Trump’s recent folly with cryptocurrency highlights (beyond his primary motivation of greed) the fantasyland that much of economics is based on. Indeed, it is fair to say that of all the systems created by humankind, the economic one is the one based more on human imagination than any other. The mere fact Trump was to become president led to the creation of almost $30b, pretty much out of thin air. This inherent weakness of the economic system – its vulnerability to mood and imagination -, highlights starkly that the economic system is very much a human domain, at our will, capable of creative solutions.

Trump has also revealed the true cause of inflation. It is not wage growth. It is the growth of profit and the cost of consumer products. Things are more expensive, partly because of supply issues (and now tariffs), and partly because governments the world over are failing to regulate the greed of big business. This has led some to speculate that stagnation is around the corner. This, I am led to understand, is when wages are not growing to meet the escalating cost of products.

So, the problem (beyond the greed and ecological crisis) for both everyday people and the economic markets is the lack of wage growth. Enter Universal Income!