The Reboot #2: how to pay for the pandemic (video)

Everyone knows the global economic system isn’t working in the interests of most of us. In our new video series the Reboot we talk about how to fix it. From lockdown because of covid19 Naomi Fowler speaks to John Christensen and Nicholas Shaxson of the Tax Justice Network.

In this second episode of the Reboot: the big question people are asking as many governments are busily ‘printing money’ to tackle the coronavirus is – how can we afford this? We talk about wealthier. economically powerful countries with strong currencies and independent central banks and why they absolutely can afford this. And then we’ll look at the situation for countries which don’t have strong currencies or powerful central banks, many of whom are already seriously indebted to the IMF, World Bank and private creditors.

Naomi Fowler is the host and producer of the Tax Justice Network’s monthly podcast The Taxcast which is available on most podcasts apps.

John Christensen is co-founder of the Tax Justice Network and is a forensic auditor and economist. His research on offshore finance has been widely published in books and academic journals, and John has taken part in many films, television documentaries and radio programmes.

Nicholas Shaxson is a journalist and writer with the Tax Justice Network. He is author of the book Poisoned Wells about the oil industry in Africa, Treasure Islands: Tax havens and the Men who Stole the World and The Finance Curse: how global finance is making us all poorer.