We're way past Remainers vs Leavers, Col. There's no point in commenting on small chunks of news one way or the other. It's the long term trends that count. It's not just Brexit-related, either. That's not the only thing in the world affecting our futures. It's just the big distraction for us that means we're not looking at everything else too closely. Everyone with a vested interest can find "an expert" with a point of view to support their position and a raft of people who will stand up and call it "fake" if they don't like it.
Can anyone explain something to me?
It's now generally agreed that "trickle down" economics does not work. The evidence shows the opposite is true. Putting more money into the pockets of the self-styled "wealth creators" just results in them gaming the system and keeping more of it. Look at the graphs that show the increasing gaps between the rich and poor - especially in the USA and the UK. It's also fairly well agreed that "austerity" doesn't work and the misery it generates doesn't translate into a change for the better. Yet, we continue with it.
Why do ordinary people feel proud about a rise in GDP, a rise in employment figures, a rise in the value of the stock market - when they personally don't get to see anything for it, just a reduction in their personal spending power? Why are so many people proud that other people are doing well at their expense and support policies and actions that will continue it?
I can’t explain it Dipper, other than to note that the metrics people have access to are the ones set by government, not necessarily the ones that make a difference to the way people feel about their lives, but you can’t really expect Joe Bloggs to set and then track his own metrics. Although of course people will know how they feel and measuring that would be more useful - I think the Brexit, Trump and recent votes in Europe are a pretty good proxy to show that many people are pretty pissed off. Of course I doubt they way they voted will ultimately make them any happier, but that’s my opinion. As I have said on here before those who don’t like these trends, like me, have to take some accountability for them rather than only whine about the results, as we have created the conditions that led to these cries of rage and pain.
Some of the figures published yesterday are good news - the fact that wages are finally rising faster a bit more than inflation mainly. The number of job vacancies, 870,000 I think, should help this trend continue, unless lack of workforce starts to damage our eternally poor productivity. If a lot of those jobs require skills we don’t have enough of in the UK, we are back on the immigration merry-go-round. Apparently there are 107,000 vacancies in the NHS alone, 11.8% of all nursing and midwifery posts unfilled. No matter how much money is thrown at the NHS today it will take years to close this gap with trained professionals unless we import them.
The stock market, a giant gambling scam, is an especially malign measure, but it is in fact very important for anyone who has a pension in addition to the state one. Sadly. And I will confess to playing, in a very small way, on this online gambling site.
The thing that politicians rarely talk about is what globalisation really means. As far as I can see both the hard line Leavers and the Remainers and everyone in between is in favour of ever increasing trade. My job, prosperity and pension rely on globalisation. And over the last 20 years it has had positive results - hundreds of millions of people (250m in China alone) have been lifted out of absolute poverty as a result, for example, of 77% of all clothes sold in the EU being made in Asia. Of course many are still relatively very poor compared to many in the West, and who can deny them the chance to match our living standards? But there has been an explicit consequence for some of the old industrial areas, like the north of England and the US rust belt where there has been woefully inadequate investment in business and infrastructure and people are getting poorer because they can’t compete on a global basis. I suspect that the complexities and subtleties of the consequences and potential future impact of globalisation, which I am instinctively in favour of, are far too much for most politicians (and economists) to understand (I don’t) let alone engage in an informed public debate on. No matter where you live, if you lack the skills, and the infratsructure and enterprises that the global economy wants, you are on a downward path.
A long ramble with no answers, as always.
. This Euro dream will end in tears and I want us as far away as possible.
