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Archive for the ‘Economies’ Category

I have read various articles concerning the various protest campaigns on Wall Street, in London and so on but haven’t rushed to write about them as they seem to be all rather soft, confused, lacking in focus or with any particular goals in mind. In simple terms they are best summed up with a statement like; “We don’t like this and it isn’t fair…”

What no one has seemed to grasped and in this I include the Bankers, Industrialists and Politicians too, is the exact nature of the problem let alone, what kind of solutions may be applicable. In a sense, we all seem similarly as frozen and devoid of ideas as the Generals were when faced with trench warfare in WWI and the significance of including the statue of Cromwell in the graphic will I hope become clearer in due course.

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There is no way that I consider myself some kind of great intellectual with either superior insight or just plain wisdom, I therefore suspect that what I think is the reality of the current Global Crisis goes way beyond “Greedy Bankers” and that daft political construct the Euro, a hunchback currency in search of its Bosworth Field.

To my mind I suspect that the truth is known and the real problem lies in the political will to spell it out publicly. Forget the size of the Euro Bailout Fund or specifically Greece, there is only one thing that can solve the current problems and it is happening already via inflation, it is called PRICE RISES and surprising as that may seem, it is probably THE ANSWER at several levels !

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The Euro Crisis has thrown up an amusing spectacle, a British Conservative Government urging the Euro countries to “ever closer union”. On the one hand with so much of UK trade bound up with the Euro Zone, it is obvious that it is not in the UK’s best interests that the Euro should fail and therefore if tighter economic integration of the Euro Zone countries is the “answer” to it not doing so, then so be it.

Perhaps from a UK perspective, we are finally reaching a “tipping point” with regard to our relationship with the EU whereby without too much effort, we in the UK can move on our way quite naturally without having to make a “Big Decision”, like being an island race, many decisions are made for us already, same as if we were a “Continental Country”.

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We have another year where once again there has been an increase in the number of pupils achieving top passes at “A” Level. But whereas once this might have meant something significant, it means very little today and certainly doesn’t mean any student is guaranteed a place at university, if anything it means guaranteed disappointment for many. I am not interested in the arguments as to whether these exams are “dumbed down” or not but the consequences are interesting if only to further illustrate a society that has lost touch with the basics and is drifting somewhat aimlessly.

Truth to tell, that is not just true of the UK, it is likely true of most industrial and post industrial countries around the globe and shows up in business as much as in education, in some way, the process must be reversed for the sake of our environment as well as world peace.

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I have just spent almost 4 weeks away from home visiting my 86 year old Uncle who lives in Washington State on the West Coast of the USA. Because his most convenient airport is Portland just across the Columbia River, it means using a connecting flight from Heathrow and that all adds up to a long day going both ways.

But that said, I had a great time and some interesting ideas came out of it all which I will continue to explore and bring to fruition over the next few months but there is one realisation that I thought I might nail down right now…

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Although I often find even the European edition of Time magazine, far too “American” in terms of its content, from time to time, there are some really excellent articles and this past weekends edition is a case in point particularly with regard to Defence Spending. Entitled “How to Save a Trillion Dollars”, it is well worth reading: http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,2065108,00.html

Those who know me, might well say that I liked this article because it accords with many of the views I have been expressing and particularly with regard to Aircraft Carriers for some years now. However, I would suggest that it is far more than that because throughout history, there comes a moment in time when military thinking needs a radical overhaul, I would suggest that we have reached that point right now.

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Having recently got involved in another waste of time argument about the EU with overseas readers who commentate on the Economist discussion boards and find it impossible to understand why many in the UK want out and from there…It is all a total waste of energy.

However, the useful thing that sometimes emerges from these things is the opportunity to rationalise your own thinking and concentrate on the core reasons for why you hold the opinions you do. Sometimes, your “object”, in my case the EU, is little more than a token for the real problem, something that represents an ‘obstacle’ to solving real world problems but of itself, is probably just not that important.

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I notice that now the daylight hours are drawing out, Dawn comes slightly earlier, the Earth stirs again and interestingly, so do some ‘thinkers’ in the Media about our technical ‘tomorrow’, my first example being : http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/technology/adrianhon/100006362/soon-you-wont-need-permission-to-make-films-set-up-tv-channels-publish-books-or-try-out-inventions-no-wonder-the-old-industries-are-scared/

But there is something as fascinating in this link from the Economist : http://www.economist.com/node/18114221

These are exciting times…

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Christmas really loses its charm once your children have passed the age when their presents change from “Yuletide Treats of Delight” to a list of the latest “Consumer Goodies” they want which certainly takes place by the time they become teenagers.

Also this year, freak weather saw the Town covered in heavy snow and whilst you may say, “No surprise there then !” in a sense, it is because we have a bit of a micro-climate around Bridgewater Bay so that bad weather normally passes to the North and South of us and snow events when they happen, tend to be 48 hours and gone, this was very different.

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The Economist is one of the most “Pro-Eu/Euro publications I have ever seen, all no doubt justified upon an idea of their “readership constituency” – all business, selfish etc. But today, they published a series of interesting articles with regard to the current crisis in the Euro Zone and explained quite well, the difficulties facing any country that wanted to withdraw from it.

http://www.economist.com/node/17629661/

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