Softcapitalist
Spectemur Agendo
Friday 31 January 2014
Weak UK productivity cited as main reason for falling wages
This government seems to believe that cutting public expenditure will deliver some growth but all it has actually done apart from printing money was to funnel the economic resources into wealth accumulation at the top, mortgages and tax advantages for big business, with the net effect most people are worse off and have more debt.
Trickle down economics is a myth, it never worked and will not work simply because the capital owners have no incentive to pass on any of their gains. The perception that capital owners create jobs and wealth is nothing but a propagandistic metaphor because no products or services can be 'created' without labour. The only question is how fair is the distribution of the gains, and again, the perception that unless they get ever rising profits the rich elite will close the shop and go play golf all day long is false.
Without private and public investments it is impossible to have sustained growth and wide-spread well-being. The taxpayers are being taken for a ride and most people's lives have deteriorated. There is no need for more stats, and the explanations for this economic disaster don't even matter.
The government's 'economic trustworthiness' is a myth which is actually hard to explain, and one wonders what would it take to be broken.
@softcapitalist
www.softcapitalist/blogspot.co.uk
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/285f12e0-8a61-11e3-ba54-00144feab7de.html?siteedition=uk#axzz2rzHSUtY6
Tuesday 24 December 2013
Poland attacks Cameron view on migrants
This is about free markets. The UK has to take a liberal or a protectionist stance. Either it supports free movement of goods, labour and capital, or it supports trade barriers, immigration controls and capital flows restrictions. The UK cannot expect Slovakia to hire Barclays Capital for privatisation of its assets, the Czech Republic to allow HSBC to open branches in Prague, or Poland to import some £9bn worth of goods (btw more than Australia) on one hand, and on the other to tell their citizens that Britain believes their citizens are all lazy benefit fraudsters.
Sunday 22 December 2013
Britain must reclaim its common sense
Wednesday 4 December 2013
Britain must face its household debts
Saturday 30 November 2013
David Cameron launches attack on EU migration
He's defending to death the movement of capital since this makes his banks and big corporations rack up the billions in profit which sustain his party financed and united.
He is OK with the movement of goods because he needs to be seen he is promoting British exports, though despite the pound devaluation, lower labor costs, lower corporate rate and historically low effective tax rates paid by its businesses at home, despite healthy global markets the trade deficit has widened and the Albion's competitiveness is in tatters.
He has never been a true defender of free movement of people, though he finds it inconceivable that Brits would not be able to settle wherever they wish as no nation in their own mind would not open their arms to the skills, expertise and joy that are always brought along by HM subjects. He is now starting a bitter crusade against foreigners, showing to the world that xenophobia is not Daily Mail's privilege, is indeed a strong national attribute.
He should feel embarrassed though of his low blow on Romanians and Bulgarians. Nigel Farage is a low character, low IQ challenger to the crown of fanatic nationalism who's not expected to recognise the scientific evidence in favour of immigration, nor not to unfairly turn his venom against two nations which harmed Britain interests in no way so far. Cameron is supposed to be smarter, better and broader in his argumentation. His point is the poor East Europeans are driven to Britain by the income gap. He has been embarrassed by the fact that most immigrants are from PT, ES, GR and IT, where the GDP per head is much higher than in say HU, SK or LV yet came to the UK in droves, simply because they can, not even because are not under Farage's microscope. And, mind you, the Italians are not all of them highly skilled economists, engineers or bankers. Many of them serve pizzas - precisely the type of jobs the Brits are supposed to lose to Bulgarians. The Portuguese may walk the mini-Brits into the parks and are paid below the national minimum wage or illegally. And I read very little in the Daily Mail about the growing number of British homeless begging on Regent Street with their dogs impressing the shoppers with their candid glances. Are they going to be deported?
What if Bulgaria and Poland imported no more than 30 Indian or Japanese cars manufactured in Britain if the Brits put a cap on their emigrants? What if Barclays Capital would be excluded from making the books for the next juicy privatisation in Lisbon or Riga or Bucharest?
What if Spain or Greece removed access to their health services for all the Brits retired in Malaga or Rhodes, and by the way I am sure these peaceful residents of their sunny coasts don't fly back to Croydon to treat their diabetes.
So make up your mind Cameron: are you a man or a lousy headless chicken?
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b2b10574-56c3-11e3-ab12-00144feabdc0.html?siteedition=uk&ftcamp=crm/email/20131126/nbe/ExclusiveComment/product#axzz2m8owFJjy
Wednesday 20 November 2013
Wealthy Investors
Oh dear. I thought the rich are rich because they have this ... flair. Ok one may place Rooney alongside Romney and Osbourne (both George and Ozzy actually) and thats a bit unfair since raw talent is not always accompanied by brain power.
But the sad truth is most rich are rich because they were born so (George, not Ozzy) and they are pretty incapable of making the most out of their fortunes if not something good for the society. Despite being privately educated.
The other thing is how morally pathetic to be a wealth manager. Just a clown in a suit, a toff entertainer, someone to carry the briefcase between phaesant shootings and racing Aston Martins at Silverstone. Charging the fat cats top dollar for scientifically wasting their money. What a grotesque circus! But hey, prostitution has always paid handsomely. No need to be ashamed of yourselves. Just brush your tongues properly before bed to take the bitter taste of brown off them.
http://m.ft.com/cms/15bab10e-51ad-11e3-8c42-00144feabdc0.html
Friday 13 September 2013
Surveyors urge Bank of England to damp house market
Houses are unaffordable because there is demand way above the supply. The supply is restricted because of the consistent policy applied by successive governments to encourage nymbism in the name of democracy (or sacrosant property rights). This strategy is the fruit of excellent propaganda carried out by the well-off who own land and capital. If you believe that owning a house you are better off because your "asset" grows in price and that the zillions of pounds sunk into bricks (call it unproductive capital) come at no cost for you from other parts of the economy, think again. You may feel wealthier, but your cost of living surpasses your asset appreciation, and you are in effect poorer.
The propaganda machine worked very well to convince people there is nowhere in sight to build more. That Britain is a densely populated small island. The words "redevelopment" and "high rise" have been taken out from the dictionary but may apply to the top end of the housing market, or in remote areas nobody should really live in.
Mr Carney is a charming man, but if he believes houses are affordable and there is no "bubble" I would like him to answer a few questions:
1) he's paid some £874,000 including a £250,000-a-year housing allowance. So would he support legislation requiring all employers to pay 25-30% housing allowance on top of the regular income?
2) has he looked at median house price and median income, or at average house prices on a GDP-weighted basis? Is the person in the middle of the economy more, or less able to buy a house in 2013 than in 2007? If wealth is created in London and house prices in London surpass income then should the BoE be worried that the sustainability of the economic recovery is feeble?
3) has he asked the person who packs his wife's bags at their local Sainsbury where do they live, how long does it take to get to work, and how many people share the bathroom?
4) has he looked at the average price per sq meter and average household area? Perhaps house prices have not shot up in a bubble but houses are smaller and smaller so his "macro" analysis has some flaws
Rest assured, Mr Carney is going to print money, on paper, plastic or alufoil to ensure people will believe it is in their interest to go on ever higher debts for ever smaller homes. They call this "affordable mortgages". Don't waste any second. Go buy a house, the timing is right!
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/837dffee-1bce-11e3-94a3-00144feab7de.html#axzz2emJ6qVaQ