Liz Truss Is Already The Bad Prime Minister Everyone Expected Her To Be
When Liz Truss was 'elected' as Prime Minister by 0.6% of all British voters I expressed some sorrow for a once great Britain:
Liz Truss is less competent than Boris Johnson but at the same level when it comes to lying. She also has no empathy. In the end she will look worse in office than Johnson did.The damage of the Brexit disaster is still getting worse. The energy crunch, caused by the economic war waged against Russia, is tearing the country apart. [...] The National Health Service is turning patients away for lack of resources.
Truss will worsen all that.
But the billionaires and banksters of the City of London will still applause her for lowering their taxes.
...
With the election process rigged for the Tories and the Labour leadership held by the hapless and vindictive Keir Starmer there is little chance for regime change in Britain. When Truss falls the premiership could even go back to Boris Johnson.
Just three weeks later and we may already be there.
Liz Truss and her chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng are libertarians who believe that the state's function should be as small as possible.
On August 5, before Truss was 'elected', the Official Monetary and Financial Institution Service, a think tank, had predicted what was soon to happen:
If she wins, and enacts her promise of immediate tax cuts, the only safe prediction is that sterling will crash. The pound’s fall on 4 August – after the Bank of England raised its headline rate to 1.75% and warned of 13% inflation and a protracted recession – delivers a taste of things to come.Britain’s combination of economic downturn and inflation is likely to be as severe and possibly as long lasting as in the 1970s. Truss’s policies are likely to make it worse. The idea of a bonanza amid stagflation is not just bold; it is foolhardy.
...
Thatcher’s record shows she was determined to inflict pain before rewarding the punters with tax cuts. Upon taking office in 1979, Thatcher’s government doubled the rate of value added tax to 15% from 8%. She believed, rightly, voters had to accept hardship as a prelude to facing up to economic reality.If Truss becomes leader, she would follow the opposite course, with a pliant chancellor (perhaps Kwasi Kwarteng, the present business secretary) carrying out her bidding. Truss’s policy on tax cuts would prolong the often bizarre nature of Johnson’s three year rule.
As soon as the deceased queen was buried Truss went to work. Chancellor Kwarteng announced a 'mini-budget' that will lower taxes for people with high incomes while increasing the deficit to cover the promised energy cost subsidies:
It would be an understatement to describe Truss’s budget initiatives as bold. Last week, she announced the largest U.K. tax cut in 50 years, including a payroll tax cut and a reversal of a planned increase in corporate taxes. The estimated cost is $50 billion. This tax cut comes on the immediate heels of extraordinarily generous energy subsidies to households and businesses, at an estimated cost of $150 billion.According to the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, the new budget initiatives will cause the U.K. budget deficit to balloon to 8% of gross domestic product next year. At the same time, the public debt will soon exceed 90% of GDP.
As soon as the 'mini budget' was announced the British pound sterling tanked. This not only against the overvalued U.S. dollar but also compared to the rather weak Euro.
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Interest rates on British government bonds (Gilts) increased sharply.
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After two days the British central bank, the Bank of England, had to intervene to prevent a Lehman like crisis that would have killed many British pension funds. The bank, which had just increased its interest rate to tighten money supply, reverted to quantitative easing by buying gilts in the open market. This will further increase the already runaway inflation.
The lower pound sterling with further increase energy costs. Many British homeowners have mortgage with flexible interest rates. They will get devastated by all of this.
Today Liz Truss gave a round of radio interviews.
Another Angry Voice @Angry_Voice - 11:49 UTC · Sep 29, 2022Liz Truss getting absolutely ruined on local radio this morning
A thread, with credits ...
Truss could not answer even basic questions about her budget and its consequences.
The British government received a lot of criticism over its move. Not because the IMF or other commentators think it is general bad what Truss and Kwarteng try to do but because it created uncertainty and trouble in the markets.
Adam Tooze writes that Truss and Kwarteng probably intended to create market jitter because it will help them to push for their real aims:
I am not sure that Kwarteng and team intended to produce a crisis that will supercharge their drive to slash public spending. But cutting government spending is clearly their plan. They have effectively said as much. And we should expect them to exploit the situation to pursue that goal and be braced for that.
On October 6 the Tory will have their yearly party conference. It may well become a challenge for Truss and one can not exclude that the party will simply dump her for the chaos she created.
Boris Johnson may be back as Prime Minister sooner than anyone expected.
Posted by b on September 29, 2022 at 17:24 UTC | Permalink
next page »It's just neoliberal economic policies at work, finance capitalism will just have increasing polarization until it actually all just collapses. Actually, a crash that screws over most of the population is when the elite will scoop up everything at distress prices, so it appears things are going mostly to plan here. Eventually the goal will be like the extremely late Roman Empire where it's a totally "free market" and a small and non-existent government with most of the population reduced to serfdom to the oligarchs
Posted by: leaf | Sep 29 2022 17:39 utc | 2
Thx, b, except for your silly insistence that Brexit has anything to do with the inevitable collapse in the west.
Still hanging on to a stupid ideal that has given some of the most awful, neoliberal fruits: the E.U.?
This is where I am in complete agreement with Victoria Nuland.
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Sep 29 2022 17:47 utc | 4
Yup
Bride of Chucky as PM - Dominic Cummins (Bojo's Svengali) referred to her as the human hand grenade because of her unbalance and Kami-Kwasi Kwarteng (an intelligent but narrow minded and ideologically driven man) as Chancellor (Finance minister) are rapidly ruining my adopted country
I am frightened that Bride of Chucky may start more foreign adventures to divert attention from the collapse at home
In terms of dumping Truss as leader the conservative party's members of Parliament, who preferred Sunak by some margin, would have to have a motion of no confidence in her and thus force her to leave - like they did to both May and Bojo
The next UK general election must be called by December 2024 held in January 2025 at the latest - political forecasters give the Labour party an 80% chance of winning a majority in Parliament - The labour Leader, Starmer is more wooden than an oak tree and some of his potential ministers are even thicker than Lizzie
I despair
Posted by: Aslangeo | Sep 29 2022 17:48 utc | 6
Sign the petition. Already 113,000 signatures:
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/619781
Posted by: ThusspakeZarathustra | Sep 29 2022 17:53 utc | 7
No expectation from a low geography IQ person, be it a prime minister or not. Sunak was better qualified, but unfortunately he isn't a proper image for the British ruling class.
Posted by: KitaySupporter | Sep 29 2022 17:53 utc | 8
The UK is now an experiment for Kwasi Kwartengs economic thesis. Considering how the Russians managed to blunt the sanctions,any chance we can swap him for Elvira Nabiullina?
Posted by: Bob | Sep 29 2022 17:57 utc | 9
KitaySupporter no. 8
You got that right.
Posted by: ThusspakeZarathustra | Sep 29 2022 17:57 utc | 10
I cannot believe what I am reading, b. It’s so cold and calculating… the English are really showing ambition here, aren’t they? I thought they were lowly vassals with no agency? Anyway, thanks for making some sense of it all.
Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Sep 29 2022 17:59 utc | 11
Aslangeo | Sep 29 2022 17:48 utc | 6
I suspect that putting a Truss in place was to make Starmer acceptable. He is unelectable as a person, and his "party" eliminates anyone who is not submissive. They have gained a 33pt lead just by being there.
Posted by: Stonebird | Sep 29 2022 18:01 utc | 12
The last week in Britain demonstrates key MMT propositions Bill Mitchell - Modern Monetary Theory
"If left to its ‘market’ resolution, some pension funds would have gone broke this week because they would not have been able to generate sufficient cash to cover their liabilities.
Enter the government
What the Bank of England did was to use its massive capacity as the currency issuer to short-circuit this bedlam."
Posted by: c | Sep 29 2022 18:15 utc | 13
She has a standing invitation to visit Kiev but doesn't seem to be in a rush to go. Maybe this isn't quite the best time.
Posted by: dh | Sep 29 2022 18:21 utc | 14
BREXIT was absolutely the right move. UK was getting swamped with migrants. Unfortunately, the "conservative" government has not delivered. Repatriation is needed, not only of EU migrants but also Third World parasites. If you want to solve Britain's financial problems, remove the sponging foreigners. It really is that simple.
Posted by: Jannie | Sep 29 2022 18:21 utc | 15
Yes, she's terrible. But not on this.
Britain never recovered from the last financial crisis, we've seen more than a decade of rising taxes and weak growth.
Now, thanks to the Conservative government's lockdowns and eagerness to start a war against Russia, we're in deep financial doo-doo.
We can try maintaining the status quo, which was already failing, or try something different that'll hopefully get us back to growth (which I fear is pretty much impossible without cheap energy, but at least they're trying).
The Establishment fears change. They wish to turn the clock back to the cosy Blairite elite consensus that prevailed until 2016. They got rid of Boris and are now closing ranks against Truss, hence the Bank of England, the Federal Reserve (!) and the IMF (!) apparently coordinating their political responses to some mediocre tax cuts, reframing them as terrifying assaults on economic sanity that will Doom Us All.
In the real world, the Pound is currently trading at $1.10 while the Euro is worth 98 cents. Britain is in a bad position thanks to the stupidity of our "elites", but not as bad as continental Europe with its gas shortage. Possibly not even as bad as the United States, with its rotten politics that increasingly resemble the Mafioso. The people screaming most loudly about Mr Kwarteng's budget do not have our interests at heart.
Posted by: ZX | Sep 29 2022 18:27 utc | 16
dh | Sep 29 2022 18:21 utc | 15
Zely was invited to UK in Oct. Bojo invited him about 3 months ago. Don't know if invitation remains, maybe when daddy Bojo returns
Posted by: rk | Sep 29 2022 18:30 utc | 17
Sunak was better qualified, but unfortunately he isn't a proper image for the British ruling class.
Posted by: KitaySupporter | Sep 29 2022 17:53 utc | 8
Wrong.
Sunak is part of the British ruling class (he's a billionaire banker in the Macron mold). That's why they wanted him. Truss was the 'populist' option (albeit, only in comparison). If it wasn't for the pesky rule that ordinary Conservative Party members - many of whom aren't even millionaires - get to pick the new leader, Rishi Sunak would currently be PM.
Posted by: ZX | Sep 29 2022 18:32 utc | 18
Liz Truss will follow whatever the USA tells her to do just as Boris Johnson. Their following is all about power and what is best for their pocket books.
The love of money is the root of all evil and there is plenty of evil in both Boris and Liz.
However, the USA money machine is soon to be ripped apart by the nuclear armed forces of Russia. It is difficult to determine when outside of the divine.
Fortunately, there are a few clues within the Bible. The most telling is Daniel 7:5 that outlines the bear will have 3 ribs in its mouth between its teeth before that bear arises and devours much flesh.
Crimea, Luhansk and Donetsk could be those 3 ribs for the Russian Bear. If so, the USA will be destroyed in one hour after the Donetsk province it entirely taken by the Russian Bear. With the recent referendum of Donetsk wishing to join the Russian Federation, Donetsk most likely will completely fall to the Russians within a few months at most.
After that fall, the USA will fall in one hour if the Russian Bear is the same as the Daniel 7:5 Bear.
It is best to take a long vacation out of the USA immediately after Donetsk falls. This could very well save one's life.
We will soon see.
Posted by: young | Sep 29 2022 18:34 utc | 19
@18 It's all optics. Should they embrace or just shake hands? Are khaki T-shirts acceptable in Downing Street?
Posted by: dh | Sep 29 2022 18:35 utc | 20
The destruction of the British economy, and indeed the economies of Western Europe, predates the election of Ms Truss by some considerable period.
To make a scapegoat out of her so quickly, only exposes the naked desire of those who have created this catastrophe to find one.
Perhaps the real fear they have is that Ms Truss might have policies that would be successful, but this would entail a rejection of the WEF, NATO and the New World Order.
Such an outcome cannot he envisioned, never mind tolerated.
Posted by: Orchard1 | Sep 29 2022 18:38 utc | 21
You get more stimulus by giving the rich tax cuts. That's just how % work. Is that a particularly good idea before dismantling the bloated state? Depends on where you fall on the moral foundation scale.
Posted by: Bob | Sep 29 2022 18:39 utc | 22
The link to the Twitter radio feed is priceless. worth a watch, top quality British black humour.
I particularly enjoyed the part where when asked about the dire economic situation, she tried to blame it on "Putin's war" (the one that could have been avoided, if not at least ended months ago, but was promoted and then sabotaged by her own Gov't)
Posted by: Et Tu | Sep 29 2022 18:42 utc | 23
Petitions and voting do nothing.
Send your kids to study and find jobs abroad. Retire elsewhere.
Vote with your feet.
Posted by: dfg | Sep 29 2022 18:55 utc | 24
It works every time. Replace one sock puppet with another sock puppet and people will talk about the sock puppet. It's so easy. Sock puppets are cheap. They will do whatever the people having the hand in the sock do. But noone talks about them. Everybody talks about the puppet.
Hilarious.
Posted by: Franz Beckenbauer | Sep 29 2022 19:06 utc | 25
I have a hypothesis that current leaders worldwide are utterly incompetent because anyone with even a hint of intellect can see the collapse coming a mile off, and absolutely do not want to be associated with it. Which leaves us with the sociopathic and stupid as the only contenders. Biden is probably an outlier being merely age-impaired. I'm sure he was more than competent 30 years ago (/sarc off)
Posted by: Occasional poster | Sep 29 2022 19:12 utc | 26
Is it really necessary to remind a European that in a parliamentary system the Prime Minister is chosen by the party with the most seats? The government of Britain is quintessentially a representative democracy and Truss was elected by a democratic process.
That Truss, like Johnson, will prove to be a fool and a disaster for the British people is another matter.
Richard North over at Turbulent Times is a Brit who does not understand British democracy, and he keeps putting out the nonsense about the appointment of a British PM is undemocratic.
Posted by: bob sykes | Sep 29 2022 19:14 utc | 27
"Which leaves us with the sociopathic and stupid as the only contenders."
Posted by: Occasional poster | Sep 29 2022 19:12 utc | 25
I think you're right. It's like "Don't Look Up." All the important people with half a brain are buckling into the spaceship.
Our elites are so wacky, satire becomes reality almost as soon as it's created.
Posted by: Henry Moon Pie | Sep 29 2022 19:19 utc | 28
I realise Oxford has lower quality students than decades ago but cannot work out how Truss got in other than being female with a father as a Maths Professor with contacts
She sounds retarded and lacks any presentation as a professional woman. She dresses badly and sounds like a shop girl or clerk. I have never encountered such a woman in any high level position
Posted by: Paul Greenwood | Sep 29 2022 19:26 utc | 29
Bob Sykes you are quite right but until William Hague tampered with party rules members had no say only MPs in Party which was constitutionally proper
Hague caused this mess
Posted by: Paul Greenwood | Sep 29 2022 19:31 utc | 30
Young 19
If more than 100 nuclear weapons are detonated over cities, the biosphere's ability to sustain vegetable and animal life will be compromised to the extent that most extant life forms, and certainly humans which, as apex species are dependent on the health of the entire biosphere,will become extinct. Survivors of the initial nuclear exchanges will not be the lucky ones.
Unlike the consequences of global warming and other probable catastrophes, this does not have to happen, it is entirely optional, although having the nuclear capability in the hands of delusional religious fundamentalists who see this as a prelude to heaven does not fill me with hope.
The psychotic idea that the Revelation of John was anything more than the product of a bad drug trip is unsupportable, and, like most of the judeo-christer-islamic writings, did not refer to anything more substantial than the contemporaneous beliefs of the authors, as amended by subsequent translators and editors, most of whom had convinced themselves that they were living in doings he end times and doing the work of their god thingies.
To imagine how that this babble is predictive is treatable. Education, possibly combined with anti-psychotic medication is the necessary key.
Posted by: Hermit | Sep 29 2022 19:35 utc | 31
but, but... she can press the nuclear button. b, you're so mean to her, you can't expect her to know how to run the country as well.
Posted by: albagen | Sep 29 2022 19:38 utc | 32
Repatriation is needed, not only of EU migrants but also Third World parasites. If you want to solve Britain's financial problems, remove the sponging foreigners. It really is that simple.
Posted by: Jannie | Sep 29 2022 18:21 utc | 15
Perhaps it was a mistake to have invaded all of those countries in the past? Anyway, enjoy the fruits of your colonialism!
Posted by: farm ecologist | Sep 29 2022 19:44 utc | 33
@Bob 22
The USSR and China proved your idea wrong.
A few billionaires, which is all that you get when you "give the rich tax cuts", are worth far less than a thriving population living in a sustainable situation. You achieve that by equalizing outcomes. See my The Six Great Thefts of Capitalism.
Posted by: Hermit | Sep 29 2022 19:57 utc | 34
Posted by: Bob | Sep 29 2022 18:39 utc | 22:
You get more stimulus by giving the rich tax cuts. That's just how % work.
Quite the contrary. Tax cuts to the poor gets spent and circulated in the local economy. It expands the economy as well as speeds up the velocity of the currency. Rich people tend to save more of their wealth, in terms of capital asset investments which take longer to reflect in economic benefits (speed of money flow slows). Given the economic outlook of UK, rich UK folks are more likely to invest their savings oversea.
Yes, Truss & Company's decision reflects pretty conspicuous stupidity. They aren't being laughed at in critical forums like this one for nothing.
Posted by: Oriental Voice | Sep 29 2022 20:00 utc | 35
Liz Truss and her chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng are libertarians...
War wongers are not libertarians.
Posted by: Goldhoarder | Sep 29 2022 20:09 utc | 36
@Bob Sykes 26
@dfg 24
A "representative democracy" is not a democracy at all, but a pretence intended to ensure that the plutocrats maintain all the power and wealth, but with less effort and at a lower cost than in more blatant oligarchies. As noted, Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe noted, "None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free." Nobody is in more convinced, in the face of proximal and compelling evidence, that they are free, than those who live - and die - in representative democracies.
Posted by: Hermit | Sep 29 2022 20:09 utc | 37
Having said what I did in Post #34 doesn't mean a huge tax cut for the poor in UK will save the UK economy. Having seen the way UK-ers behave the past half century, if they get the money they won't spend it wisely. They will get fatter, drunker (pub and football game venues), crazier (concerts, drugs, and gambling which again funnels the money to the rich), rather than feed their children or fix their neighborhood.
The wise thing to do is to spend deficit money on infrastructures in UK, which looks in pretty bad shape. problem is, these days few people in UK are willing to do these kinds of grunt work, or even know how to plan, organize and execute complex infrastructure projects.
The West is just simply in a bind, period!
Posted by: Oriental Voice | Sep 29 2022 20:10 utc | 38
To make a scapegoat out of her so quickly, only exposes the naked desire of those who have created this catastrophe to find one.
Posted by: Orchard1 | Sep 29 2022 18:38 utc | 21
Exactly. She's been in office 5 minutes and there's already a coordinated effort by the Great and the Good (ha!) on both sides of the Atlantic and the Manche to either get rid of her outright, or make sure she's shackled to Blairite/Cameroonian managed decline until she can be replaced by a more reliable frontman in the distressingly hollow shape of Sir Keir Starmer.
Corbyn, then Boris, now Truss.
It's not an accident or a coincidence that anybody in politics the establishment doesn't like has to deal with insanely aggressive hate campaigns ginned up by the press.
I'm not a fan of Liz, but the people trying to get rid of her want something much worse in her place.
It is, however, darkly funny seeing the same people who cried and lied about "austerity" for 12 years straight (Britain is more indebted than ever), and who signed us up to trillions of pounds of Net Zero wealth transfer from the poor to the rich, suddenly pose as the Guardian Angels of fiscal responsibility.
Posted by: ZX | Sep 29 2022 20:23 utc | 39
@NemesisCalling 4
@b
The UK spent almost half-a-century carving out amazing privileges for itself within the EU, housing less regulated and taxed industry fabricating and distributing goods intended primarily for the EU, while building a thriving rentier and arbitrage income from acting as the gateway for English speaking investors and traders to deal with non-English continent. Based largely on the misunderstanding that they would evade their international obligations to accept refugees if they left the EU, promoted by a larcenously wealthy few who saw the UK as a potential refuge from European taxes and for money laundering, and pushed by the US who saw that a UK isolated from Europe would have to do whatever the US demanded, the UK threw all these benefits away and is now, as b correctly observed, enjoying the fruits of this insanity.
And a few people remain steeped in denial that they still can't see it, even as the pound has slipped by 30% against the dollar ($1.49 per Pound pre-Brexit).
Posted by: Hermit | Sep 29 2022 20:27 utc | 40
Perhaps it was a mistake to have invaded all of those countries in the past? Anyway, enjoy the fruits of your colonialism!
Posted by: farm ecologist | Sep 29 2022 19:44 utc | 32
Who did the Irish invade? Because Ireland's being overrun, too.
Posted by: volkov | Sep 29 2022 20:29 utc | 41
Truss has promised to end life on earth by starting a nuclear war. It was assumed that her threat was directed at the Russians but the effects will filter down just the same for everyone. Unlike her tax plan.
What will she do to top this promise is anyone's guess.
Posted by: Tard | Sep 29 2022 20:51 utc | 42
Neoliberal Parasites continue to damage the host. The idea is to weaken government to the point where it can't regulate anything so the plundering can go non-stop until there's nothing remaining. UK will soon mean United Krock.
Evidently, liz is going to meet on the budget, prob a good thing (sarc):
Posted by: Taras 77 | Sep 29 2022 20:59 utc | 44
U.K. will be fine. If you've ever spent time on an island you'll understand that island folk often have a more relaxed way-of-life. Consequently, their economic activity may be a little bit slower than in other realms, but that is island living, mon! The technical term is "regression to the mean" It's a misnomer imho, there's no mean living on de island!
Posted by: GoFast | Sep 29 2022 21:03 utc | 45
@volkov | Sep 29 2022 20:29 utc | 40
Who did the Irish invade? Everybody the UK invaded between 1801 and 1923. The list of who they DIDN'T invade is probably shorter.
Posted by: Sid Victor Cattoni | Sep 29 2022 21:11 utc | 46
b: "Liz Truss and her chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng are libertarians who believe that the state's function should be as small as possible."
Oh, please, b. These people can't by any stretch of the imagination be called "libertarians". Any notion that they believe in "small government" is risible.
Had to comment over that howler. I've known libertarian philosophy and the movement since the '70s. As far as the Libertarian Party goes, I agree with Bob Black's statement that "Libertarians are just Republicans who smoke dope." But small-l libertarians do not resemble these UK trash.
Posted by: Kurt | Sep 29 2022 21:16 utc | 46
Right on.
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Sep 29 2022 21:31 utc | 48
Is Truss a protogé of either Common Purpose or the World Economic Forum group ? (or both ?)
She is not in the present position of power for having the qualities and assets required for the job.
Posted by: Auntie Nellie | Sep 29 2022 21:33 utc | 49
Based largely on the misunderstanding that they would evade their international obligations to accept refugees if they left the EU, promoted by a larcenously wealthy few who saw the UK as a potential refuge from European taxes and for money laundering, and pushed by the US who saw that a UK isolated from Europe would have to do whatever the US demanded, the UK threw all these benefits away and is now, as b correctly observed, enjoying the fruits of this insanity.
And a few people remain steeped in denial that they still can't see it, even as the pound has slipped by 30% against the dollar ($1.49 per Pound pre-Brexit).
Posted by: Hermit | Sep 29 2022 20:27 utc | 39
I am pleased that my vote to leave the EU still makes people salty, six years later. :)
Who did the Irish invade? Because Ireland's being overrun, too.
Posted by: volkov | Sep 29 2022 20:29 utc | 40
It's almost as if migration is driven by economic factors plus the host country's willingness to accept them (or at least, not deport them), and not actually by weirdos who are still bumhurt with jealousy about Britain's successes in the Victorian era.
Really makes you think.
Britain and Europe are about to get considerably less attractive to migrants though. Perhaps, in the near future, footloose but ambitious young people will be looking for jobs in Beijing or Moscow. It'll be an Asian century, with China the world's 'Daddy' country where most of the cool futuristic stuff happens.
I wonder if kids in the 2050's will adopt Mandarin slang, and try to copy the styles of Chinese holography celebrities.
Posted by: ZX | Sep 29 2022 21:41 utc | 50
Meet the Office of Budget Responsibility...
https://obr.uk/about-the-obr/who-we-are/
Posted by: dh | Sep 29 2022 21:53 utc | 51
Hermit | Sep 29 2022 20:27 utc
That's not entirely accurate. Firstly, you say the UK carved out privileges, I'd say some of the UK. These same folks who profited from the cosy arrangement didn't experience the large swift immigration from the EU (Gordon Brown experienced the frustration of this policy via a lady with poor vocabulary, a decade plus before Brexit).
This increased competition, combined with an ever changing EU was enough to push it over the line.
Yes, things are getting bad in Britain and for many folks too, but Brexit has been good for my bubble. Both my children and my wife's eldest have gotten much better jobs now the never ending supply of desperate migrants has dried up and they are in core jobs, not peripheral so they'll weather the recession well enough.
Crispin Odey and his mates have made a few quid, but his remain supporting ilk would have been in the same position had it gone their way.
I'd don't want to sound bitter but the EU is toast anyway, so Brexit is a moot point (Britain has many other chickens clucking to come in, which we'll see in due course). Many reasons for EU ending, but it's largely due to target2. Germany is gonna need that money, sooner rather than later and it's going to get ugly. Sad.
Britain was mostly poor before Maggie sold everything and pushed credit like a drug dealer. We're just rapidly heading back to those days. No denial. Would still be happening if we were in.
Posted by: Some Random Passerby | Sep 29 2022 21:54 utc | 52
About the Brexit disaster.
Brexit voters wanted their sovereign country back. That was their prime motivation. If Brits didn't have a bunch of corrupt cowards lording over them the country could be playing the role of peacemaker right now. As a soverign country, Britain had every right to declare itself neutral. But Britain isn't a soverign country despite Brexit.
Posted by: Muso | Sep 29 2022 22:00 utc | 53
NemesisCalling is correct.
Brexit was about maintaining identity (racist if you are 'white' but otherwise a basic human right) as well as more 'democratic' control.
And libertarians want less state power for more individual liberty.
European countries could still have made free trade deals with post-Brexit Britain - what stops that is not libertarianism or capitalism but anti-democratic EU bureaucracy and the desire for ever more centralized power.
B ought to think more about his bias here.
Posted by: Florin N. | Sep 29 2022 22:01 utc | 54
Hermit #30
To imagine how that this babble is predictive is treatable. Education, possibly combined with anti-psychotic medication is the necessary key.
Mushrooms.
The author of Revelations must have been slipped a few in his sacramental wine. Blue meanies perhaps or maybe a select amanita. The cure for those currently believing John may lie in consuming similar sacrament. They might have a better trip than he experienced.
Perhaps Lizz too may benefit ;)
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Sep 29 2022 22:08 utc | 55
@39 hermit
I will have to read your post again to grasp it more fully, but I will just say for now that outside of London and the urban centers, Brexit was intensely popular. The financial center of London was staunchly for keeping in the E.U. from my understanding.
I will say that the situation in Italy might be similar: a neoliberal group posing as conservative elected for the promise of maintaining cultural homogenoty by fighting migration, but tows the line when it comes to the real geopolitical agenda of the elites currently which is to balkanize Russia.
Watch if Italy now gets behind Zelensky or of they buck the E.U.'s anti-Russian agenda.
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Sep 29 2022 22:08 utc | 56
Liz Truss, half Margaret Thatcher, half Violet Elisabeth Bott.
Posted by: Arwyn Thomas | Sep 29 2022 22:17 utc | 57
A trawl thru twitter :: 🍿
> “If there was no intervention today, gilt yields could have gone up to 7-8% from 4.5% this morning and in that situation around 90% of UK pension funds would have run out of collateral,” said Kerrin Rosenberg, Cardano Investment chief executive. “They would have been wiped out.”
^> Convenient they leave out all the banks and hedge funds that would have gone bankrupt. In hindsight they’ll look back and realize it would have been cheaper, and a better public good. to nationalize the pensions and let speculators get liquidated. But the Band plays on for now tho.
> https://twitter.com/BondHack/status/1575208869889835008
Jaw-dropping quotes on just how close we came to catastrophe today.
Senior banker describing the leveraged unwind in Gilts as coming close to triggering a "Lehman moment". Asset manager accusing the Bank of England of ignoring calls to intervene sooner.
https://ft.com/content/756e81d1-b2a6-4580-9054-206386353c4e
>Bank of England launches £65bn move to calm markets
Central bank to spend £5bn a day for 13 days over ‘material risk to UK financial stability’ and threat to pensions
https://twitter.com/EdConwaySky/status/1575128310740389889?cxt=HHwWgsC81c22_dsrAAAA
>Am told the BoE were responding to a “run dynamic” on pension funds - a wholesale equivalent of the run which destroyed Northern Rock.
Had they not intervened, there would have been mass insolvencies of pension funds by THIS AFTERNOON.
~~~~🍿
> US OFFICIALS: THE US TREASURY IS WATCHING THE UK TURMOIL WITH INCREASING CONCERN.
> JAPANESE BOND LIQUIDITY PLUNGES TO 2011 LEVELS
> Swedish fashion giant H&M says profits drop 89% after Russia exit
> Liz Truss has spoken today to Ukraine's president about the ongoing crisis.
Zelensky promised to provide all the assistance he could.
~~~~
“The UK economy was close to crashing today, per Bloomberg.”
> What does this even mean?
>> Bond market would have fallen apart if they didn't step in.
>>> Step in by doing what. Sorry …not following
>>>> Basically adding inflation to inflation to fix inflation caused by their attempts to stop inflation.
> What do you mean, “the economy would have crashed”? This is so vague might as well be nonsense.
>> “Several pension funds nearly went insolvent, the central bank bailed them out by printing more money, this is going to keep happening and the government will likely keep printing thus hyperinflation. If they don’t intervene millions loose private pensions”
>>>cool
> BREAKING: UK ECONOMY
Posted by: Melaleuca | Sep 29 2022 22:21 utc | 58
NemesisCalling #55
Watch if Italy now gets behind Zelensky or of they buck the E.U.'s anti-Russian agenda.
Giorgia Meloni is a fan of Zelensky. She has tweeted admiration. I spotted the tweet somewhere on Telegram yesterday. So do not believe it yet until her actions confirm. In Italy there is slight change but IMO the theatrics will only be more exciting for a day or two.
Thanks for your posts here, it remains bleak days for the people of the UK.
Given the blowback within the EU, I can see the world dividing into only two primary blocks - Eurasian and USA while the poodles of the old EU and UK mess about in the back paddock. And all because of Ukraine!
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Sep 29 2022 22:29 utc | 59
But Britain isn't a soverign country despite Brexit.
Posted by: Muso | Sep 29 2022 22:00 utc | 52
True.
Brexit was the biggest kick in the goolies the common people of Britain have delivered our lords and masters since... the Labour movement, or maybe even good old Wat Tyler.
That kick was well aimed, and thoroughly deserved. No wonder they've never forgiven us, it feels like TPTB have gotten a lot more nakedly contemptuous of the public since 2016.
But in itself, it changes nothing (how could it? The same people are in charge.) It opens the door for interesting possibilities to come though, which the European project was supposed to stop by homogenizing the continent into a more corporate-friendly single market, forever.
Interesting times, my friend. We should pray for boring, peaceful times instead.
Posted by: ZX | Sep 29 2022 22:30 utc | 60
Boris Johnson may be back as Prime Minister sooner than anyone expected.
Posted by b on September 29, 2022 at 17:24 UTC | Permalink
Things have a lot further to fall. When there's blood in the streets they'll trot out Boris and chuck the trussed up naked Godiva.
Wondering if £ $ € stabilize around parity.
Arwyn Thomas #56
Liz Truss, half Margaret Thatcher, half Violet Elisabeth Bott.
👏
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Sep 29 2022 22:35 utc | 62
the eu concept was written in the usa.... it was meant to screw the eu.... so nulands comment 'fuck the eu' has a very american ring to it... first they help create it, so that they can shit on it... the role of the uk has always been to go to bat for the usa... of course brexit was going to happen, as it is another way to poke the eu in the eye or worse.... fine - shit on the eu.. but save your real shit for the usa - master of divide and conquer strategy, and hoping no one sees any of their shit ever when it is so obvious... fuck the usa - you can quote me..
Posted by: james | Sep 29 2022 22:35 utc | 63
She's just stupid as a straw.
However, it is also a mystery to me, how key interest rate hikes can be used to combat inflation, that is based on the price increase of an economic fundamental parameter, namely energy ...
Posted by: Humml | Sep 29 2022 22:37 utc | 64
... but unfortunately he [sunak] isn't a proper image for the British ruling class.
Posted by: KitaySupporter | Sep 29 2022 17:53 utc | 8
Partly. But mainly he would be a bad fall guy 'cos non-white so beyond criticism. Liz is better especially because she's so totally leaden. Easy to blame and dump.
However, it is also a mystery to me, how key interest rate hikes can be used to combat inflation, that is based on the price increase of an economic fundamental parameter, namely energy ...
Posted by: Humml | Sep 29 2022 22:37 utc | 63
It can't.
Interest rates were going to rise anyway, because the orgy of money printing we started in 2008, and then went crazy-go-nuts for in 2020, produced massive inflationary pressures that were evident before the Ukrainian war.
Posted by: ZX | Sep 29 2022 22:56 utc | 66
@Bob (22) ”You get more stimulus by giving the rich tax cuts.”
You have no understanding of macroeconomics. Cutting taxes for the wealthy provides relatively little increase in economic activity, because the wealthy are less likely to spend what they save in taxes. More likely, the savings will be invested in financial instruments or hidden away in offshore tax havens. In contrast, tax cuts for the middle class result largely in immediate spending and, hence, greater economic stimulus.
Posted by: Rob | Sep 29 2022 23:05 utc | 67
Back in London after almost 40 years. Some things the same, many different. Like how BBC 4 has a show 'Naked Attraction' featuring six naked and unfit women facing the camera in phases (lower body first then with breasts then with face). At each phase one is eliminated. Then unfit man gets naked, the girls critique his body all over, then he picks his favorite, they go on a date and then after 3 weeks they return to report on whether or not they will see each other again.
Its just one silly TV show on my hotel TV. But on BBC?! I watched half of 2 episodes. Each time two of the participants complained of having esteem and sex life issues because they were brought up Catholic and were hoping to meet a compatible catholic on the show,that this was important to them. Ugh!
Un-effing-believable culture-destroying rubbish! The Britain QEII bequeathed to her subjects after reigning since 1952...No wonder Charles looks so dick and exhausted. And tone-deaf Truss is their Prime Minister... .
No wonder so many wept when sh passed.
As Trump might tweet : Sad!
She is not in the present position of power for having the qualities and assets required for the job.
Posted by: Auntie Nellie | Sep 29 2022 21:33 utc | 48
Depends who she works for how you define the job.
The UK most people imagine is a construct quite different from reality.
The West is going mad...
Or is it the other way around???
Giorgia Meloni is a fan of Zelensky. She has tweeted admiration.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Sep 29 2022 22:29 utc | 58
Figures.
Meloni-Schmueloni.
What did people expect from Liz Truss, a Tory buffoon? At a Feb meeting with Russian Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, Truss confused the Baltics and Black Sea, stating “we are supplying and offering extra support to our Baltic allies across the Black Sea”. The Baltic and Black Seas are on opposite sides of Europe. I feel no sympathy for people in the UK, who have repeatedly voted for Margaret Thatcher and the like and have supported the UK role as a junior partner to US imperialist wars. Pathetic. See-
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/feb/10/russia-must-respect-ukraine-sovereignty-liz-truss-talks-open
@64 "But mainly he would be a bad fall guy 'cos non-white so beyond criticism."
Good point. People are going to be very careful criticizing Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng for this mess.
Posted by: dh | Sep 29 2022 23:55 utc | 72
Now let's apply some clear thinking here Bernard.
1. "Liz Truss and her chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng are libertarians who believe that the state's function should be as small as possible". True . . .
Factually, they are not equipped to manage the complexities of The State. Few of the political class are these days.
The ideological escape route is to manage to the lowest limit of the abilities and outsource the rest to The Privateers, our modern day pirates.
2. " . . . a once great Britain". Greatest only in it's imperial exploitation and murder of and in foreign states, technologically inferior to British science and engineering and military affairs. The Brits killed more people than the Nazis and dressed it all up with a veneer of Victorian moralizing. Still do.
LeZ Down South . . .
@58
Thx, uncle. Yes, wait and see, eh? Will our coming poverty force our governments to be more honest brokers between the elites and us? Maybe. I hope we can get there.
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Sep 30 2022 0:28 utc | 74
For63: Seems some of these Econ-Theories work for Producing Countries. Saddly, the Wastern World banks more on Service..
Posted by: NoOne | Sep 30 2022 0:49 utc | 75
Liz Truss is not an ideologue, she is extremely flexible in "believing" in whatever she needs to believe in to become the PM, voted for by all of 81,000 votes to Sunak's 60,000 of the Conservative Party members. Those members got what they wanted, someone who will cut their taxes, slash state social expenditures, deregulate and remove any remaining worker protections.
Creating a crisis so large that they are "forced" to carry out their class-war policies by the IMF is what they want, only then can they make the swingeing cuts to the NHS etc., required now as they have already done all the less obvious domestic looting and can no longer loot the colonies/neocolonies and the North Sea oil and gas revenues have substantially declined. Its exactly the approach taken by elites in places such as Argentina, Liz Truss has taken the Argentina option.
This is the path that is being taken more and more in the West as they lose their ability to loot the Rest of the World as Russia, China, Iran, India etc. become stronger. The tools for the looting of the periphery is now being used at home. Europe is not far behind the UK, and the US may be buffered a little by its energy independence, huge agricultural sector, the reserve currency, and its current looting of Europe but it will not be far behind. Welcome to Brazilianization, where a small rich elite exist next to the masses living in squalor.
Of course, they are slashing away at the very bases of the society that supports their own wealth but they may realize that too late. The ultra-rich will swan off abroad like the Russian oligarchs living in Europe, while the lesser rich and upper middle class may come to rue the day they acted so selfishly as they live in a crime-ridden and decaying nation. The Northern Irish, Scots and Welsh need to get out of this shit-hole of a country as fast as they can.
Before brexit the bank of England said that brexit will contract gdp by 4 percent and decrease growth.
This is what happens when you are a philistine and a xenophobe.
Had they listened to the economists and not been so basic as to blame migrants on all their woes,they would have a gdp growth of 2 percent
Posted by: Jellyfishequas | Sep 30 2022 1:23 utc | 77
Jannie is a hateful xenophobic clown and such bigotry really should have no place here. There are a bunch of libertarian economists here; which means you're economic morons; utterly confused, you haven't even bothered to define Utilities vs Free markets. Libertarians are right on foreign policy, but that's simple, libertarian economics is a Wall St lie. Sorry, you're way too ignorant to understand, you likely don't file an itemized return, and really don't have any understanding of what you're talking about. Progressive income taxes favor capital intensive producers, low taxes, lead to high sales/VAT/property taxes which again tax capital intensive producers; where the paper pushers love low taxes, they have nothing they produce to sell, nor employees, nor property for production. So, you bought the grifter's lie. Sorry, you don't understand
Posted by: scottindallas | Sep 30 2022 1:43 utc | 78
Sorry, you don't understand
Posted by: scottindallas | Sep 30 2022 1:43 utc | 76
I definitely don't. But keep income tax to no more than 1% gross income with no deductions plus those in lower 50% excluded and all will be well.
ZX, no Brexit was only an own goal kick. Increase in tariffs and costs of imports. Gee, a single clearing house for the bulk of your commerce, or destroy all that for a piece meal, incremental return, increasing costs of transactions. That's a tax that benefits no one. You don't even know what you're supporting, you're just a xenophobic ass who doesn't realize you need immigrants to do work your workers won't do.
Scorpion, you really don't understand; you'd tax a capital intensive firm; that's actual producers at a far higher effective rate than the paper pushers. You look at nominal tax rates; who cares what nominal rates are; I look at effective or actual tax rates. You're taxing the real producers and leaving the paper pushers, gov't and those you rightly resent untaxed. You're arguing for them, not to control them. You've been duped and played
Posted by: scottindallas | Sep 30 2022 2:17 utc | 80
Here's to internationalism and the spirit of everything not sucking.
1) G. Bizet - R. Shchedrin, Carmen Suite
Moscow Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, Armenian State Chamber Ensemble and Percussion Ensemble conducted by Vladimir Spivakov.
2) R. Shchedrin, The Frescoes of Dionysius 46:05
The Bolshoi Theatre soloists Ensemble conducted by Alexander Lazarev.
Recorded in the USSR by Melodiya, Moscow.
Produced by Olympia Compact Discs. England
Per Wiki on the Carmen Suite, with Cuba in there somewhere for the added power of more internationalism:
A standard string orchestra of violins, violas, cellos, double basses is augmented by a percussion battery of one timpanist and four members, who play the following:
Player 1: marimba, vibraphone, xylophone, castanets, three cowbells, four bongos, tubular bells, snare drum, guiro
Player 2: vibraphone, marimba, snare drum, tambourine, two woodblocks, claves, triangle, guiro
Player 3: glockenspiel, crotales, maracas, whip, snare drum, cabasa, guiro, three temple blocks, bass drum, tam-tam, tenor drum, triangle
Player 4: cymbals, bass drum, tam-tam, hi-hat, triangle, tambourine, five tom-toms
when Truss and the pound let you down, Carmen stands her ground. btw, "Carmen" is French for the Spanish "Carmen".
Posted by: rjb1.5 | Sep 30 2022 2:41 utc | 81
@ZX 65
The money was given to banksters, not the public, and so has not had an inflationary pressure outside of stock prices and property.
Most people are broke, which is why there is no demand pull, and, until the insanity of a blockade against a critical resource, no supply push either*. As these are the necessary prerequisites to inflation, what we were seeing, and, to a large extent still are seeing, is not inflation but stagflation.
*No amount of money can increase the supply of legacy carbon supplied to the West by Russia, so, there being no swing producers, irrespective of money, scarcity will remain while sanctions do.
Posted by: Hermit | Sep 30 2022 2:55 utc | 82
The system in so many western countries is broken, Michael Hudson has many theories on why as a starting point. The problem with an enormous public sector is that they are no longer public servants but rather overlords, their rules and regulations help little and really just strangle everything they touch from families to the economy. Additionally they are an enormous tax burden, of course government is necessary however it should be minimal, consider that corruption can only occur in the presence of government, the less there is the less corruption.
Liz Truss it is doubtful will have solutions, the real issue is the problem is so huge it needs a Putin type person in charge for at least two decades to unravel the mess, too many snouts at the trough don't want the corrupt rotten system changed.
Posted by: Organic | Sep 30 2022 2:59 utc | 83
@scottindallas
Nice to see actual economics discussed.
Two quotes you may enjoy,
There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs."
[Kung Fu Monkey -- Ephemera, blog post, March 19, 2009
Libertarians know the cost of everything, the value of nothing and the age-of-consent in every state. [Me]
Posted by: Hermit | Sep 30 2022 3:11 utc | 84
You look at nominal tax rates; who cares what nominal rates are; I look at effective or actual tax rates. You're taxing the real producers and leaving the paper pushers, gov't and those you rightly resent untaxed. You're arguing for them, not to control them. You've been duped and played
Posted by: scottindallas | Sep 30 2022 2:17 utc | 80
I think for myself. Nobody duped me. This is my idea. You are projecting.
1% gross income is easy to calculate. No progressive anything. No deductions. It's a reasonable amount. The main benefit is that it limits size of central government which is the source of 95% of endemic corruption ruining the country / countries.
Even better: NO income tax. Just 2.5% added to all gas & electricity bills.
Just a quick note on the NHS. It is not turning people away because of a lack of resources. It is turning people away because of things like staff sickness. My local GP surgery was closed for two years due to Covid. LOL. It opened up briefly in the summer of 2021 and then opened again this last Easter. It has now closed again. I live in Wales where the NHS is run by the devolved Welsh government (controlled by the Labour party) which can, if it wishes, raise additional taxes to finance the NHS if it so wishes. The situation in Scotland is just as grim and Scotland (run by the SNP) has even more power to raise money and make decisions. We have large numbers of excess deaths, which experts say is due to unknown causes. This is a joke, since these excess deaths are present in every country in Europe so far as I can see. A huge war right now would cover up the ongoing medical disaster.
Posted by: Tsar Nicholas | Sep 30 2022 3:44 utc | 86
re farm ecologist | Sep 29 2022 19:44 utc | 32
lol as an inhabitant of a formerly colonised by england nation, I have to laugh at the incessant whining by englanders about immigrants that spews from the mouths of those englanders still in england.
I have proposed this easy fix time and time again, if these englanders want to get rid of all 'their' immigrants they should propose a swap, everybody with an englander ancestry that has emigrated elsewhere in the world, should have to go back to england and we the rest of the world will welcome all the people currently living in england who do not have an englander ancestry.
All the whinging no-hopers currently idly living off their petty frauds & major land thefts will be concentrated in one spot, making everybody everywhere else able to live in happy & productive contentment knowing that never again will they have to tolerate idiot strangers publically sobbing over the death of a 96 year-old parasite, sleazy real-estate agents/car salespersons, lazy & complaining minor public servants or boring arseholes incessantly whining about "how much better everything is back 'ome"
Instead we would get mobs of decent humans who are finally able to relax & enjoy their lives without having to worry if their children will be taunted by ignorant fellow students or moronic englander school-teachers because "they don't belong here".
The only doubts would be over whether there is enough room to accommodate them all in england and who is gonna be prepared to work hard enough to ensure all welfare cheques go out every week.
Posted by: Debsisdead | Sep 30 2022 4:06 utc | 87
The ultra-rich will swan off abroad like the Russian oligarchs living in Europe, while the lesser rich and upper middle class may come to rue the day they acted so selfishly as they live in a crime-ridden and decaying nation. The Northern Irish, Scots and Welsh need to get out of this shit-hole of a country as fast as they can.
Posted by: Roger | Sep 30 2022 0:57 utc | 74
Well, wasn't it a good thing for Russia when those oligarchs 'swanned off' as you put it, Roger? Maybe the Northern Irish, Scots and Welsh ought just to hang in there, let 'em go. Same in the US; let 'em go...
I'm a bit sorry for my native land in the antipodes though. But maybe the maori can handle the swanners; they can be a bit feisty when riled.
Posted by: juliania | Sep 30 2022 5:09 utc | 88
Treat Truss with great care. The Queen shook hands with her, and was dead two days later.
(Though my guess is that the Q thought "Each PM is wose than the preceding one. I give up." And did.)
Posted by: RoHa | Sep 30 2022 5:32 utc | 89
Truss was given an economic hospital pass - there were no good options and some sort of recession combined with inflation and energy problems were always going to occur. She chose a sort of top down trickle down tax cut policy combined with energy price subsidies. Stuff which appeals to those hard core tories who voted for her but economically incoherent. But as I said anything she did was going to cause a problem and doing nothing was too.
She inherited run away government spending, high and rising inflation, an economy built on debt and vulnerable to rising interest rates and a structural energy problem 20 years in the making. What we are seeing now is what happens when fairy dust economics and unicorn energy policies collide for a generation. And by all accounts Truss is no Maggie and it will take another Iron Lady to sort out this mess.
Posted by: marcjf | Sep 30 2022 6:30 utc | 90
"She inherited run away government spending, high and rising inflation, an economy built on debt and vulnerable to rising interest rates and a structural energy problem 20 years in the making. What we are seeing now is what happens when fairy dust economics and unicorn energy policies collide for a generation. And by all accounts Truss is no Maggie and it will take another Iron Lady to sort out this mess."
Posted by: marcjf | Sep 30 2022 6:30 utc | 90
And the virtually complete destruction of British industry. Which, of course was started by Maggie.
Posted by: Walt | Sep 30 2022 6:44 utc | 91
I hold no torch for Truss. But in an economic downturn fiscal expansion is the better course than austerity. Of course, I would rather see public spending go to investment in infrastructure and job guarantee schemes rather than tax breaks for the wealthiest. That the BoE had been looking at scaling back money supply with QT and interest rate hikes shows that they and the markets adhere to monetarist ideas from the 70s. 1974 sterling crisis shows how the dominance of the financial sector's interests and worries about lower exchange rate can harm the domestic economy. We then took an IMF bailout, we didn't need to.
The reason QE is thought to lead to inflation is that the money from bond purchases inevitably goes to the financial sector first and leads to financial asset prices rising, leading to widespread price which results in a transfer of wealth from poorer to richer. Monetary expansion should be used for deploy real economic resources that are lying idle. Or should we allow the preference of the global financial elite to be our benchmark of how to run an economy? Ask an Argentinian. Central banks can operate with negative equity forever
Posted by: diagonal | Sep 30 2022 7:32 utc | 92
A huge war right now would cover up the ongoing medical disaster.
Posted by: Tsar Nicholas | Sep 30 2022 3:44 utc
Like 9/11: controlled demolition
@2 leaf "Actually, a crash that screws over most of the population is when the elite will scoop up everything at distress prices,"
Yeah, that's how it is meant to work, and very often it does.
But sometimes - just sometimes - the oligarchs are walking down the street with asset-shovel in hand, only to run into the angry mod sliding in the other direction with pitchforks at the ready.
Posted by: Yeah, Right | Sep 30 2022 8:36 utc | 94
I find it quite extraordinary that MMT people are still shamelessly pushing their stuff at this moment.
Posted by: Raskolnikov | Sep 30 2022 8:38 utc | 95
@Raskolnikov | Sep 30 2022 8:38 utc | 94
15 days of ₤5 billions unsterilized BoE intervention must be confusing to you.
Exactly what is the bank intervening?
Posted by: too scents | Sep 30 2022 8:49 utc | 96
Truss' stated position that should Scotland vote for independence then she would rule that 50 % was not acceptable and insist on a 60 % requirement has not been given much attention .
Poor economic prospects are the usual objection raised by anti-independence commenters . But analysis of the smaller European economies suggests the opposite outcome would happen .
And if we could stop paying for Hydrogen bomb carrying submarines , aircraft carriers , and a river of weapons to Ukraine we might do pretty well .
Posted by: kiltdownman | Sep 30 2022 9:43 utc | 97
Latest opinion poll from YouGov
The Torys will be crushed by Labour.
Posted by: Poul | Sep 30 2022 9:49 utc | 98
I suppose they could take the guy who just got sent packing from UK Channel 4’s show, Make me Prime Minister, and make him prime Minister and do no worse than with the folks they keep “electing.”
Or they could auction the job off to the highest bidder (isn’t that electoral politics in most of the West anyway?) and at least raise a little revenue for the Treasury.
Posted by: Cato the Uncensored | Sep 30 2022 10:29 utc | 99
England is getting exactly what it deserves. You vote for clowns you get a circus. You vote tory you get shitshow. Its Scotland and Wales neither of whom ever voted tory i feel for
Posted by: Mcn64 | Sep 30 2022 10:51 utc | 100
The comments to this entry are closed.
Always excellent b.
Not sure what it worse; the current controlled demolition of all that we know, or nuclear winter for the lucky.
There is no momentum for a happy ending.
Posted by: gottlieb | Sep 29 2022 17:30 utc | 1