"Where has all the money gone?"
In this episode BMUC members with a lay interest in economic matters take a look at the so called economic cliff awaiting us in September: when JobKeeper and JobSeeker are wound back, mortgage and rental arrears have to start being repaid, and unemployment/underemployment are likely to be much higher. 
Warren Ross and Jeannie Baxter join Fran Dyson to discuss the debt bubble, the issue of private vs public debt, the stimulus package and various rights and rorts that are being promulgated. 

Links to resources mentioned in the show:
Bill Mitchell and Victor Quirk from the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE) speak at Politics in the Pub about full employment policies in 2015.
Meet the Debt Monster - Background Briefing ABC Radio.
Alan Kohler talks to one of the founders of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) Bill Mitchell,
and, coincidentally, Alan Kohler on (MMT) in our current circumstances on the same day as this episode was broadcast.
Stephanie Kelton - her book, video, and in an article which is a quick and simple explanation of MMT, "The Deficit Doesn't Matter".

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Note: a statement made during the show about Centrelink and its role in connecting people to jobs is a common misconception. Centrelink has never had a role in finding work for people, although it has had a role in assessing personal obstacles to finding work. Historically the Dept of Social Security (DSS) was responsible for the payment of pensions and benefits while the role of the Commonwealth Employment Service (CES) was to connect people to jobs. In the late 1990s the CES was privatised and its role take over employment agencies, the "Job Network" while DSS became Centrelink, an agency which delivered government services. While Centrelink continued to pay pensions and benefits and expanded the number of government services it delivered, it did not take on the role of managing a "job bank". That role was taken by private providers - ineffectively and much less successfully than the CES, in the opinion of many.
This episode was first broadcast on Radio Blue Mountains 89.1FM on 17th July 2020. 
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