March 14, 2023

Hello, here is another Letter from the Cape.

I grew up in Melbourne and like many I like Australian Rules Football.

I understand there are some who are not so enamoured.

But I am speaking in terms of statistical probability here - if you grow up in Melbourne, it is a good chance that you will support one team or another, for whatever unfathomable reason that you have for doing so.

I love going to the Melbourne Cricket Ground to watch my team and I enjoy the the tribal nature of Australian football, the viscerality, the clapping, and the rest of it.

It is a pity that in recent times that the corporatists who control the game have allowed the experience to be sullied by constant gambling information on the scoreboards, and bomb and other sound effects that go off after a team scores. 

Stuff like that has reduced the time for reflection between goals.

But I am not here to discuss any of that.

Well, I do want to discuss the scoreboards, but not the gambling odds that appear on them.

There two large scoreboards at the MCG perched high in the grandstands that allow spectators to constantly keep up with the scores and other key statistics from the game.

They have evolved over the years from a person manually altering the numbers to advanced digital screens - but the principle is the same.

Each time a team scores a goal or a behind, the scoreboard numbers change.

Presumably, there is some official in front of a computer these days who just types a new number into the display.

Now, you don't have to know much or anything about Australian football to understand the next point.

A game goes for 4 quarters each of about 30 minutes.

Imagine that some time during the third quarter, a large siren rings out at the ground and an announcer comes over the PA system announcing that the game is to be prematurely ended because the scoreboard has run out of numbers to digitally render.

The teams would walk off dejected, unfulfilled, and, as the supporters started to weave their way out of the ground, they might start to rue the fact that their dream of victory was thwarted because the ground had ran out of numbers to post on the scoreboard.

The supporters would wonder whether it was because the teams had scored too many goals.

Or was it because the officials had failed to accumulate enough numbers before the game?

Of course, that sort of scenario could never happen.

The meagre proposition is ridiculous.

Everyone knows that the officials typing in the scores could never run out of numbers to type into the scoreboard display.

Its the same for any issuing agency.

Our rail and tramways could never run out of 'tickets'.

They might sell too many given the capacity of the transport system and end up with overcrowded conveyances, but they could never run out of the 'tokens' - even though, these days, they operate as electronic tokens once you tap your Myki or other card.

So what is this all about?

Just as you would have thought it was ridiculous to think the scoreboard at the MCG could ever run out of points, you should also realise that the federal government can never run out of money.

Why?

Because it issues the currency that we use - the Australian dollar.

It, and it alone, has the capacity to issue that token.

We do not supply the government with the currency through taxes.

How could we?

We use the currency that the government issues!

If we were the supplier where would we get it from?

Once you frame the issue like this it becomes obvious that the government has to spend its currency into existence before we can get our hands on it, and, in turn, return it to government in the form of tax payments.

So to avoid prosecution for failing to meet our tax obligations, we supply our labour and goods to government in a variety of ways, so they can pay us their currency, which allows us to meet those obligations and more.

Next time you read or hear someone say 'taxpayer dollars' are funding some government program or another, reflect for a minute on the absurdity of that proposition.

It is as illogical and ridiculous as the scoreboard at the MCG running out of points to post.

And the next question you will have is this: If the taxes do not fund government spending and the government can never run out of points ... sorry, money ... then what the hell is the purpose of taxes?

We answer that next time.

Take care and I'll be back.

791 words.