Funding the Future We can’t afford the wealthy
Nov 12, 2025
This discussion unveils how hidden financial burdens like interest, rent, and monopoly profits operate as hidden taxes on everyday households. It argues that financial scarcity is a political choice propelled by elite policies, not a mere economic reality. The conversation highlights the unfairness in public funding, revealing how wealthy interests benefit at the expense of essential services. By eliminating subsidies to the rich, we could instead invest meaningfully in care, housing, and fair wages to ensure prosperity for all.
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Scarcity Is Politically Manufactured
- Scarcity is a political choice created by rules and moneyed influence rather than an economic inevitability.
- Richard Murphy argues wealthy interests design fiscal rules to present public spending as unaffordable.
Three Hidden Taxes Extract Wealth
- Wealth functions as claims on others' incomes via interest, rent, and monopoly profits, not rewards for production.
- Murphy labels these extractions 'the three taxes of rentier capitalism' that every household pays.
Public Funds Flow To The Wealthy
- Public spending and services now pay private contractors and high interest to wealthy owners, effectively transferring public funds to the rich.
- Murphy criticises current policy choices like high interest rates as mechanisms to keep wealthy beneficiaries satisfied.