If the political will to reign in and properly regulate the banking industry existed, it wouldn’t be that difficult; though it would require international co-operation, and achieving that would be challenging. Governments don’t require access to private banks btw; that’s what central banks like the BoE, ECB or the Fed are for. Even an effectively bankrupt country, like Greece was in 2015, can raise short term funding through sale of Treasury Bills issued by their National bank. It’s true that the ECB, the IMF and the Euro Group put the stranglehold on Greece and effectively shut their banks in July of that year (following a referendum in which the electorate voted against the deal on the table from the Troika at the time). But even then Greece had weapons in her financial armoury which Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis urged PM Alexis Tsipras to use. The Syriza government though, had by that point completely yielded to sustained pressure from the Troika and the world of international finance. I highly recommend Yanis Varoufakis book Adults in the Room btw. for an insight into, among many things, the balance of power between financial institutions and governments.
Politicians - an explanation While stitching and dressing a deep cut on the hand of a 70 year old farmer, who caught his hand on some sharp farming machinery, the doctor and the farmer got round to talking about the current situation facing the country. Eventually the topic turned to politics, and the failings of the current politicians governing the country in a time of crisis. The old farmer said “Well, the way I see it, most of these politicians are Post Turtles” Not being familiar with the term, the doctor asked him what a ‘post turtle’ was. The farmer said “When you’re driving down a country road and you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top of it, that’s a post turtle” The old farmer saw the puzzled look on the doctor’s face so he continued to explain. “You know he didn’t get up there by himself, he doesn’t know what to do while he’s up there, he’s elevated beyond his ability to function, and you just have to wonder what kind of idiot put him up there in the first place.
Its amazing, £7.99 a month for 3 books. I'm constantly in the car for work, so its come in so handy. Would recommend it to anyone
This is a strange old place,all the hot air trying to score petty points on here (well not here obviously) but the orange man suggests we drink Dettol for breakfast and not a peep.
Everyone has been waiting for the results of the tests of the Orange Man suggestions of bleach and intense UV light as a Covid-19 cure. Looks like he might be onto something .....
Let's wait for the anthology, what about a title? Ding Dong Donny, The Best, Better and Bestest? Or the Predictadon game. So contestants tomorrows's word today please.
The wrong man in the wrong job at the wrong time: https://www.theguardian.com/comment...hnson-sunday-times-prime-minister-coronavirus
I was going to post this in Ralph's, but I believe it to be far too serious for that thread, and it is fundamentally political anyway. Some time ago, I think it was in 2019 during the US Democratic candidate race, I mentioned my long time concern about how AI has affected our lives, and is affecting our lives, in terms of how it has manipulated our political thoughts [Brexit?]; how it has taken jobs away, and how it will take many more jobs away in the future. And that future isn't far away. Jobs that a person may well have gone through a lot of education and study to attain, and the next moment the job doesn't exist anymore, because it can be done better by artificial intelligence. Anyway, I recently came across this excellent feature length documentary, about the proliferation of AI, and how far it has infiltrated our lives. It may explain a lot to anyone who doubts that AI is not of concern. Do You Trust This Computer? [2018]:
I havent watched the vid yet, but I will say I fully agree that it's a huge issue. Karl Marxx even predicted it back in the day. Capitalism will eventually lead to making working class jobs redundant, as their jobs can be performed by machines/automatons.. I guess when he wrote it he was thinking of slave labour instead of AI. But the point is relevant). It's the endlesss catch-22 of capitalism; businesses must achieve the best profits possible, regardless of how they achieve that. There will honestly be no need for accountants, bankers etc. within our life times IMO, so this isn't just a problem aimed at the traditional "working class". AI is already clever enough to write journalism pieces, it wont be long before that becomes essays and reports; so why would a business pay a human to do the task?
