May 17th, 2010
Today the FTSE 100 closed at more or less the midpoint between its all-time high at the end of 1999 and its lowest point in 15 years. As the economic outlook is not too rosy for the short term, which way will the market be going from here? Well there are bound to be some purple patches, but downward would seem like a reasonable bet. This is a disaster for workers and their dependents, school leavers, those leaving university, savers, those coming up to retirement, and those depending upon interest for retirement income. In fact it is not good for anyone. I recall some rubbish talked about preventing a return to a boom and bust economy. The trouble is that hot air came from Gordon Brown, who can now settle into comfortable retirement at the nations expense, along with that other money grabber Tony Blair and their friends. Through incompetence and self-interest these people made fools out of the people of this country. I am amazed that anyone voted for them at the last election. I suspect they have done more to create a class of takers than any politician before them. Massive debt, the hugely privileged useless public sector, and pointless wars are their legacy. Let no one forget it.
Naturally, those people who created this economic disaster will not have to worry about money. They have awarded themselves nice big indexed link pensions for life, as well as a nice exit bonus for their trouble. And we should not forget the large amounts they decided they should help themselves to, for just about anything they wanted really. Do I have much confidence the new lot of self-serving fools will do any better for us. No! Until we get rid of politicians we will always be destined to repeat this folly.
Tags: boom and bust, debt, economy, Fools, FTSE100, public sector, retirement, self-serving, war
Posted in Uncategorized, comment, debt, economy, feckless, general election, government, incompetence, ineffectual, inflation, money, observation, pensions, politicians, politics | No Comments »
May 8th, 2010
Successive UK governments clearly believe that running up a huge debt is an intelligent way to run an economy. Even individuals with a minimal grasp of finances recognise that it is best to save, then spend. It is very expensive to borrow one’s own earnings from the future, as the Greeks are demonstrating now. The UK has an old economy, it has no reason to have any debts, in fact it should have savings. Unforeseeable events like war to defend ourselves and huge natural disasters are examples of very few exceptions that cannot be planned for and may justify borrowing.
The root of this problem is that politicians have their own agendas that involve making themselves look clever. Ex-PM Gordon Brown had the audacity to repeatedly claim prudence as his watchword, while running up enormous debts. The political system of government will always be prone to this kind of folly, because it concentrates power into hierarchical structures and people are inherently unable to reasonably use such levels of influence. It is clear that a non-hierarchical influence structure free from politics is an essential prerequisite for an acceptable form of government.
This general election has exchanged one group of self-serving incompetents for another. It will not substantially advantage the UK. The new government represents more of the same, with a slightly different set of ill-conceived policies and priorities.
Tags: agendas, audacity, borrowing, debt, disasters, finances, folly, Gordon Brown, Greeks, ill-conceived, incompetents, more of the same, old economy, policies, priorities, prudence, savings, self-serving, unforeseeable
Posted in debt, economy, general election, government, incompetence, money, observation, politicians, politics, power, saving | No Comments »
March 6th, 2010
Humans success stories are dominated by cooperation between specialists with a shared goal, while human failures are dominated by competition.
Even though this observation is easy to defend, strategic organisation of the UK does not reflect it. The government itself is disabled by the competition inherent in politics. From the start, education teaches us to be competitive at an individual level and rates us on that ability. The emphasis should instead be on reward for cooperation. We should be celebrating and rewarding the ability to work as a specialist member of a team with a shared strategic goal.
Change for the better in the UK should be predicated on this change in emphasis. The current style of government owes much to its competitive animal roots, it does not reflect what we have learned of success as humans.
Tags: animal, competition, cooperation, education, failure, human, humanity, individual, organisation, reward, specialisation, specialist, strategic, strategy, success, team
Posted in education, government, observation, paradigm, politicians, politics, vision | No Comments »
Loading ...
Lords are leaping
May 17th, 2010It sounds like an episode of Blackadder, but there will be 707 Lords to help the new coalition get its way.
Question: How long does it take to get a system that works?
Answer: Longer than the existence of politics.
Tags: Blackadder, coalition, Lords
Posted in comment, feckless, government, incompetence, ineffectual, observation, politicians, politics, power | No Comments »