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Archive for the ‘Economies’ Category

I suppose and in often strange ways, we sometimes discover “the fatal flaw” in most ideas. Having started my commercial life as a designer concerned with engineering and production, there was a very amusing story about a “new mousetrap”, I will not bore you with the tale but the ‘punch line’ was quite simple:

The basic concept behind the design was obviously flawed and when called upon to deal with this, the designer instead of having a total rethink, just “improved” upon or refined his own flawed original concept. To engineers, this was all very amusing because it was something that we had to deal with on a daily basis and knew that it was far too easy to be led astray. I have an awful feeling that Scottish independence is the same…

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At the ‘turning of yet another Year’ there was a really interesting article in The Economist recently about the continuing phenomena of yet further increases in US productivity, it is well worth a read even if it raises more questions than answers : http://www.economist.com/node/21542211

Of course it led me to consider a personal “theme” I have been developing and that I feel will become ever more important from 2012 onwards, right across the “Old” Western industrialised economies and the World at large, “Productivity” in the old sense, is no longer any kind of solution, new thinking is needed.

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Whatever else may be said or written, as an Englishman, I am just so ‘stoked’ that for once, a British Prime Minister has returned from an EU Meeeting having made a positive decision and without excuses about why they were mugged by the ‘other big boys’, that is something even the ‘sainted Maggie’ never did. Well done David Cameron, I say.

Well we have the overnight fallout from the EU Conference on Treaty Changes to accommodate the Euro Crisis although these “changes” obviously don’t require a Treaty Change, they are just a further strengthening of the so called stability pact rules that everyone has already disregarded, led by Germany and France in the first place. What a load of bullshit this all was !

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Although not one of my favourite writers, Jeremy Warner in the Telegraph wrote an interesting piece on why right now, David Cameron is unlikely to be able to repatriate any significant powers from Brussels on the back of the Treaty Changes that Germany wants in order to support the Euro, a good article and worth a read. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/8910266/The-eurozone-crisis-an-opportunity-for-Britain-Dont-bet-on-it.html

With disaster almost inevitable due to the incomprehensible slowness to comprehend and then total inaction of Eurozone Leaders to meet the challenges, we do indeed live in ‘interesting times’.

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I must confess to be totally bored with the “Euro Crisis” and feel distinctly “Euroed Out”, how much more can there be to write about it ? I looked at an article I had written last week but not published, it was all the same old stuff I had written months ago. The latest episode was David Cameron visiting Angela Merkel in Berlin from which absolutely no agreement or common ground was found.

The funniest part of this visit was a anti-British campaign in some of the German Press and “noises off” from from some German politicians in a similar and antagonistic vein which should be viewed in a rather positive light I personally feel, it seems to indicate that finally, the Germans are starting to wake up from their stupor and started to become aware how serious this all is…

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So the Cannes G20 Summit has ended and as could be predicted, with very little achieved except a very clear message from the rest of the World to the EU and specifically, the Eurozone; “Get your house in order”. Sarkozy along with Merkel, will no doubt blame the Greeks and yet, Greece is but a symptom of an underlying disease called the “Euro”, a currency never destined to work for the benefit of all.

For France, the “Common Market” and the infamous CAP (Common Agricultural Policy), were designed so that inefficient French farmers could get a ‘subsidy’ that didn’t come from the French taxpayers, it came from all the other ‘Members’. As this has wound down, Germany has achieved a similar unfair bonus via the Euro, the point being that these two, for all their apparent “high moral ground” with regard to the Greeks, fail to see the mote in their own eyes.

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Right now I’m having to master PHP programming and am working from several different books. I was amused by one author who having ended an introductory chapter and about to launch into the real world coding examples, wrote “…and bring a shovel with you…”

The implication being that it will get harder and you will need to dig deep to get through this… It struck me just how true that is of the World Economy right now too with a G20 about to start, one wonders whether they will be smart enough to avoid the pending economic disaster. If the unrealistic fudge we saw in the Eurozone last week is anything to go by and the uproar caused by the Greeks holding a Referendum, one suspects not.

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I must be feeling particularly “vinegary” the other day because I picked up on two pieces of total nonsense in The Independent and posted replies to both. The first was an ‘Editorial’ and I know, I have often complained about just how ‘amateur night’ the average Editorial in the ‘Indy’ is, they all seem to be written by children on work experience rather than grown up people but crap is crap and demands a response. http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-a-cynical-response-to-the-rebellion-2376276.html

The second was by a half-wit called Andreas Wittam Smith, a total tosser if ever one breathed. His opus was to blame ‘Bankers’ for everything but without ever getting to grips with what is really wrong with our current society. Sure, Bankers are ‘tossers’ but his approach is little better than lambasting Undertakers for ‘dealing in death’. Another brainless old fool.

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There was interesting article in The Independent written by Hamish McRae in which he basically said that we should not expect too much from the “Euro Summit” and basically all they can hope to do is buy more time, there are no magic solutions. http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/hamish-mcrae/hamish-mcrae-europes-leaders-first-need-to-buy-themselves-time-2375813.html

I tend to agree totally with the view that “Summit Meetings” are of little practical significance as whether on the Euro, EU, SALT Treaties and so on, all the real work and agreements have been done before the public event takes place, which only to give a “blessing” to what has already been agreed. Of course with this Euro Summit, nothing crucial has been agreed yet anyway.

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I have already expressed previously my view that David Cameron and his party managers laying a 3 line whip on this vote was totally foolish and ignoring it would have been far better, I am apparently not alone in this. Mary Ann Sieghart wrote a very good article in the Independent on just the same theme of “Cameron Picks a Fight when he doesn’t need to”, worth a read: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/mary-ann-sieghart/mary-ann-sieghart-cameron-picks-a-fight-when-he-doesnt-need-to-2375093.html

What intrigues me over this most obvious mistake from a normally deft politician is just why he let this happen ? Could it be because he feared speaking the truth at this stage would be counter productive, even dangerous to on-going negotiations ?

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