Covid-19 Global

This week on Facebook: Covid-19 is very much a global political and commercial pandemic and I am posting political and economic articles related to Covid-19¹², known globally as the coronavirus. My reprise posts on the fiscal crises that the world finds itself in post the introduction of fiat money in 1971 — the advent of global deficit financing and a global fiscal deficit are covered by this global pandemic.

A financial and economic crisis will tend to arise from a fiscal deficit if government debt levels contribute to a loss of market confidence in a national economy, reflected in turn in instability in currency and financial markets and stagnation in domestic output. A political and social crisis will tend to arise if both the fiscal deficit itself and the necessary corrective measure implemented to eliminate that deficit result in further losses of employment and output, falling living standards, and rising poverty. Britannica — Fiscal Crises

Who are 'Les Anglo-Saxons'?

This week on Facebook: I wondered why the Francophone world had such a pejorative view of ‘Les Anglo-Saxons’¹, justified in part by the notion that Anglophones have of a ‘special relationship’² with the USA. They may have good reasons to hold such views, now Anglo-Saxon is a term employed by prominent politicians, serious academics, political commentators, and in everyday conversation”³. For example, Jean Claude Juncker  (clearly not only a Francophone but also a Francophile) accused the Anglo-Saxons of hovering like vultures over the euro crisis, waiting to revel in its failure (4).  

This week on Facebook: I wondered why the Francophone world had such a pejorative view of ‘Les Anglo-Saxons’¹, justified in part by the notion that Anglophones have of a ‘special relationship’² with the USA. They may have good reasons to hold such views, now Anglo-Saxon is a term employed by prominent politicians, serious academics, political commentators, and in everyday conversation”³. For example, Jean Claude Juncker  (clearly not only a Francophone but also a Francophile) accused the Anglo-Saxons of hovering like vultures over the euro crisis, waiting to revel in its failure (4).  

UK — Electoral Naiveté

This week on Facebook: UK electoral issues¹. Every election does — to my mind —point to the fundamental differences between how they are viewed by politicians, the electorate, and the social media. Each may have what they consider to be pragmatic views but they only agree on their own self interest and not on that of the State. This includes the social media (news on the web) which, for the most part, are articles written for publication and intended to appeal to a certain readership. While we all are guilty of doing that, some of us may claim to have learned our lesson.

UK Fiscal Incompetence!

This week on Facebook: If I appear obsessed with politicians and economics it because my online research has led me in that direction. Last week I posted the following from 2008:

This is yet another indication that this government cannot continue with its policy of welfare largesse. More significantly, we now have a national spend and debt repayment economy. Yet even here, the Government is using data manipulation to disguise the true size of the debt, while promising increased public expenditure. Welfare and Unemployment

UK — Full Employment?

This week on Facebook: In England the Statute of Labourers was issued in 1351 after the Black Death had reached England. Full employment¹ was welcomed by those labourers left alive, often leading to increases in salary and freedom from serfdom for some.

And because many sound beggars do refuse to labour so long as they can live from begging alms, giving themselves up to idleness and sins, and, at times, to robbery and other crimes-let no one, under the aforesaid pain of imprisonment presume, under colour of piety or alms to give anything to such as can very well labour, or to cherish them in their sloth, so that thus they may be compelled to labour for the necessaries of life. Statute of Labourers (1351)

Welfare UK Style

This week on Facebook: The UK 2010 State of the nation¹ reported on poverty, worklessness and welfare dependency in the UK that: “Over the past 10 years we have seen more and more money spent on the benefits system in an attempt to move people from below the 60% poverty threshold to above it. Expenditure on child-related benefits alone has almost doubled. Yet despite this expenditure, the figures in this document show that this approach is failing.

Income inequality is at its highest since records began; millions of people are simply parked on benefits with little hope of ever progressing into work. high levels of family breakdown, educational failure, addiction and health inequality are having a severe impact on outcomes for both adults and children.” [sic¹]

Are State subsidies eveyone’s burden?

This week on Facebook: The NHS¹ is no more guilty of holding the country to ransom than any of the ‘other’ subsidy that contribute to the government’s deficit financing policy. However, it does provide a simple answer to my question, “Are State subsidies everyones burden?”. For example I had occasion to attend A&E recently and had to wait until my local one opened its doors (it now closes during the night). My ‘accident and emergency’ was prompted by my dropping a drill on my foot. A&E offer a free service (in the sense no money changes hands), similar to freebies given by the nurse or doctor at the General Practice. My point is that neither is a ‘free’ service. Whatever the freebies provided, or time spent on the consultation — both influence fiscal policy.

International Law: Does it exist?

This week on Facebook: The notion — and last week’s post — led me the concept of international law and eventually Plato. International Law can be a avery boring subject in which finding articles that interested me (let alone any readers) was very difficult. Occasionally it gets a diplomat gets arrested for something other that avoiding parking fines, but for those who may be interested in international law there are Jstor references cited at ¹·².

USA & China

This week onFacebook: Heralds a new era in the balance of power, it now being a global issue rather than a European one. With the end of  WWII the United States and Russia wielded their economic hegemony in the West. This western world largely ignored the territorial advances of China. The Russian failure at European economic hegemony has now been replaced in the last forty-years by a resurgent China and the economic growth of oriental states. The balance of power that the USA and China¹·² now share is likely to lead to a conflict for economic and military dominance on an unprecedented global scale.

Aasof on the problem with TED!

This week on Facebook: In compiling this post it occurred to me that online information has made us all instant experts on any topic, non more so that those who go to TED talks or use TEDx from YouTube. TED’s slogan shouldn’t be ‘Ideas worth spreading’, it should be: ‘Ego worth paying for’, or as Sunday’s post suggest, instead of the mnemonic  ‘Technology, Entertainment, Design’, TED should renamed to the mnemonic to MMI: Middlebrow Megachurch Infotainment. Ultimately, the TED phenomenon only makes sense when you realise that it’s all about the audience. TED Talks are designed to make people feel good about themselves; to flatter them and make them feel clever and knowledgeable; to give them the impression that they are part of an elite group making the world a better place.