How is anyone surprised that Broon's financial clusterf*ck could do anything but undermine pensions and reduce them a level of worthlessness that reflects a country with no money whatever, and a nigh on trillion pound deficit?
It seems to be an inevitability that all empires/societies get to a point where the vested interests of the civil service class close ranks to obscure and resist any effort to change, innovate and move things forward. Under Labour teaching has been politicised along with the rest of the "client civil state" - ie that vast part of the workforce that does not create wealth, but has been allowed - encouraged even - to feel endlessly entitled to dissipate it - and is part of a much bigger problem than just their unaffordable pensions.
What is now germane for any of us are the actual results of our efforts - the means to the end counts for very little with brutal competitors like the Chinese; there is no more opportunity to hide from the competitive world in any aspect of life - especially now we are just mere tax fodder the EU. For a while longer...
The UK educational system is not currently able to turn out a "proper workforce"; just a handful of high fliers who become bankers, but mostly a bunch of rudderless kids who had no idea what they wanted to do/be when they picked their GCSEs, but got steered by the received wisdom that any degree is better than getting out into the real world. And the more compliant are hustled directly into teaching, activism and politics without any experience of a "real job", just to help perpetuate the system.
Of course all parties will tend to politicise education, but Labour politicised it to a whole new level with the help of its (now almost dead) "house journal" to manage the communications and "marketplace". OK, there are some nuggets in a pan of mostly sludge; but the world rankings make depressing reading. Government today has a horrible job of sorting out such a monumental mess with no money, and now even an unexpected population surge to deal with. Albeit the kids of immigrant families seem to be generally harder working than the indigenous entitlement culture products.
And throughout "public service" the proportion of the budget of time and cash spent on the consequences of Labour's substitution of common sense by PC and process is vast, although coincidentally there was news today about a return to some common sense on H&S in schools.
We love the way that some wholly inexperienced kids find work in publicly funded and contrived roles that were formed in a golden age when they were once the hobbies of self-funded Victorian adventurers, experimenters and mature students with time on their hands (for various mostly legal reasons, like pillaging Johnny foreigner) - because what else can you do with a 23 year old PhD geography student, other than have them present "theme park Britain" on TV shows like Coast?
Most countries in this state of decline resorted to a decent war or revolution to restart the recuperative process. We will certainly not escape the unaffordable spiral of "public servant entitlement" and decaying infrastructure without blood on the walls, somewhere.
Saturday, July 02, 2011
Saturday, April 09, 2011
Events, dear boy.
Well, there TMP was, thinking it was going to have a relatively quiet time observing the coalition set about trying to undo 13 years of Labour misrule; and trying to turn the nation around from the "client state" of misplaced socialist dependency into one that remembered that no one owes anyone a living - least of all the rather more sophisticated world that has rushed past us while Labour pissed all our wealth away when buying 3 elections.
The problems we face have just got a lot bigger - since the anti-nuclear lobby will now be hugging trees and bunnies with renewed fervour. But the Japanese problems were most probably avoidable: the reactor construction withstood the earthquake pretty well by all accounts - and cooling systems pumps and electrical gear that failed under the tsunami deluge could easily have been made fully waterproof with a bit more anticipation and thought. Maybe submarine construction techniques could have been used.
Count up the numbers still killed annually in the coal mining industry and compare to the numbers actually killed from nuclear power accidents. You will be surprised.
The problems we face have just got a lot bigger - since the anti-nuclear lobby will now be hugging trees and bunnies with renewed fervour. But the Japanese problems were most probably avoidable: the reactor construction withstood the earthquake pretty well by all accounts - and cooling systems pumps and electrical gear that failed under the tsunami deluge could easily have been made fully waterproof with a bit more anticipation and thought. Maybe submarine construction techniques could have been used.
Count up the numbers still killed annually in the coal mining industry and compare to the numbers actually killed from nuclear power accidents. You will be surprised.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Simple fixes are the best
Would everyone kindly stop complicating the problems the UK faces?
Reduce ALL public employment by 50% (it really is that overbloated cf Parkinson's Law) and put ALL the money saved into boosting private sector employment in companies employing less than 50 people. Reduce all tax reference to a max of 250 pages, and tell the EU "we'll get back to you when we can afford to".
Give the Post Office a combined eBay and PayPal role; carve a chunk off the BBC to take on Google search and advertising. Devolve BT to local control (could the dickheads running councils cope? probably not) and consolidate all street works to get real broadband installed.
Simple. So what's the catch?
Q: Where is the effective demand for the goods and services produced by all of these new enterprises? And BT is a private firm, how would a government "devolve it to local control"?
A: Where is the demand for the goods and services of the 50% of state "lard" we can safely cull?
And they're not new enterprises. It takes far too long to set up new companies, and failures are far too high amongst startups - we think this is only turbocharging the "get banks to lend" proposition.
China is quite quickly going to become increasingly uncompetitive as their home markets grow staggeringly quickly - and overnight if they were forced to adopt EU level H&S and employment practises.
BT has broken so many laws and rules over the past ten years that if all those who had been screwed were invited to complain and be heard, it could be tied up in regulatory legal hassles for ever. They'd have to settle.
Q: Obviously the demand for goods and services provided by the public sector is ineffective - not every individual could afford to pay privately for municipal, emergency services, healthcare, policing, etc.
A: We really can lose 50% of the public sector costs without affecting any of that lot. Really we could. Trust us, we are NOT politicians. With 50% less non-productive, tea-swilling, work-creating state to pay for, just imagine the tax cuts possible. Everyone would be able to afford Bupa and their own pension plans.
The biggest problem by far with this idea is that the 50% of state employees will need completely reprogramming in order to able able to resume a productive role in the community after years of institutionalised lead swinging. Hence pumping all that cash to bribe employers to do the gruesome task.
Q: Have you heard of the concept of transfer payments? The idea that low paid workers, the unemployed, the disabled, and pensioners would be able to pay for health insurance and the rest...
That sounds like another term for subsidies and the bureaucracy required to administer them. TMP needs people to earn and keep their own money, and make their own decisions with it. Nowhere in the history of the world has a bureaucracy spent money more wisely than the people that created the wealth in the first place.
We don't have the time or inclination to study fad political/economic trends and theories. They are a large part of what has screwed this country and most of the world where the political class has become grotesquely over self important since the 60s. As one economics professor observed, the questions for economics degree exams remain the same, only the answers change. They are no longer our obedient servants, they are George Orwell's Animal Farm pigs, writ large.
A big part of the solution is the resurrection of the family; this is one thing we could learn from many immigrant (religion/respect based) communities. Cameron's much derided "big society" - that for some reason is being systematically undermined by the out of control BBC who fears its grip on the social engineering agenda may be slipping , is a way to try and replace the nanny state by re-asserting family responsibilities.
Commuting strangles our pathetic transport infrastructure, but our new homes are the smallest in the developed world by some margin - so every new home should be built with a proper office and a parent annexe for starters. Our bonkers home costs are a factor of abysmal planning and population mismanagement over many years.
A solution to our present mess is much simpler than work-creating civil servants and politicians imply - but it's a revolution in modern terms, and needs proper leadership. So what is the political class currently gripped by? The debate over a voting system that would most likely guarantee paralysed leadership in perpetuity.
Reduce ALL public employment by 50% (it really is that overbloated cf Parkinson's Law) and put ALL the money saved into boosting private sector employment in companies employing less than 50 people. Reduce all tax reference to a max of 250 pages, and tell the EU "we'll get back to you when we can afford to".
Give the Post Office a combined eBay and PayPal role; carve a chunk off the BBC to take on Google search and advertising. Devolve BT to local control (could the dickheads running councils cope? probably not) and consolidate all street works to get real broadband installed.
Simple. So what's the catch?
Q: Where is the effective demand for the goods and services produced by all of these new enterprises? And BT is a private firm, how would a government "devolve it to local control"?
A: Where is the demand for the goods and services of the 50% of state "lard" we can safely cull?
And they're not new enterprises. It takes far too long to set up new companies, and failures are far too high amongst startups - we think this is only turbocharging the "get banks to lend" proposition.
China is quite quickly going to become increasingly uncompetitive as their home markets grow staggeringly quickly - and overnight if they were forced to adopt EU level H&S and employment practises.
BT has broken so many laws and rules over the past ten years that if all those who had been screwed were invited to complain and be heard, it could be tied up in regulatory legal hassles for ever. They'd have to settle.
Q: Obviously the demand for goods and services provided by the public sector is ineffective - not every individual could afford to pay privately for municipal, emergency services, healthcare, policing, etc.
A: We really can lose 50% of the public sector costs without affecting any of that lot. Really we could. Trust us, we are NOT politicians. With 50% less non-productive, tea-swilling, work-creating state to pay for, just imagine the tax cuts possible. Everyone would be able to afford Bupa and their own pension plans.
The biggest problem by far with this idea is that the 50% of state employees will need completely reprogramming in order to able able to resume a productive role in the community after years of institutionalised lead swinging. Hence pumping all that cash to bribe employers to do the gruesome task.
Q: Have you heard of the concept of transfer payments? The idea that low paid workers, the unemployed, the disabled, and pensioners would be able to pay for health insurance and the rest...
That sounds like another term for subsidies and the bureaucracy required to administer them. TMP needs people to earn and keep their own money, and make their own decisions with it. Nowhere in the history of the world has a bureaucracy spent money more wisely than the people that created the wealth in the first place.
We don't have the time or inclination to study fad political/economic trends and theories. They are a large part of what has screwed this country and most of the world where the political class has become grotesquely over self important since the 60s. As one economics professor observed, the questions for economics degree exams remain the same, only the answers change. They are no longer our obedient servants, they are George Orwell's Animal Farm pigs, writ large.
A big part of the solution is the resurrection of the family; this is one thing we could learn from many immigrant (religion/respect based) communities. Cameron's much derided "big society" - that for some reason is being systematically undermined by the out of control BBC who fears its grip on the social engineering agenda may be slipping , is a way to try and replace the nanny state by re-asserting family responsibilities.
Commuting strangles our pathetic transport infrastructure, but our new homes are the smallest in the developed world by some margin - so every new home should be built with a proper office and a parent annexe for starters. Our bonkers home costs are a factor of abysmal planning and population mismanagement over many years.
A solution to our present mess is much simpler than work-creating civil servants and politicians imply - but it's a revolution in modern terms, and needs proper leadership. So what is the political class currently gripped by? The debate over a voting system that would most likely guarantee paralysed leadership in perpetuity.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
PayPal: The global chugger
TMP is moving beyond "basic" politics to explore any topics that impinge on "the majority", and deserve to become part of a broader public awareness and debate. The impositions of globalisation are behind many of the ills that afflict the UK in particular - because we tend to be passive, supine and compliant as a nation - and the world in general.
But why do Brits tend to be so unquestioning and obedient in the face of nonsense from the likes of Brussels and global brands? Simple! From the 1600s to the mid 20th century, Britain lead the world in so many ways we did not need to think too hard about much that was handed down to us from above. It was pretty much guaranteed to be in the "national interest", and the ultimate interest of the people. On the other hand, of course Mr & Mrs Johnny Foreigner were right to be suspicious of just about everything anyone tried to impose on them - after all, the Brits had probably raped their great, great grandparents, and pinched all their natural resources. However, corporate America is now the steamroller of imperialism, and it behoves us all to pay closer attention.
Now then, would PayPal please stop trying to kid us that it is a benefit to mankind by trying leech cash from its users, and thereby blag a place in heaven at the expense of others? I am heartily sick of getting spammed with begging messages like this:-
Dear Mugged Punter,
Time is running out for you to give 100% to Oxfam and let PayPal pick up the bill for running costs.
• What's the deal? – PayPal are paying Oxfam’s running costs on your donations
• 100% Giving – Every penny of your money goes directly towards fighting poverty
• Only 11 days left to give – The chance to make 100% impact must end February
So what's stopping you?
Well, have you got a few hours? PayPal is part of an absolutely feckin' enormous US controlled operation that specialises in scalping punters who have absolutely no viable choice. The way the banks have allowed PayPal to exist without competition is one of the internet's greatest shames, and something every government should be addressing by setting up national postal services as competition. The country postal services de facto is obliged to have "peering agreements" around the planet, and ought to be the perfect place for rooting such an activity.
In the UK, allowing our very convenient but moribund Post Offices to become universal payment gateways could throw them a much needed lifeline. Especially if they also had the wit to become eBay packing/despatch and collection centres.
Bottom line, I am so annoyed by the recent Oxfam campaign on PayPal that I shall now never ever give anything the Oxfam in any shape or form. Instead, I shall buy a Big Issue form the next vendor I can find, for a fiver.
But why do Brits tend to be so unquestioning and obedient in the face of nonsense from the likes of Brussels and global brands? Simple! From the 1600s to the mid 20th century, Britain lead the world in so many ways we did not need to think too hard about much that was handed down to us from above. It was pretty much guaranteed to be in the "national interest", and the ultimate interest of the people. On the other hand, of course Mr & Mrs Johnny Foreigner were right to be suspicious of just about everything anyone tried to impose on them - after all, the Brits had probably raped their great, great grandparents, and pinched all their natural resources. However, corporate America is now the steamroller of imperialism, and it behoves us all to pay closer attention.
Now then, would PayPal please stop trying to kid us that it is a benefit to mankind by trying leech cash from its users, and thereby blag a place in heaven at the expense of others? I am heartily sick of getting spammed with begging messages like this:-
Dear Mugged Punter,
Time is running out for you to give 100% to Oxfam and let PayPal pick up the bill for running costs.
• What's the deal? – PayPal are paying Oxfam’s running costs on your donations
• 100% Giving – Every penny of your money goes directly towards fighting poverty
• Only 11 days left to give – The chance to make 100% impact must end February
So what's stopping you?
Well, have you got a few hours? PayPal is part of an absolutely feckin' enormous US controlled operation that specialises in scalping punters who have absolutely no viable choice. The way the banks have allowed PayPal to exist without competition is one of the internet's greatest shames, and something every government should be addressing by setting up national postal services as competition. The country postal services de facto is obliged to have "peering agreements" around the planet, and ought to be the perfect place for rooting such an activity.
In the UK, allowing our very convenient but moribund Post Offices to become universal payment gateways could throw them a much needed lifeline. Especially if they also had the wit to become eBay packing/despatch and collection centres.
Bottom line, I am so annoyed by the recent Oxfam campaign on PayPal that I shall now never ever give anything the Oxfam in any shape or form. Instead, I shall buy a Big Issue form the next vendor I can find, for a fiver.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
We're all doomed
As the client state is unavoidably dismantled, the complete absence of any discernible incentive to create and maintain new businesses employing people, and the BBC-Guardian's continued efforts to pretend that it's all Cameron's fault, is going to lead to big trouble.
When those tipped out of work run out of money and benefits - and cannot find a generous local council still willing to offer non jobs - there is going to be indignation and trouble. As everyone starts to take it ever further up the arse from Broon's inflation legacy, things are going to get really grim.
The UK has got absolutely nothing in reserve, except 2 million unneeded state employees, and a brief glance around the rest of the world really does underline that the party is over as 13 years of socialist disaster has left the UK with precious few ways to escape a decade of decline.
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