Posts by Alfie
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There's no doubt that the parliamentary wing of the Labour Party dislike Corbyn taking the party back to the left. Keep in mind that the Chilcot Report into the Iraq war is about to be released on July 6th, following a near seven year gestation. Corbyn believes that Tony Blair should stand trial for war crimes -- a position which does not endear him to the remaining Blairites within Labour.
I agree with NZLemming... the Labour party (both in the UK and here) needs to rediscover its roots and actually stand for something. Corbyn has inspired a surge in Labour Party membership, particularly amongst the young. Those people are looking for an inspirational leader, not a centrist fence-sitter or yet another closet neolib.
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Polity: English canards, in reply to Hilary Stace,
Actually the top earners usually have very good tax accountants who know all about tax minimisation and they often pay a lot less tax than poorer people.
And that my son, is why we have offshore trusts.
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Speaker: The Government you Deserve, in reply to Russell Brown,
I fear that we have been insufficiently careful to distinguish “neoliberal global establishment” from “amoral robber barons who will use outright fascists as shock troops if it furthers their interests.”
But is there any difference between the two? At the moment I'm reading Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine which is a history of neoliberalism from a leftist perspective. In every country whose economy has been influenced by Freidman and his Chicago Boys, democracy has suffered badly. It's an ideology which is driven almost entirely by self-interest and greed. Wealth is transferred from the many to the few. That's the entire point of the thing.
Originally the neolibs waited until a societal "shock" occurred -- Latin American revolutions (with a little help from the CIA), Thatcher using the Falklands 'war', 9/11 giving birth to the Homeland Security industry, the US invasion of Iraq... anything which threw the local population into shock and chaos. Then in came Friedman's boys as part of the IMF saying, overhaul your economy following our rules and we'll bail you out.
In practice that meant the sale of any or all profitable government assets, at a loss if neccessary to satisfy the ideology. Unfettered access for multinational companies with favourable tax arrangements allowing them to siphon their profits offshore. Destroying unions, removing any basic wage protection... it's a philosophy based in evil.
The accomplishments of the Key government in just a few years ticks all of those boxes. A revolution wasn't required because of kiwis' easy-going nature, our lack of interest in politics and a general subservience to those in power. The GFC and the Christchurch earthquakes both provided the shocks necessary to speed up the process of wealth transfer. And it's all going very nicely, thank you very much.
I believe that Brexit has provided a suitable shock for the neolibs to speed up their transformation of the UK. Osborne has already announced the need for tax increases and hinted at cuts in health and education. Under Boris, the move to super-Thatcherism will go into top gear.
Neoliberalism? Amoral robber barons? It's hard to see any difference between the two, because the results of their plunder are exactly the same.
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Speaker: A Disorderly Brexit, in reply to Craig Ranapia,
But its also more than a little naive to think contingency plans weren’t being drawn up for a Brexit from the day the referendum was announced, even if the politicians weren’t among them.
While the tories appear to have no plan B at the ready which explains their current headless chook impression, the EU was certainly preparing contingency plans and is keen to implement them as soon as possible.
The Institute of Directors has surveyed 1,000 of their members, 20% of whom are already considering moving their businesses outside the UK.
HSBC has announced a move from London to Paris and other banks are likely to follow soon.
As government cockups go, this one is a real doozy.
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Hard News: Starting the cannabis…, in reply to Worik Stanton,
Alfie should post the phone numbers of his dealers.
Sweet Jesus! “Dealers” with its gang implications is such an emotive word and not one I’d ever use myself. By the time you reach my age, you might be lucky to find yourself a minor member of a buyers’ club which supports a valued cottage industry. The world of dealers and tinnie houses remains a complete mystery to me.
As I said earlier Worik, if your main problem is an inability to score in a university town, you really do need to widen your circle of friends.
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Speaker: A Disorderly Brexit, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
At the moment, anyone can buy a car in the UK and import it to a mainland EU country without paperwork.
BMW build minis in the UK and the Netherlands. In a few years, UK minis will attract a sales tariff in the EU while those from the Netherlands won't. Which country would you choose if you were on the BMW board?
Financial services make up 10% of the UK economy. HSBC have already announced a move to Paris and dozens of others are expected to follow suit.
The full consequences of the Brexit vote are yet to be unveiled.
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Speaker: A Disorderly Brexit, in reply to John Palethorpe,
G’wan the boy Corbs.
Indeed! He has the popular vote of the membership so appointing new shadow ministers so quickly was exactly the right thing to do. May the remaining Blairites piss off and allow the party to flourish.
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Speaker: A Disorderly Brexit, in reply to Hugh Wilson,
Another drop in the ocean of commentary, by Jeffrey Sachs @ UN Sustainable Development Network
Sachs is an interesting person. He's one of the only economists to switch sides from being an avowed Freidmanite who helped to destroy democracies in Latin America, Poland and Russia by advising them on making the transition to market-led economies, to developing a humanist perspective which actually considers the poor.
That's a major leap in ideology.
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Speaker: A Disorderly Brexit, in reply to Russell Brown,
The Guardian’s 10 Britons who voted Leave and why article is interesting.
I must say that the Guardian is doing a brilliant job of reporting this disaster.
The main focus of those ten leave voters seems to be a desire to rebel against neo-conservatism. The irony is that they're blaming the EU for their situation when in fact the opposite is true. There's no way that a more right-wing tory government is going to grant their collective wishes and bring about a more equitable society.
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Polity: Four cents on Brexit, Fonterra,…, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
Also, Britain produces a lot of milk.
So does Ireland... more than they can cope with at the moment. In the UK 55% of the average farmer's income currently comes from EU money. The National Farmers Union is warning that prices will have to rise for UK farming to survive.
The UK already imports 40% of its food and prices are bound to rise when you factor in tarriffs and a lower pound. 38% of British lamb is sold to the EU, but I'm sure other EU countries will step up production to fill that gap.
It's hard to see anything good resulting from Brexit.