I have just encountered (Brexiter) Professor Richard Werner’s tweet that: Brexit – how bad can it be? Must be worst to leave the EU for a small country entirely dependent on much larger neighbours. So think about the world’s smallest state, the Vatican. Could it survive if it suddenly exited from the EU? Surely not!… Read more
The Divine Right of Conservative Kings
In spite of this short almost endearing, piece being from 2016, this was Mayor of London ‘power’: Yet when we know there is a joke is doing the rounds to the effect that, a sexist, a racist, and a liar walk into a pub and the barman asks simply, “What would you like Mr Johnson?”… Read more
Seriously seeking vasselage
If Britain leaves the EU without a trade deal it will be the only country in the world – bar none – to trade solely on WTO terms. Brexiters are often of the view that we are a vassal state of the EU, neatly ignoring that we are one of 28 member states and one… Read more
Market based capitalism can’t compete with state sponsored capitalism
There is an interesting article here on how Trump is effectively bound to be outsmarted in his trade war with China. America suffers from the same problem as Britain – it doesn’t make much anymore. So if the currency reduces in value there is no opportunity to increase exports because it there is nothing much… Read more
‘Prime Ministerial’ language is helping to frame the argument
I am appalled that our own British Prime Minister speaks of collaboration with Brussels. And he said this of someone in his very own austerity driven Conservative and Unionist Party. He well knows that this is wartime language. It shows him up for the valueless, lying journalist insinuator that he is. He’d doubtless deny it… Read more
Post Brexit possibilty?
For people like the Labour supporting businessman John Mills, Brexit was mostly about getting the value of the pound down in order to increase exports. ‘This is Money’ reports that His Brexit beliefs stem from his economic outlook. For Mills, Britain has thrown away its industrial manufacturing past and needs to rebuild its status as… Read more
Tax and spend? Not with Johnson…
BBC Radio Four news has tonight reported that we will be told how Johnson’s spending commitments will be paid for in due course. Isn’t this ‘real’ evidence of spend, and tax? And, if so it’s most unfortunate that Johnson got there before Labour……. Read more
The dilemma of neoliberal capitalism: whose efficiency and whose resilience?
National Grid claimed, after the recent power cut that they had been efficiently supplying electricity without fault since the last time the same thing happened eleven years ago in 2008. Now, I’m paraphrasing slightly and the chap was rather less smug than this suggests but it still poses the question: whose efficiency and what about… Read more
Dominic Raab – still working for the away advantage
These are a couple of comments on a piece written by Dominic Raab (him again) in Canada’s The Globe and Mail: “We realize you are desperately seeking new friends after the Brexit debacle. May we suggest that a chaotic exit from the EU, due entirely to Tory incompetence and greed, may put off rather a… Read more
A household is not like a state
As a society we need to be far more concerned about climate and inequality than money, however as it is almost a year since I last wrote about sectoral balances, there are another 4 quarters of data to look at, and I want to make the point again, money is not a contraint on what… Read more
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