Economist, podcaster and Irish Times columnist David McWilliams joins Hugh Linehan to talk about his new book Money: A Story of Humanity.
They talk about the meaning of money and how McWilliams says it should be seen as a way to improve lives and societies.
For McWilliams that means considering policies like universal basic income - even if some feel its wrong to distribute “free money”.
“I regard money as a technology, maybe the most brilliant technology that humans have ever come up with. And If you see money that way, then preventing people from accessing money because of morality is like preventing people from accessing the steam engine because you don’t like the noise of it, right? It makes no sense”.
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And although Ireland is awash with cash, the State lacks the capacity to make the best use of it, he argues.
“When you and I were kids, Ireland couldn’t do anything because we didn’t have cash. Now we can’t do anything because we’ve too much cash. And what does that tell you? It tells you there’s a lack of execution, ability and imagination in those people who actually make the decisions”.
Listen to the full discussion above or wherever you get your podcasts.
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