President Trump: openly talking about problems is the first step to solve problems

The excellent approach promoted by President Donald Trump when it comes to sorting out problems in Africa is refreshing after so many lies and cover ups promoted by so called mainstream political parties and so called mainstream media. Are people being killed in South Africa because of hatred? Yes, there are. South Africa has not yet overcome the the trauma of transition after Apartheid. Is criminality widespread in South Africa? Yes, it is widespread. As the South African President himself acknowledged, unemployment and poverty and the actions of criminal gangs are issues of great concern and this is why the South African President stated that South Africa needs American help to increase investment and to promote the creation of jobs to reduce criminality and to give people hope.

When you look around Africa, what do you see? You see people who are desperately tryting to solve problems. You see poor management of resources. You see poverty, crime and illness. So talking about problems to offer Africa a better future is the way forward. I am extremely glad and feel very fortunate to have been able to witness a press conference that shows the way in which politics should be carried out. Bring everything out into the open, tackle problems head on, leave behind mentaly retarded ideological stances that not only do not provide solutions, but are used to hide what is actually going on. 

Taxing private pensions, assets and shares? More madness on the way.

 Due to low productivity, Britain has increasingly relied on financial services. There are two sides of banking. One is the conventional side of banking based on mortgages and loans and the other is financial banking, lending money to investors that take a huge deal of risk and therefore expect higher rewards. 

Private pension funds very much depend on shares and investments and values fluctuate on a daily basis, so there is an inherent level of risk. How can you tax shares? Will you tax what a share was worth on Monday or what a share was worth on Tuesday?

Imagine yourself as a Northern Rock shareholder. One day you count your wins. You have an investment and you have a return. The next day, your investment evaporates because the value of your shares is literally zero and you have no return. Are we going to see debt taxed?

The only growth that the present Labour government will produce is the growth of debt, unemployment, illegal employment, and fraud. Launching a virulent attack against the one sector that keeps Britain alive is cutting down the tree on which you are standing. The 2008 financial crise will feel like a pleasant vacation.

The infamous event affecting people who had used their assets to support insurance payments comes to mind. One day they were riding the waves of opulence and the next day they were selling everything they had to pay for insurance claims.

Britain: long before the first official budget is published, announcements are not encouraging

As part of point scoring, two digit salary increases are announced for public workers and Union workers while, at the same time, measures to support pensioners are discontinued and new increases of utility bills are announced.

Presumably, in october, we are going to be told about a tax shower. So get your spreadsheets ready because it is going to take some time to calculate how much ordinary britons are gong to be hit with a barrage of taxes and utility bills that sooner than later are going to be reflected on the cost of basic items of the family basket. Nominal values might be going up but real values are going to make you poorer.

We are really and truly talking about a new period of austerity, but this time under a Labour government. The Labour Party played a new version of 'read my lips, no more taxes' and the gullible fell for it. People are going to be taxed to the hilt and beyond. Let's look at rental prices. They were already beyond reach for a growing number of peoples.

If you are going to have even less disposable income, things can only be worse and one of the most worrying bits for any economy is a massive reduction of consumption. Using Covid as an example, if people - deterred by rising taxes and rising utility bills - start consuming less and less then already struggling businesses will go out of business pushing upwards unemployment numbers.

In any case, get your spreadsheets ready. 

Conservative government: What next?

 Conservative Government: What next?

Since the days of Boris Johnson and in spite of then then 80 seat majority, the Conservative Administration has been plagued by both issues that they could not possible foresee and control and by situations that arose because of measures they took that turned into yet another crisis.

The Covid Pandemic declared in March 2020 put everybody to the test and lockdown measures adopted to apparently tackle the pandemic generated a whole new series of issues, increasing divisions within the Conservative Government. It was about 'Lockdown or no Lockdown'. 

The start of declared hostilities in Ukraine was yet another test. Sanctions against the Russian Federation backfired and produced an energy crisis that destabilized the British Economy. The long standing stability with low prices and low interest rates gave way to higher interest rates and higher prices that in turn produced a series of strikes and forced the government to add more protection measures on top of the protective measures adopted during Lockdown to prevent a sudden rise in unemployment due to lack of economic activity.

Once the government started to regain control the crisis in Palestine opened a whole new can of worms. The fact that people immediately took sides reflects the tribal nature of Britain and this, unavoidably, led to yet another reshuffle to try and have some kind of equilibrium both in national terms and in terms of geopolitics.

All the way, from Covid, going through Lockdown, sanctions against the Russian Federation that led to rising inflation and the present issues involving Palestine, fractures within political parties became fairly visible. It is like walking on a high rope without a balancing pole. As the saying goes, 'keep your friends close and your foes even closer'. Loyalties are being tested to destruction. If Britain were to be involved in a real war tomorrow morning, this is a government that is struggling to survive until the next General Election due to take place in May 2024 and that will not be capable of dealing with war at home and war abroad. What would a General Election in 2024 achieve? For starters, it could be change, even if it is change for change sake. Having said that, when you look at what is happening across the home nations, political realities are much too complex to be able to foresee what the outcome of a General Election would be. 

North of the border, at times it looks like the SNP will collapse. At times it looks like any expectations about the demise of the SNP are very much an exaggeration. In Wales, the Labour administration might be unpopular, but then people might decide to stick to what they have got for fear of worse political realities. In Northern Ireland, political paralysis is a reality with Sinn Fein winning spaces and without a cross party agreement to return to the Northern Ireland Assembly. In England, the mainstream political parties are fragmented depending on what are the most important issues according to regions.

There are far too many issues that generate divisions both in terms of national politics and of international politics. You cannot promise one thing to please one side without alienating another side and you don't have the luxury of being vague in terms of where you stand politically.

United Kingdom: Where does the principle of social responsibility stand? Robots are killing jobs and increasing anti-social trends

We talk about technology and about how beautiful technology is. Some bits of technology are obviously very attractive and rewarding for many, but other bits of technology can create social mayhem. Every year, policians of all political colours talk about rates of unemployment, but when it comes to unemployment rates, a single piece of equipment has created a lot of unemployment and especially amongst those more vulnerable in society.

I went to my local supermarket. It was a beehive of activity and the shopping experience was very much a social experience. I knew the attendants and the attendants knew me since I had been going to the same shop day in and day out for several years.

Yesterday, I went to the same local supermarket and it was as quiet as a funeral parlour. All I could see was a queue of puzzled customers and a security guard that had to get out of his way every three minutes to help customers that were struggling to use the self-check out machines that often get stuck while you are registering your shopping.

When shops or banks are not closed down straight away, they usually incorporate self-checkout machines and other automatic equipment. The more automatic equipment is introduced the less of a reason to return as a customer. I value people and I value the social experience. Shopping is not just about putting things into a basket and registering the goods on a robotic machine.

Politicians talk a lot about the importance of building up communities. They are not going to build up communities with robotic machines that are destroying jobs and ruining social experiences. 

Something similar was proposed when the closure of ticket offices in railway stations was mentioned. Should you have a heart attack, should you need any especific information, should you be attacked at the station, you can ask the electronic machine on the wall to help you. This kind of technology is dehumanising and anti-social. It is destroying the very same things that we say that we want in society.

Looting and shoplifting are on the way up. I am sure that looters and shoplifters will care very little about a solitary security guard that would not want to put his or her life in danger by trying to prevent robberies. If you were alone inside a shop and a crowd of undesirables entered the shop to take everything they want or can get from inside the shop, would you stand on their way? A local shop was targetted so many times in a single month that the shop was closed down for good and all this happens because of misuse of technology. Society is about people. Society is not about robotic machines that replaced people. 

Automation will not just kill the high street. It will kill local communities.

Trying to maximise earnings for shareholders killing local communities is bad economics and the beginning of a social experiment that will lead to violence.

From banks, pubs, local supermarkets, et cetera, there is a trend to eliminate humans to replace them with robots. Big companies ignore at their peril that local branches are inextricably linked to the local community that is only possible when there are local jobs.

Why do I still visit a certain area? Because I see a vibrant community. I don't visit a given area to be received by holes in the walls - the image created by shops that are no more and all is left is signs indicating that what used to be an integral part of the area is no more.

The more empty spaces the less the appeal to visit a certain area. Too many parts of London - and not just London - look like areas that have been hit by a tornado. It is reported that looting and shoplifting are going up. Well, rundown areas are a magnet for crime.

To me uncontrolled automation is the way to Hell. I do remember the Encyclical Rerum Novarum about the social importance of work. Robots do not create nor sustain local communities. People employed locally constitute local communities. When jobs disappear locally, communities disappear and entire areas become ghost towns. Haven't we learnt anything?

Why do people leave the areas where they live? The lack of a viable local economy. It has been happening across the United Kingdom. Suddenly, you end up with empty high streets and empty houses rotting away. Local infrastructure is wiped out. No banks, no post offices, no pubs, no schools, no healthcare, no jobs. There is no even a reason to have public transport because the number of those needing to use public transport has fallen dramatically and maintaining public transport is no longer a viable proposition. In far too many areas of Britain, schools are closing down. Why? There are not enough children.

Uncontrolled automation destroys local communities and once people leave a certain area and there is no one to use automation automation itself becomes redundant.

A visit to some local council headquarters is a clear image of what has been going on. Local authorities spent vast amounts of money in technology. In one hall alone there were more than 24 computer terminals, but there are only one or two people dealing with customers. So you have got 21 computers terminals that are seldom or never used.

Self-help kiosks installed in NHS hospitals have in most cases being withdrawn. The investment was made at huge expense. The idle pieces of equipment lie around creating confusion until they are finally removed.

Once again, uncontrolled automation does not solve problems. It creates problems and destroys lives.

    

UK Birmingham City Council bankrupt, but more local authorities to follow. Is Sadiq Khan trying to curb deficits using ULEZ and parking permits?

Birmingham City Council has gone bankrupt, but many other local authorities are on the brink of bankruptcy.

Has the expansion of ULEZ and parking space permits a lot to do with plugging London's finances and very little to do with the environment.

Putting up Council Tax is a very unpopular decision in Labour Party dominated London. Most importantly because evasion of payments of Council Tax is going up and local authorities know that putting up Council Tax payments in London means that less people will pay Council Tax. Like other local authorities across the land, London Authorities are desperate for money and running out of time to pay debts before services delivered by local authorities are compromised.

Getting closer to an election year, Sadiq Khan has been campaigned very hard for the extension of ULEZ and for the imposition of parking permits (Council Tax under another name) with the excuse of protecting the environment as a way to make people forget that it is actually a rise of Council Tax.

Local business are being starved of funds. It was not enough with having to pay extortionate business rates, insurance, maintenance payments and rental agreements in a economy that underwent lockdown measures with nefarious consequences. During the imposition of lockdown measures, small businesses across not just London, but across the land closed their doors. Income tax is a tax based on real income. All other expenses have little to do with what a business can actually make. Most other taxes are taxes that have to be paid regardless of how much a business makes and the smaller ones suffered the brunt. But big companies were not untouched. Some managed to cope and others are now showing signs that it is game  over for them. Some are being acquired and rebranded, but in any case jobs losses are unavoidable.

In some cases, businesses are collapsing because of ULEZ, parking permits, and traffic changes that push customers away. Overnight, a local business might be closing its doors because the aforementioned - ULEZ, parking permits, and traffic changes - have literally left them without enough customers to pay taxes and other bills.

If businesses big and small go down, the expansion of ULEZ and parking permits and traffic changes are going to deliver a Pyhrric Victory for local authorities and the state treasury. If businesses go down, tax receipts go down. If businesses go down, unemployment goes up and the Welfare budget that includes payments for unemployment will go up.

Instead of helping businesses recover from years of lockdown, local authorities will bankrupt themselves by bankrupting businesses that support the local economy that produce the income that local authorities very much need.

  

 

UK Happy New Year: The threat is that the New Year will bring more industrial unrest with foreseable and unforeseable consequences

If the Lockdown can be blamed for the loss of economic activity, endemic strikes will cause untold damage to a weak British economy and the chances are that inflation will then skyrocket with rates of inflation not seen for ages or ever happening in the United Kingdom. You cannot have a national budget in times of significant economic losses. How can you predict how much you are going to spend if the very same day in which you announce the budget the indicators used to calculate your budget have moved upwards. 

Put it this way. You plan to spend X amounts of Pounds for Health. Inflation will eat away whatever monies you invest in Health. If you say that you will invest 100 Pound and then inflation eats away 20 of the 100 Pound, the actual investment will fall from 100 Pound to 80 Pound. If inflation keeps going up and you end end up with an endless series of strikes with people demanding a series of increases just to keep up with inflation, whatever monies are given as increases will never be sufficient. You cannot go on borrowing indefinitely.  Other countries have tried to survive such a cycle and have ended up defaulting and Britain is not big enough not to fail. Given the size of the British economy, there isn't a single institution that could supply the amount of funding necessary to keep Britain alive.

No government could break such a cycle and the moment the country becomes literally insolvent we are going to lose many of the advances made in many areas including Health and Education. This has already been happening when you look at the number of vacancies that remain unfilled. Immigration will make a bad situation worse because the issue is management and not lack of resources and this is very much apparent when you look at other areas like Tertiary Education. If we keep pumping resources to produce things for which there is no demand then we are going to lack the necessary resources for things for which there is demand. The aim for many years has been to increase the number of those attending Universities without thinking about the kind of degrees we really need. The natural consequence has been rising student generated debt, degrees that end up in a drawer without ever been used in the real world and drop outs. The inconsistencies are pretty obvious but political correctness stands on the way of decision makers. As if this wasn't enough, those in charge of managing the budgets of education centres don't mind accepting students for courses for which there is no future as long as they keep getting funding.

We know that there are issues to deal with but there is no political will to deal with them and status quo sustains a permacrisis.

Strikes generate enormous losses for the economy by paralizing the country. As always, the ones who will suffer more because of strikes are the most vulnerable.

Jeremy Hunt: November 17th 2022 - Tax Day

 

November 17th 2022 - Tax Day

A hole in public finances of  more than 50 billion Pound will have to be plugged. Apart from the prospect of budget cuts affecting services, the alternative is a massive amount of tax increases.

Kwasi Kwarteng was slaughtered, thrown to the wolves, because he wanted to implement Liz Truss policies of tax reductions. What will happen to Jeremy Hunt when he announces a budget that contains punitive measures?

Let us remember that on the first round of the leadership election that led to the Premiership of Liz Truss the now Chancellor of the Exchequer didn't manage to progress beyond the first round. He was not popular among MPs and was not popular among the Membership of the Conservative Party. Now, the same man is going to propose a budget that goes against what is the declared ideological stance of the Conservative Party. Rising energy costs, rising interest rates plus rising taxes. If you are a business owner struggling to survive in the present financial environment, how are you going to react? Will you minimize your business to reduce fixed costs and in doing so sent your staff to the queue of the unemployed? A very harsh winter coming for those who lose their jobs when families are already struggling to pay for rental accommodation because they don't have the means to afford mortgage payments.

Wasn't Rishi Sunak the one who suggested that we should have a long term approach instead of shock therapy? Will such a budget be compatible with long term thinking? If Jeremy Hunt goes to far, this could the end of Jeremy Hunt and also the end of an already wavering Rishi Sunak? What next? Another leadership election?

Just a few months ago it was reported that recent interest rates will put more than 500,000 mortgages in jeopardy. Will more taxes and more unemployment make the situation better or worse? If the mortgage business falters, the financial system as a whole will be in serious trouble. We don't need even to explain what a wave of mortgage and load defaults will do to the economy.

UK: In just a few weeks, the British economy could be in the doldrums and much stronger leadership will be needed

 

What is happening right now is deeply worrying because the times of easy money could be coming to an abrupt end. The issue is not just rising inflation. The issue is that salaries and pensions have been pegged to inflationary pressures. 

At this point in time, asking for salary rises pegged to inflation could itself be a force towards more inflation and more borrowing when interest payments will be taking their toll on public finances.

And what if, as expected, the Treasury does not agree to salary increases that it could hardly afford? Would the state sector be ground to a halt? It is understandable that public workers that are seeing their incomes devalued are prone to ask for salary rises. Having said that, those in charge know full well that public finances have been drained and that any monies to pay for higher salaries will come from additional borrowing at a time when interest rates are going up and from an increase in taxation.

If energy is the main driver when it comes to inflationary pressures, then more energy will have to be produced and to do so all the promises in terms of a reduction of the use of fossil fuels will have be put aside. In the 1970s, Britain was almost brought down to its knees and the country was working just a few days a week. The issue was then energy or lack of it. Today, the issue is the price of it. Whoever takes the reins of power in September will have to make difficult choices. Doing less to save energy is not an option. Slowing down the British economy by enforcing energy savings will make matters a lot worse. 

We learnt from the imposed Covid lockdown leading to lack of economic activity that slowing down the British economy will cost livelihoods: businesses will be closed down and an undetermined number of jobs will be lost. Companies that generate little or no revenue at all have no reason to maintain jobs. Less economic activity endangers jobs and produces less tax revenues. If you slow down an aircraft in plain flight the time comes when the only way is down. We cannot have yet another loss of economic activity. We need energy and we need energy wherever we can find it. If foreign oil and gas producers don't want or cannot provide additional oil and gas, Britain will have to become self-sufficient and all options should be on the cards, including fracking.

Whoever is chosen as Prime Minister will have to make hard choices and implement decisions that will prove to be as unpopular as fundamentally necessary. Whether Rishi Sunak or Liz Truss is in command, he or she will have to forget about popularity contests. The popularity contest is only there to get one of them elected. Real governance demands dogged determination to do what is right.   

European Energy Rationing and strikes: Sanctions against Russian Federation benefit Russian Federation

 

Europe is shooting itself in the foot: sanctions against Russian Federation benefit Russian Federation

In the midst of a hot summer and talk about environmental crisis caused by rising temperatures leading to fires and meltdown snow caps, people can easily forget that winter will come and that when winter comes energy prices will not only hit the roof because of lack of energy sources. Winter will come with rationing and this will bring with it all kinds of unsavoury situations, conflict and most probably social and political unrest across Europe.

Before there was any talk about rationing, prices were rising steadily and utility bills were hitting consumers that are now going to be told that they not only will have to pay more more the energy they use. They will also have to face the certain possiblity of blackouts.

In Germany, head of industry, trade unions and politicians including the Deputy President of the European Commission are alerting about what is to come. Industries that have to pay higher energy costs and/or industries that are told that they will not have the energy they need to be able to function will face extremely harsh choices. If they decide to reduce operations or if they cannot obtain the energy they need to continue operating, the unavoidable consequence will be mass unemployment.

In Britain, the struggle has already begun. Strikes involving transport will be reinforced by strikes of public sector workers that demand salary rises to cope with galloping inflation. Any salary rises will drain even more an already exhausted treasury. Any loss economic activity will lead to economic losses and will threaten the stability of the British Pound. If the currency collapses, then there will be a double wammy. Britain will pay more for the energy it uses not just because of higher market prices, but because the parity with the US Dollar used to buy oil and gas will be less favourable.

The British government is aware that it will come the time when Britain will be paralized by strikes and this is why legislation is being put through Parliament to counter trade unions to allow agency workers to replace ordinary workers. The problem is that alienating ordinary workers is a leading cause to political and civil unrest and there might not be enough manpower to prevent street battles and widespread violence. By passing such legislation the authorities might be unwittingly creating two sides at war in the United Kingdom.

In the meantime, the witchhunt is already underway. British citizens that utterly disagree with UK policies regarding the Russian Federation are being hunted down and their assets are being frozen and there is even the threat of trials for crimes against humanity. Britain has been encouraging British mercenaries to get involved in the war to attack the Russian Federation, but does not like the fact that British citizens of their own volition actually support the Russian Federation.

Britain is at war with the Russian Federation and sooner than later Britain will pay a very high price for it and the same applies to most countries of the European Union. The idea that Europe and/or Britain can target the Russian Federation without any consequences for Britain and Europe is as naive as the words of Hermann Goering when he promised Adolf Hitler that German cities would never be bombed.

Europe and Britain will have to face the consequences, consequences that could be worse than anything conceivable or predictable. Europe and Britain are moving around with the same self-assurance the inhabitants of Hiroshima and Nagasaki had on the eve of the launching of two atomic bombs.

Just yesterday, both Conservative party contenders for the leadership of the Conservative Party were asked very simplistic questions about Britain involvement in Ukraine. Not even the journalists of the BBC have the brainpower to ask proper questions. The issue was not about sending or not sending the Royal Navy to the Black Sea. The issue is what will happen if Britain is formally involved in the war because sending the Royal Navy would be an act of war. The time for intimidation is gone because any additional actions will actually trigger a European conflict.

 

  

Moscow and London: How signals are interpreted

 

How signals are interpreted

In 1991, the Soviet Union came to an end and this was very much the consequence of the efforts to remain ahead during the so called Cold War. The Soviet Union had to invest a vast amount of resources to remain significant in the arms race and it came the point when it could no longer afford to keep up because it did not have the financial muscle to do so.

The resignation of Mikhail Gorbachev as Soviet President is very much the end as soon after the Soviet Union disintegrated, leaving the USA as the one major superpower without any close competitors as China itself was far from being what China is today - economically, technologically and militarily. It could be said that the USA could attack Yugoslavia and dismember Yugoslavia without a UN mandate and without any real opposition and this is something that could not have happened if the Soviet Union had been around with the power to prevent such attack.

Having said that, 2022 is a different story. The Russian Federation is much more powerful than the Soviet Union for several reasons and one of them is the fact that the Russian Federation like China are much more homogenous countries with less ethnic and political contradictions. The Russian intelligence networks was magnifically helped by the fact that former Warsaw Pacto countries and regions were integrated into the European Union. If you were to look for an image to represent what has happened the Trojan Horse comes to mind.

The USA has used Britain as an extension of the USA in Europe and beyond. The USA has used Britain to justify USA agendas before the American people. If Tony Blair had not joined forces with George Bush Junior, it would have been difficult for the American President to sell his agenda to the American people. Britain has been used as a junior partner and as a propaganda tool and Britain has had to pay a very high price for it. It happened in Iraq and it happened in Afghanistan and it is happening in Europe. Inflation and financial difficulties that Britain is facing don't come out of nowhere. They are the direct result of sanctions and other measures taken against the Russian Federation that have had a boomerang effect not just in Europe, but worldwide. What happens when oil prices measured in US Dollars go up? Britain will pay higher prices not just because of market prices going up, but also because the loss of value of Pound means that Britain will need a lot more Dollars to pay for energy supplies and this has a direct impact on the British economy. If the Treasury cannot keep up with increasing expenditure and if the private sector in Britain has to translate cost into prices charged to consumers, industrial unrest is already on the horizon.

Just a few days ago, the British government was offering salary increases of 3% when inflation was already at 9% and more. Active workers will suffer and pensioners will suffer when the government is not able to adjust salaries and pensions taking into account the rate of inflation. The private sector already hit very badly by Covid, hit now both by inflation and consumption reduction will face an even harsher economic environment.

Liz Truss as Foreign Secretary said that she was in favour of cutting down the manpower of the British Armed Forces at a time when tensions are rising and there is the prospect of open conflict with both the Russian Federation and China. While would the UK be talking about cutting down its military capabilities? While is she asking other countries to increase their defense budget? My educated guess is that Britain does not have what it takes to beef up its Armed Forces and is therefore asking others to invest more to level the field in terms of what NATO can do or not do. President Donald Trump raised the concern that USA was the one feeling the pain created by military expenditure while other NATO members were not doing enough. Chancellor Olaf Scholz talked about hundred billions of EUROs to beef up German military capabilities, but how does this fit in with the fact that Germany is facing serious issues when it comes not just to the availability of energy sources, but also to the cost of existing energy sources. When both big economic players like Bayer and Thyssen-Krupp and the trade unions talk about the risk of economic collapse, what will Olaf Scholz be willing to sacrifice to beef up the German military capabilities? When you look East, Poland was offering to send their outdated Mig fighter jets to Ukraine if the USA could give Poland F35s in exchange, something that was rejected outrightly by the USA. What about other countries of the NATO block and what about those who are not members of NATO? Do they have the financial muscle to beef up their military capabilities or will they always depend on what USA or Britain can give them? Germany made many promises, but has delivered none of them.

Behind the speeches, this is the reality and today the British Primer Minister Boris Johnson fell not because of the scandals involving sexual misconduct of Conservative MPs. He fell because of economic realities. What were Conservative MPs talking about? VAT and Corporation Tax. Britain has been overspending for several reasons, including the fight against COVID when caution regarding budget was put aside to deal with a national emergency. On top of that, there is another national emergency created by British geopolitical decisions that have backfired. 

Look at the economy. For decades, Britain had remained relatively stable with very low interest rates and a significantly higher rate of employment and low prices in the shops. As the CEO of Poundland explained, he used to pay about 2,000 Pound for a container and now the price has jumped and it costs 20,000 Pound to bring imported products to the United Kingdom. Add to that fixed overheads and utilities and economic margins are dramatically reduced. This is not sustainable and on top of it the devaluation of the Pound compared to the US Dollar will make imports ever more expensive. Put aside Poundland and the situation many importers and exporters face and focus on food supplies. If Britain imports 60 per cent of what Britain consumes, then the costs of food will rise exponentially combining importation, transportation and distribution and costs involved in retail operations. Retail costs have been reducing by reducing manpower at the shops. You see today that the number of employees employed by retailers has been reduced with the introduction of automation. Automation reduces the numbers of jobs across the board whether we are talking about banking and financial institution, retailers and even transport. Much of the dispute affecting transport and leading to strikes is due to the declared intention of cutting jobs to cut costs. Having said that, if jobs been eliminated in one segment of activity are not created in other areas, the welfare bill will have to rise to pay for unemployment benefits and other social benefits in a country in which the number of non active population is rising while the number of those active at work is falling. This happens naturally because of an ageing population, but it is accelerated when people who are still fit to remain active lose their jobs.

What happened to the Soviet Union will happen to Britain. There is a time when your economy is not strong enough and everything is translated into accumulated and rising debt and when this happens there are social and political consequences.

 

RMT: if blood circulation stops or blood doesn't flow as fast as it should...

 

What do the transport strikes actually mean? 

Transport and communications are the blood of Britain. Without blood circulation the body stops, comes to an end, and this is exactly what is happening right now. After more than 24 months of economic and social activity in lockdown, lack of normal transport is another form of lockdown, but it has even more implications.

For ages, we have heard about protecting the environment by reducing CO2 levels. Well, if people are forced to used their own means of transportation including motor vehicles that consume fossil fuels, will there be more or less CO2? As the number of vehicles on the streets increases, traffic jams increase leading to delays and engines stuck on the streets, going nowhere and producing ever more CO2.

If you say that waiting lists in hospitals are too long, then transport strikes and the direct consequences of transport strikes are going to be ever longer with people having to cancel hospital appointments, delayed medical treatments leading to increase health risks and so forth.

Prices at the shops are rising and will rise even more if transportation costs increase affecting directly distribution of goods across the country.

In conclusion, this is not merely about the jobs and/or salaries of tranport workers. Every single family in the country will be affected by transport strikes in one way or another. The levels of debt are going to go up both in terms of private debt and public debt. Energy must be paid for. Time losses must be paid for and for many the outcome will be lost revenues.

The discusion regarding working conditions and working pensions is reaching the point when working conditions for workers will get worse and everybody will suffer. If the Mayor of London pushed by strikes has to divert funding used to maintain a bus network in the capital city, then working pensions might be protected but bus services will be lost affecting millions of peoples across the capital city. We have already reduced bus services across the capital city and any further reductions of the budget dedicated to bus services will mean loss of services. When future strikes of workers delivering undergound transport services and trains occur, people are going to have even less alternatives to meet their transport needs and the whole city would struggle not to come to a halt.

The London Authority was created to better manage developments in the capital city, added to the authorities that already manage 33 areas of the capital city, being in charge of fundamental projects to improve living conditions in the capital city, but no organisation can function without proper funding and this is what is missing. The added problem is that London is not just a city for Londoners. London is a key element in the economy of the entire country as the Southeast is the region of the United Kingdom that has the most powerful drive in terms of economics. If London comes to a halt, the country will suffer major consequences.

Unemployment in the United Kingdom has been falling steadily. Working conditions have improved although there are certainly some areas that need special attention to prevent economic exploitation that generates serious social problems. The slowdown of economic and social activity will mostly affect the most vulnerable in society. Strikes cannot be a long term solution. If the economy suffers, there will be even less funding for transport, more working hours will be lost, and most probably unemployment will start rising again debilitating the country as a whole. 

Going Underground: not just numbers, but actual families

 

We are used to hear about layoffs, so used to hear about layoffs that layoffs happen all the time and we are none the wiser about how they happen or even where they happen. What is even more odd is that we are not even aware of the real repercussions of the fact that people being laid off. We are not really aware of what is going Underground, under the ground of numbers and percentages we are being flooded with.

I guess that when you enter a bank branch - of the few that remain open compared to the numbers we had just a few years ago, or when you enter a local supermarket, you don't think about how many people have simply vanished from workplaces having been replaced by automation. You might think about how difficult it is to get a job or about how little people are being paid with salaries that will never allow them to climb the housing ladder, but you don't make the connection between automation and rising dispossesion. Somebody might talk about isolation, depression, anxiety, and so forth, but we seldom see the link between employment and many of the social illnesses, mental illnesses and physical illnesses. 

Most of us build our present and think about our futures taking into account how much we earn doing what we are doing. You make plans and suddenly you get the news that you no longer have a job. You no longer have what it takes to support yourself, to pay your bills, to save for that ever elusive future that you might never have.

Like an economics teacher of mine said 'don't forget that all those numbers, those figures, those percentages, those equations and formulae are real people'. 

Gemany's Day X is here to stay

Germany's Day X is here to stay

Everybody was making contingency plans for Day X, the day when gas supplies coming from the Russian Federation were going to cut off and such day arrived when the Russian Federation responding to those who were threatening the Russian Federation with the suspension of gas imports decided to do the deed itself and leave Germany and other countries without gas and this was bound to happen.

Western Germany - we continue talking about Western Germany because the hopes brought by the Fall of the Berlin Wall in terms of economic leveling of East Germany with West Germany were quickly wiped out - is suffering the consequences. More than ever before, Germany will have to rely on coal thus defeating plans presumably designed to protect the environment and CO2 levels. But there is more than that because one German company in particular was using Russian gas to produce battery cases for electric cars and even making train clutch systems. Of course the company representative chose to remain anonymous because he did not want to be seen as supporting the Russian Federation. Having said that, the prospect for the said Germany company is closure leading to unemployment. Let us remember than 55% per cent of the gas used in Germany was coming from the Russian Federation. The damage done to the Germany economy and the erosion of German political stability might not be a price worth paying.

What is coming is a chain reaction in a country in which companies big and small are interlinked. This is the domino effect. Bayer, Basf and Thyssenkrupp are vulnerable and practically every area of industrial activity will be damaged including construction material, pesticides, synthetics, packaging, disinfectants, the producion of drugs for medical use such as antibiotics, vaccines and cancer drugs. Nickel and aluminium come to a great extent from the Russian Federation.

And what happens to hospitals, emergency services and medical manufacturers despite the fact that they will be treated as priorities. Companies are being forced to demonstrate that they deserve to be treated as priorities and those involved in glass manufacturing are an example of what could happen. If production comes to a halt, the nature of the production process will mean that machines could be terminally damaged when liquids settle inside the machines.

If supply chains collapse, already affected by the paralysis generated by lockdown measures during the Covid pandemic, the outcome will be bankruptcies and mass unemployment. Some talk about a recession that will be worse than any of the recessions Germany has faced until now. Do you know what this means?

What about a vaccine against unemployment?

There is no secret about the fact that more than 250,000 people lost their jobs in the United Kingdom since the start of the Covid-19 saga, but lets not forget that many companies like Debenhams and Arcadia were facing tough choices long before Covid-19 became item number one on the news. 

Hardly a single sector has been left untouched by the new realities. We have been bombarded with messages that have made vast segments of the British population extremely afraid. For the moment there is little hope of life being what it was before Covid-19. Britain is like a car running on an empty tank. Much needed social interaction is in very short supply and what before was normal can now be considered to be a criminal activity.

How anxious do you feel? How depressed do you feel? What makes you happy and makes feel that your life is worth living? Financial issues produce a huge impact on peoples' lives. Suddenly, your world becomes very small. You cannot do this and you cannot do that. When 'I can't afford it' becomes the norm rather than the exception, the words 'dead end' come to mind.

The rise of the numbers of people suffering from some kind of mental illness is one of the direct consequences of the Covid-19 saga. Lockdown measures are not good for the economy, but lets remember that our mental health and physical health are also being compromised.

 

 

Covid-19: The Solution as solution and as cause of other problems

 Covid-19 and Lockdowns

Covid-19 and the new realities generated by the measures put in place to deal with the spread of the disease have a turned a health issue into a political battlefield. As if this wasn't enough, social, emotional, and political consequences have made Covid-19 much more than the cause of a pandemia. 

In Britain, a stagnating political system has been proven to be totally incapable of dealing with the realities created by Covid-19. A sizeable number of Members of Parliament never had a real job. They were parachuted into politics with very little or no experience of the real world and they are now trapped when critical decisions are being made. The weight of political allegiances or pragmatic and realistic solutions needed to deal with a crisis. 

Unfortunaltely for them and for the United Kingdom as a whole, party politics will not help Britain tackle what is now running out of control nor tackle the consequences of the measures implemented to deal with the health crisis.

While politicians argue with each other pretending that they are achieving something worth achieving, they are just moving chairs on a sinking Titanic. Whether Lockdown works or doesn't work, there are for starters very stark financial challenges ahead. Not in the long distant future, but in the immediate future. 

Furlough schemes are just a short-term mesure, a delaying mesure. Before the Covid-19 crisis, many were facing the wall in financial terms. All the talk about Britain being all about services in spite of everything and regardless of everthing was based on the belief that Britain could export jobs to China and other developing economies, sacrifice manufacturing, farming and fisheries in dubious dealings witht the European Union and life would be brillian for ever and ever.

In 2008, the "services" ideology was brought into question and Gordon Brown had to plug resources away from the real economy to rescue the "services industries". Having said that, in 2020, the picture is quite different. With the economy in tatters and the prospect of mass unemployment, the British Treasury is hemorraging resources. If there were to be another set of circumstances similar to what happened in 2008, Britain doesn't have the means to save the "services industries" all over again. 

In the old days, the game of chairs was the only game in town. When Labour was becoming unpopular, Conservatives were on the wings ready to jump in. When Conservatives seemed to be going downhill, Labour was ready and waiting. This time around, Neither Labour nor Conservatives are their old selves. 

Covid-19 has long ceased to be a health issue. It is now a political issue and in coming months the knives will be out en force. Suddenly, a whole range of issues will be mixed like in some kind of cocktail Molotov. Covid-19, Mass Unemployment, Illegal Immigration, Brexit and many others. This is war and from now on things will only get worse.

The poisonous snakes of the Left will continue doing their treacherous work to destroy the United Kingdom until their heads are cut off.

 

 

 

Britain is facing the dangers of a prolongued General Strike combined with financial meltdown

Britain is facing the dangers of a prolongued General Strike combined with financial meltdown

The end of the Lockdown will unleash the law of unintended consequences. For example, for education to go back to normal timetables, two conditions must be met. You need to have enough teachers willing to return to the classrooms and enough parents must be willing to send back their children to full-time education.

At the moment, none of the said conditions seem to be about to be met. Trade Unions have stated that they are reluctant to tell their members to go back to work in conditions deemed to be unsafe. Surveyed parents have indicated that they don't want their children back in school for fear of infection.

As long as the Lockdown goes, teachers' salaries continue to be paid. How long will teachers' salaries continue to be paid if the authorities decide that all schools must return to normal timetables and teachers don't show up? Will parents be forced to send their children to school? Will those who don't be penalised?

Normality in terms of school attendance has a direct impact on working families. Parents could not go back to work as normal if their children are not in full time education. In principle, the furlogh scheme will only last until October 31st 2020 when many - perhaps millions - will find out if they still have got a job. 

People without income cannot pay for mortages and loans. We could witness a massive Northern Rock effect. To the number of companies that have already gone under will be added the number of those who have gone under that we still don't know about.

This will happen at a time when the state is already involved in unpredented levels of borrowing to finance the furlogh scheme and other emergency funding. If as a direct result of the present predicament, the financial sector falters, there is no money in the kitty to rescue the financial sector and at the same time pay for mass unemployment.

Die Endlösung der Judenfrage: a capital moment in history

Die Endlösung der Judenfrage: a capital moment in history

Much has been said about what British and other countries where English is the predominant language called simply "Final Solution".

As a historical fact it must be stated that most of the buildings we can see today in what are presumed to be the installations of concentrations camps were built after World War Two when National Socialist Germany was no longer around.
The paradox is that the constant reminder about the camps serves to perpetuate the memories of what happened in concentration camps but at the same time perpetuate the memories of Adolf Hitler and of an ideology called National Socialism. In peoples minds, Jesus of Nazareth and Adolf Hitler are equally famous.

I have looked at the words Arbeit Macht Frei and there is a fundamental truth in those words. Work makes you free. This couldn't be truer in an world in which there is crippling unemployment. We are not masters of our own destiny unless we have control of our own finances. So this is yet again another paradox. We are told to hate an expression that carries such a powerful and positive message.

The NSDAP was in its origins a true Socialist Party German style. Its name - National Socialist German Workers' Party - represents the ideals of a Socialist society in which every member of the said society would play a useful role and in turn everybody's needs would be met.

In spite of all the rubbish we hear when this very important period in history is mentioned, the one fundamental aspect of what actually were the ideals of the NSDAP is completely forgotten. In the rise of National Socialism in Germany there was a very powerful element called Solidarity. People were told that they had to look after each other, care after each other, be a German of one another and share these ideals in the pursuit of a greater, healthier, stronger and wealthier Germany.

For the unemployed, and there were many people out of work and unable to make ends meet, the world Arbeit was a magic word and it was very much rooted in the work ethics of the German people. People were going to be free from hunger, free from the miseries of a life without future, masters of their own lives. This was the essence of "Arbeit Macht Frei" , essence that is very powerful today when in Britain, in USA in France, practically everywhere, politicians promise more jobs and the reduction of the queues of unemployment. There is an element of Arbeit Macht Frei in every political speech - whether we talk about the Conservative Party, the Labour Party, the Liberal Democratic Party, the Green Party, UKIP, BNP et cetera, et cetera. The NSDAP promised more jobs in ways that were identical to the promises made by today's political parties.

People wanted answers to deal with unemployment and deprivation and from 1933 onward the National Socialist Party led by Adolf Hitler as German Chancellor and German President produced a massive number of jobs. There was a psychological factor and a financial factor. Financially, the chaotic situation that existed before the rise of Adolf Hitler was dealt with. People had jobs, people had bread on their tables. The psychological element came from association: this is your country, you deserve everything your country can provide, it is a powerful country and you don't need to fear about external aggression. People were reassured in every way and this led to massive political support.

Here comes the concept of "if you have one political party - the National Socialist German Workers' Party - that looks after your every need, why do you need other political parties?" The process towards a one-party state had been voluntarily and willingly triggered by the mass of the Electorate. Who could possibly be opposed to such levels of happiness, togetherness and wealth? Liberals, Marxists and among them the Jews who were said to be looking after their own interests and didn't care about the German people who where predominantly Christian. This is why at one point, Jews were banned from getting involved in many professions. And the process continues and goes farther and farther.

There is an evolution. There is a series of steps along the way towards getting rid of the Jews but it is also a process to get rid of Liberals and Marxists. People were interned in concentration camps for all kinds of reasons but the persecution of the Jews had little to do with religion or race. It was a political decision and you can deal with people who are political opponents or perceived political opponents in various ways. You ban them from professions. You imprison them. You deport them. You kill them. And there are various examples of this to mention. The persecution of many people - Jews and non Jews - was purely political.



 


 

After welcoming parties, come metallic fences, barbed wire, tear gas and water cannons

After welcoming parties, political expressions of support, street rallies calling for immigrants to be welcomed, come metallic fences, barbed wire, tear gas, water cannons and stringent border controls.

Suddenly, the demagogy of leaders like Angela Merkel, gives way to the reality of what flood immigration actually means.

The quota system was rejected and was bound to be rejected. The diktats of EU bureaucrats and politically correct politicians are faced with the realities of member countries that on this issue and on many other issues don't seem to see eye to eye.

As I was listening to Jeremy Corbyn on his maiden appearance in the House of Commons coming face to face with Prime Minister David Cameron, comments about cuts of Housing Benefits that led to an exodus from central areas of British cities, the question came to me: if they are complaining about a housing crisis, about people being thrown out of homes because of cuts of Housing Benefits, where do people think that the tens of thousands that will be arriving in coming months are going to live?

David Cameron, the Prime Minister that says No on Monday, Yes on Tuesday and Maybe on Wednesday, promised to accept tens of thousands of immigrants. How is this compatible with the realities of the Housing Crisis, the lack of GP surgeries, the lack of school places, the burden being imposed on public services? Well, it isn't.

You listen then to the rise of unemployment and the fact that employers are going to be taking in less employees as the new Living Wage comes into place. Less jobs and more people looking for jobs, many of whom not even speak the language of the country? They will need a place to live in. They will need a job or otherwise they will be locked up in the cycle of welfare dependency. Have any of the aforementioned concerns been taken into account?

Demagogy can please many people that sooner than later will end up terribly disappointed, desperate and angry, and anger is what we must be very afraid of because discontent will flock into the streets of Britain and then the scenes of fences, water cannons, tear gas and police deployment with riot gear will also be seen in the United Kingdom.