a welfare system. You can't have a situation where people can come to this country, have 10 kids, and expect the state to pay for them all.
54:36I think that's wrong. um and and he then think he quite you know he gets it but then you've got to distinguish between british citizens and other citizens and it's it's a mess so just have a cap um and then i think he's right to say he's got to start thinking about spending but then people will ask him so what are you going to cut and then there'll be scare stories so it's a it's a long road for him but i think that's a way in which you can you can you can shake things up yeah and to be honest with you I thought Kemi did a good job yesterday. I thought she really stuck it to the Labour, to Rachel.
55:11And I'm very interested in, as a Tory, I'm very interested in what the Tories have to say because I think there's potentially some sensible stuff. But it seems to me, to put it very bluntly and simply, you've got a left block, which is Plaid, Labour, Lib Dems, on and off, SMP, Gaza independence. You've got the left greens. And then you've got a right block, which is just Tory and reform. And one of these blocks is going to win. I know who I want to win. I don't know what the configuration of seats will be. But I definitely would rather have them win than a coalition of the left. And if Nigel got in and he called you up and he's like, quasi, come be my chancellor.
55:53He can't afford me.
55:57Even Nigel. But actually, I speak to him. No, but I speak to him. Would you? I speak to him a lot, and I want to feel that I can put some input into the... Yeah, I've said to myself, look, I'm 50. I don't want to get back to the House of Commons or the Parliament immediately. And I've got other things. I'm doing other projects that I'm very engaged with that you know about. So I'm a friendly ear, if you like, and a friendly voice. But I think leave others to do the theatrics of politics. If you could rewind the clock quasi and go back just before you were UK Chancellor, what advice would you give to yourself?
56:35Funnily enough, it was the advice that Liz Truss says that her late majesty gave to her. Pace yourself, which was, I don't know, I knew the Queen a little bit, the late Queen. And she had incredible judgment of people, incredible experience, intuition. and she clearly saw something in Liz that said to her, just pace yourself. And actually Liz was good enough to write that in her book. That's the one thing. And then the second thing is, you know, if you're going to try and reduce taxes, you've got to try and reduce spending. I mean, I might be, I'm not a Reaganite, but even if I were a Reaganite, the markets aren't Reaganites and you've got to try and show some degree of discipline on expenditure.
57:24before they give you the benefit of the doubt on tax cuts. Those are the two bits of advice. If we have a more right-leaning government at the next election, how do we reverse all the damage done? So I think some of the stuff can be done quite quickly. So I would abolish the mansion tax. I think they can do that. Because even according to their figures, it will raise$400 million. I would get rid of that immediately. It's not a huge amount, you know, compared to the$3 billion you're spending on the two-cap, getting rid of a two-cap child or a cap on two children. So you can do that. I think some of the stuff that Nigel said about a flat rate, you know, 300 grand and you're done.
58:04In Italy, it's 200 ,000 euros. So once you pay 200 ,000 euros a year, you're done. You paid it. And I worked out, you don't have to be an Einstein to work it out. You know, if the top rate is 45 % and you're paying 200 ,000, Anyone earning over half a million, which is a lot of money, but anyone earning over half a million is probably incentivized to go to Italy. Now, there are other things, family, lifestyle, language, all of those things. But given the fact that they're mega, mega wealthy people, the£200 ,000 is quite a low. And I think in London, in England, you could charge maybe 50 % more than that.
58:42Anything that would bring in more overseas and stop people leaving. I think people, you know, very wealthy people I know say, if I had to pay$300 ,000 a year to live in it and I was done, I would do that in a heartbeat. So that's one thing you could do. I think you're going to have to get tough on things like, you know, mental disability because the welfare bill isn't, you know, it's not just because people are more disabled. It's that there's a whole raft of people who have mental illness and essentially qualify for disability benefit through their mental illness. Now, I think that should be interrogated much more closely.
59:19Because essentially now it's like we used to have self-certified mortgages. It's almost like that. I'm depressed. Self-cert mental health. Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't press the point too much. But, yeah, it seems to me. I mean, it's not very hard to strike yourself off work, is it? Yeah, and also the thing with mental health is that you can't see it. You know, when we brought in disability, you know, we'd had wars and people didn't have arms and they didn't have legs. You could see who was disabled. And then we said, okay, there's mental health, there's mental issues, and we get that. But the problem with that is that you can't prove anything.
59:53I mean, who are you to say to someone who says, I've got mental health issues, I can't work? Oh, just pull your socks up. That's what we would have said 30 years ago, but you can't say that now. And they've tried to, successive governments, us included, have tried to rationalize that and go through a process. because otherwise it is like a self-certifying thing. And that can't be right. Is there anything we can do to bring entrepreneurs here and encourage innovation and productivity and growth and business? All that sort of thing. So I think you've got to have a stable environment. I think you've got to lower taxes.
1:00:30You've got to lower regulation. And I think if you did that for a whole parliamentary term, I think the whole picture would be totally different. Wow. I think it'd be totally different. And then you'd have the momentum. But otherwise, everything gets stuck and it's not moving in the way that we want to see it. Kwasi, thank you very much. Thank you.
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From the publisher
Kwasi Kwarteng joins Rob for a brutal, unfiltered emergency budget analysis, comparing the current UK financial crisis to the chaotic 1970s. They expose the truth behind the £70 billion tax hike, why the welfare state is now unaffordable, and how "fiscal drag" is pulling millions of middle-class workers into the highest tax brackets.
Kwasi also shares his unfiltered biggest fears for the future and reveals why being a friend of the government is now the most expensive place to be…
BEST MOMENTS
"The dollar in 2020... is worth 25% more than it is today... that's 5% depreciation every year."
"The really rich can go off and do whatever they want, but the middle stratum of society... that's where most of the taxes are earned and are extracted."
"I said, 'If the left get in in 2029... that is a big... people have to ask serious questions,' because they could do a lot of damage."
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🎙 A NOTE FOR THE #DISRUPTORS:
The world is on the edge of a revolution. Wealth, power & information are being disrupted.
Mainstream media is dying. Your freedom is being challenged. Your money is being debased. #Disruptors & Rob Moore asks the questions others dare not to ask. Disruptive & diverse guests speak out on topical world issues & their areas of success & influence. As the world has changed, Disruptors has evolved to diverse global movers, shakers & change makers who stand out & speak up.
Want to start your own podcast? Get in touch - Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/
If you don’t risk anything, you risk everything.


