tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post2006127422930169232..comments2024-03-28T09:55:42.123+00:00Comments on Capitalists@Work: The dangerous power of political liesCityUnslickerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15929544047783163175noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-75673385901130450262012-05-18T10:29:42.229+01:002012-05-18T10:29:42.229+01:00To the other "Anon": The real problem he...To the other "Anon": The real problem here is NOT the debt. We could paper over that by simply printing the cash, as we have done before and as we are doing now. The real problem is that we have a cashflow problem within government that left untreated would lead to its bankruptcy. Too little income and too much spending. At the same time imports exceed exports. This clearly indicates that we have too few people in the private sector generating the exports to pay for our imports. Reducing the size of the public sector and putting people into the "holding camp" of unemployment is the first painful step towards rebalancing the economy to something that will work in the long term. <br /><br />A failure to do this will result not in MORE socialism but in rather LESS. Nations that have low incomes cannot affored a welfare state and revert to outright capitalism - the people with the money must pay up front for what they want and everyone else can go hang. This is what is happening in Greece right now - the state cannot re-distribute its income because the people that have an income are refusing to pass it on to the state - the people are using their income to buy what they want directly, leaving those without an income to starve. Socialism is an expensive business, and in Greece it is failing.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-29913530362855121782012-05-17T12:22:52.188+01:002012-05-17T12:22:52.188+01:00I'm sure the Greek people understand this all ...I'm sure the Greek people understand this all too well.<br /><br />However, in the same way as the Euro is/was a political project, their reponse is a political response, and what they are saying basically is "whatever it is that needs to be done, we don't want the Germans telling us".<br /><br />Most of Club Med Europe would do that same, freed from the stranglehold of its political class and the "technocrats" parachuted in by Merkel et al. Sooner or later, they will.Weekend Yachtsmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04262853091154005651noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-46842825920466844682012-05-16T03:20:14.548+01:002012-05-16T03:20:14.548+01:00Seeing as how the rich French are soon to be dying...Seeing as how the rich French are soon to be dying to leave a house in London seems like a sound investment for a pay off in the next two years.HarryDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00285300272838482014noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-56069912810967303122012-05-15T23:02:12.168+01:002012-05-15T23:02:12.168+01:00Listening to brooks on t' telly and the links ...Listening to brooks on t' telly and the links to all and (powerful) sundry it is fairly obvious THEY are all in it together - we are just the unwashed.<br /><br />Zorba - thank you, first chuckle all day - and just look at he timeTimbo614https://www.blogger.com/profile/14671168026195402267noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-8893785877810214212012-05-15T21:41:29.489+01:002012-05-15T21:41:29.489+01:00Dearime - maybe relatively to what will happen - L...Dearime - maybe relatively to what will happen - London house prices akin to gold?CityUnslickerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15929544047783163175noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-40534783034508167252012-05-15T20:05:11.468+01:002012-05-15T20:05:11.468+01:00The Condem's would have had a tiny chance of n...The Condem's would have had a tiny chance of not being a one-term administration if they'd put some banksters and crony capitalists behind bars.<br /><br />'All in it together' is a farce when we see rewards for failure at every turn and the banksters back to their old ways after having socialised debt.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-54300077375011288722012-05-15T19:05:17.538+01:002012-05-15T19:05:17.538+01:00Is this a good time to buy a house in London?Is this a good time to buy a house in London?deariemenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-63937920862239354952012-05-15T17:59:39.893+01:002012-05-15T17:59:39.893+01:00I can't see it ending nicely and - to be perfe...I can't see it ending nicely and - to be perfectly honest - the vast majority of people in Europe and the UK don't deserve a happy outcome.<br /><br />Either for being childishly demanding or for failing in duty to make a stand.Electro-Kevinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18073103431166273080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-36842505401295406052012-05-15T17:52:39.257+01:002012-05-15T17:52:39.257+01:00If any of you have a balloon,
now seems to be the ...If any of you have a balloon,<br />now seems to be the right time to let it go up.Zorbanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-54772523885879144052012-05-15T15:28:46.119+01:002012-05-15T15:28:46.119+01:00Anon - thanks for your comments, like a challenge....Anon - thanks for your comments, like a challenge. <br /><br />How is it that public sector jobs are good fro GDP growth again, we borrow to fund jobs that pay 35% tax pack and the rest is spent? This is good but how would one pay back the interest?<br /><br />There is a total fallacy about the keynesian idea of digging holes in the road and filling them back up again. Someone has to fund it, if this is borrowed, then the interest has to pay back too - this means the orgininal investment needs to payback over the cost of funds. However, if this was a service, say a hip replacement or a light bulb change, then this is very unlikely to produce a commercial return. Oh dear, death by debt deflation here we are. <br /><br />Osborne is indeed wrong, raising taxes in the teeth of a recession is crazy. we can't create demand without debt, so we need to take a greater share of what there is in the world - a big devaluation is a start, followed by some moves to beomce competitve - wage deflation that kind of thing, lower taxes on productive work. We are on the road, but only just about. the Govt chose to leave the stabilisers in place in terms of benefits which is why the deficit still increases, even as we cut services. <br /><br />How would a higher deficit help this really? It is utter fantasy that the market would stand for it - proved by the behaviour of gilt prices as the 2010 election approached. the further deficit mad labour were from power th better the prices. Let's see what happens in 2014 - it will repeat as a mirror image. <br /><br />Finally, if you thinkg osborne is so wrong, whay would you do..and assuming you are a Balls supporter, what is his actual plan, rather than just the criticisms of the current lot?CityUnslickerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15929544047783163175noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-46080162665112783692012-05-15T13:36:28.803+01:002012-05-15T13:36:28.803+01:00Premature fiscal tightening?
How premature could O...Premature fiscal tightening?<br />How premature could Osborne be? If anything, he was much too late and risked the AAA he sought to maintain.<br /><br />UK public spending <br />as % GDP 2000 = 35%<br />2009 - 45%<br /><br />{excluding unfunded pensions, PFI and the usual off balance trickery}<br /><br />In Billions<br />2006 - 524<br />2007 - 549 {start your crisis calculator about now}<br />2008 - 582<br />2009 - 629 {uk gdp rises above 50%}<br />2010 - 669<br />2011 - 691<br />2012 - 713Malcolm Tuckernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-80872843288408252102012-05-15T12:51:12.051+01:002012-05-15T12:51:12.051+01:00Anon 12.18 I think you are a little off kilter. ...Anon 12.18 I think you are a little off kilter. The tax take used to fund the public sector will affect growth once too large, stifling chnaces of growth.<br /><br />That said simply cutting spending is not enough. But given that fact at a macro level there are no spending cuts only tax rises.<br /><br />In many ways the whole tax spend debate is ridiculously crude and completely misses the point that it is not levels of expenditure, but how and where the money is spent. <br /><br />I totally believe that public expenditure is too high,but it requires removal of government functions (including implicit subsisidies to the corporate sector) NOT simply chasing numbers. <br /><br />Incedentally we can put many reasons for German success, efficiency, mercantilism and a capture currency area but I have never heard of the position that public spending has been a driver of German economic growth.hovisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-24991980681589860042012-05-15T12:18:06.849+01:002012-05-15T12:18:06.849+01:00Your comments are utterly wrong. The current UK po...Your comments are utterly wrong. The current UK policies are an experiment which appears to be failing.<br /><br />The only consolation for George Osborne is that there are even more spectacular failures-Angela Merkel's doomed handling of the Eurozone.<br /><br />Attempting premature fiscal tightening in the hope of improving business confidence and encouraging investment is the Osborne approach.<br /><br />It seems to have failed and stopped the UK economy in itstracks.Unsurprisingly, to anyone with an ounce of economic understanding, the deficit is worse than expected due to reduced economic activity (higher unemployment, lower tax receipts).<br /><br />Your comments about the limit of the welfare state are nonsense. There is no relationship between public spending and the economic problems-Germany is doing rather well, last time I looked.<br /><br />But don't let the facts get in the way of your story.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-37350199195067367502012-05-15T11:38:26.037+01:002012-05-15T11:38:26.037+01:00It is not just the Labour Party and the Unions who...It is not just the Labour Party and the Unions who peddle these dangerous lies.<br /><br />It is also the taxpayer-funded, public-sector leftist BBC.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32841798.post-38750545993003631112012-05-15T10:12:26.854+01:002012-05-15T10:12:26.854+01:00Well said.
The "narcissm of small difference...Well said.<br /><br />The "narcissm of small differences" explains the fury between Osborne and Balls over their almost shared fiscal policies.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com