

Funding the Future
Richard Murphy
Richard Murphy and occasional friends talking about everything you need to know to understand the economy, tax, finance and how we fund our future.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Aug 20, 2025 • 5min
Trump, thuggery and ditherers
What happens when politics dies in August? A flight of leaders to Washington that achieved nothing. Trump was flattered. Zelensky was patronised. And the rest? Ditherers. This is what neoliberalism has delivered us – a politics of paralysis.

Aug 19, 2025 • 4min
Rent crisis in Britain
Rents in the UK are out of control. In London, they now swallow more than 40% of income. Across England, it’s 36%. For millions, life is no longer about living — it’s about paying landlords.
This video explains why rent is dragging families and children into poverty, how landlords extract wealth from the poor to enrich the rich, and why rent caps and more public housing are the only way forward.

Aug 19, 2025 • 5min
MMT: Facts vs myths
MMT describes how government spending and taxation work in fiat currency economies: no more, and no less. In this video, I explain why critics often get it wrong, why some fans overstate it, and why understanding it could change how we think about jobs, services, and growth.

Aug 18, 2025 • 17min
Taxing billionaires isn’t enough!
Many think a “billionaire tax” could solve the UK’s problems — but there are only 156 of them. The real wealth — and the real untaxed income — is spread far wider. In this video, I explain why looking beyond billionaires, to the top 1% and top 10%, is essential if we want a fair tax system.

Aug 17, 2025 • 9min
The UK government can't borrow
Politicians tell us the UK is “borrowing too much” and faces a “debt crisis.” That’s wrong. The government creates the pounds it spends, and what’s called “borrowing” is really just it accepting deposits — or savings — from the public and financial markets. It’s time to stop the scare stories and understand the truth.

Aug 16, 2025 • 10min
Danger for the wealthy?
Rachel Reeves may be about to close a major inheritance tax loophole — and the wealthy are calling it “dangerous.” But what’s really dangerous in Britain? It’s not taxing the rich. It’s child poverty, crumbling public services, NHS queues, unsafe housing, and inequality. In this video, I take apart the scare stories from the wealth lobby and explain why closing loopholes is not a threat — it’s tax justice.

Aug 15, 2025 • 9min
Tax is an economic steering wheel
Politicians tell us taxes pay for public services. In reality, it does something far more important — it shapes our society. In this video, I explain why tax is an economic steering wheel, not a fuel tank or piggy bank, and how we can use it to create fairness, tackle inequality, and protect our environment.

Aug 14, 2025 • 11min
Who Controls the Overton Window?
The Overton Window decides what can – and cannot – be said in politics.
But who builds this “window of acceptability”? In this video, I argue it’s not the public and not politicians – it’s the billionaire-owned mainstream media.

Aug 13, 2025 • 15min
Governments aren't like households
Politicians love to say the government must “live within its means” – just like a household. But this analogy is completely wrong. In this video, I explain why the household analogy is economic nonsense, how it misleads the public, and how it drives damaging austerity policies. Once you understand how government really works, you’ll never fall for this trick again.

Aug 12, 2025 • 15min
We need to rethink capital
We talk about capital as if it’s only money or machines, but that’s a dangerously narrow view. In this video, I unpack the six forms of capital we should measure, protect, and value: productive, financial, human, natural, environmental, and societal. And I explain why the Politics of Care demands a complete rethink of what truly matters for a sustainable future.


